What have you blown up today? What's your latest victim? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: smjcuk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2015, 10:03:00 pm
content: In this spirit of what have you bought today, what have you terminated beyond repair today?I just blew a 1Meg pot, a 2n2222 and a couple of 1/2W 100 ohm resistors and a meter fuse in one accident trying to build a differential amplifier that can handle 100v. Lead short caused 100v across the 2n2222 current source which went into thermal overrun, shorted, went into full conduction, saturated 2x 2n3055s (cascode+voltage ladder) and smoked my dummy load and my ammeterWindows open. Lesson learned.

author: Richard Crowley
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2015, 11:20:42 pm
content: I blew up (well, at least to a significant degree) a Teradek VidiU ($700) video streaming box.The gadget takes HDMI video+audio in, and outputs an H.264-compressed RTP stream out from the RJ-45 network connector.Alas, a semi-technical person on the crew plugged it into the RJ-45 hub that operates the camera remote heads (pan/tilt).That system uses RJ-45 terminated Cat5 cable to both power and control all the remote heads.It uses one pair for the RS-485 balanced data pair, and the other 6 pins for the 24VDC power.But when you plug a conventional network device (like the VidiU) into that network, the 24VDC power made short work of the little isolation transformers in the network port. I'm sure one or more of them are burned to a crisp.The box is so tiny (barely larger than a pack of cigarettes) that I may not be able to find an exact replacement for the burned component(s) and I will have to send it in for repair.And it was a borrowed unit, so I bought a new one to replace the one we toasted.

author: grifftech
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2015, 11:53:36 pm
content: a .4 Amp fuse and a .7 Amp fuse

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2015, 05:39:07 am
content: 2 old PC mainboards, to get the caps out for fixing another. Just have to cook the third dead one Monday to get the 16V ones to fix the bloated caps on the old G31 board. I am not willing to spend money on fixing them, just want a spare board and processor, and as they use DDR2 and only have 2G in total they are not worth upgrading, though they are just barely worth fixing.

author: eas
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2015, 07:24:55 pm
content: Two brand-new 330uF caps I bought to refurbish a Power Designs TP340 bench PSU. I misread the polarity markings on the PCB silkscreen, and didn't bother checking the photos I'd taken of the board before pulling the old caps. I tested the old caps and they are still close to spec, so I put them back in. None of the three channels on the PSU work, so there is something else wrong, whether my doing, or something pre-existing.

author: lapm
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2015, 10:38:08 pm
content: Cheap multimeter.. Looks like another one on pile of maybe lost cases, try inspect and maybe repair when your bored otherwise...

author: Muttley Snickers
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 26, 2015, 12:10:48 pm
content: Well today the neighbour came home from the recycle centre with a portable air compressor, Stanley branded, nice unit but the underside frame was a bit bent so we decided to test it and then do a dismantle to straighten the frame so that it would sit flat on it's rubber feet. The unit was 240 Vac in, bridge rectifier, capacitor and 240 Vdc motor. After turning it on and filling the tank everything looked and sounded just fine so he went in and made us some coffee whist I pulled the cover off to have a look inside and gain access to the body of the unit for panel beating.The unit had an illuminated single pole on/off switch with three wires attached via Utilux spade connectors, wire colours were red, white and black, in hindsight these would have been red = active, white = switched active, black = neutral for the lamp. Anyway, I reached for my phone to take a picture of the wires before disconnection so that the cover could be removed and realised that my phone was left at home, red-white-black, how hard can that be to remember for your above average Joe.We straightened the frame, put it all back together with the cover still hanging off, turned it on and bang, went off like a shotgun shell, he had connected the wires back up to the switch in the wrong sequence and shorted the active to the neutral, but get this the explosion was the 3 amp 3AG glass fuse and one track on the pcb.I had never before witnessed or been the shrapnel victim of an exploding fuse in the manner that this one delivered, It was my fault for being too keen to get back home and not checking everything beforehand. I fixed the blown track, replaced thefuse and put the wiring around the right way, red-white-black or was it red-black-white.Ignored Rule Number One: he who takes it apart, puts it back together without distraction.Muttley

author: electrolux
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2015, 08:53:09 am
content: My bro blew up a £50 VGA converter.

author: smjcuk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2015, 03:36:07 pm
content: I just blew up a intel i7 4790k. Dropped the damn thing in the case and bent the legs. Bent them back. No banana

author: electr_peter
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 27, 2015, 05:45:38 pm
content: Portable DVD players are dropping like flies. One refused to work after extensive debugging and parts replacement, other worked fine and suddenly decided to destroy it's own screen light circuit

author: eecook
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2015, 05:49:02 pm
content: 2 x IPD200N15N3G MOSFETs and a fuse...all part of the same stupid mistake

author: Mechanical Menace
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2015, 05:52:01 pm
content: I blew up my girlfriend today. Really must invest in a foot pump

author: electr_peter
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 27, 2015, 05:56:19 pm
content: Quote from: Richard Crowley on May 22, 2015, 11:20:42 pmI have worked in the environment where multiple sensitive devices were powered from identical DC barrel jacks with different voltage levels. One mistake and device is out (with accompanying fireworks display). However, my luck is still holding up, no device has been blown yet...

author: Kevman
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2015, 06:29:54 pm
content: Quote from: smjcuk on May 27, 2015, 03:36:07 pmWhat did you bend? Intel CPUs don't have pins...

author: N2IXK
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2015, 06:41:42 pm
content: AD811 video opamp. Breadboarded circuit took off as an RF oscillator due to insufficient decoupling and chip got hot enough to burn a finger on. Still "works" but epoxy case is blistered.

author: smjcuk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 27, 2015, 06:42:11 pm
content: Quote from: Kevman on May 27, 2015, 06:29:54 pmSorry pins is a better description: the little ones in the socket side. The CPU landed edge on the socket and knackered a few. I poked them back but its dead. CPU doesn't work in another board either.At least they were free. Hardware was heading to the skip anyway.

author: niflheimer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2015, 03:47:50 pm
content: Doubt the cpu was working then - It's not much that can happen to it from a drop. The mobo on the other hand...And that's why I hate LGA sockets. On my amd rigs I've bent pins a dozen times - even broke a few and replaced them with pogo pins. Intel rigs ? one wrong move and I've gotta dish another 280$ on another mobo.Edit : what did I blow today ?180$ logic board for an old doppler flow imager ( dropped the aluminium shavings can for the electromagnetic flow meters on it)two lm 358AN - forgot I had the bench supply on 240v , 400hz instead of 120 , 60hz

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2015, 07:03:57 pm
content: After too much swapping of wires too late at night, I mixed up the 24VDC and RS485 connections on a prototype light fixture. Cratered the RS485 transceiver and seem to have cooked the MCU. To add insult to injury, one of the legs of the RS485 IC welded itself to the pad, just to make replacing the thing more annoying.

author: Howardlong
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 28, 2015, 11:58:00 pm
content: Blew up a mosfet in an SMPS I'm designing, thought I'd try reducing ripple by experimenting with caps on the output while it was still on. Not a smart idea. Still, just a flesh wound, they're only $0.20 a pop.

author: smjcuk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2015, 11:45:01 pm
content: I just blew up a rats nest of Hyper-V, Cisco trunked VLANs, VMware, and Windows VMs. It's 00:44 here so I'm not sleeping tonight

author: Howardlong
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2015, 04:02:36 am
content: Quote from: smjcuk on May 29, 2015, 11:45:01 pmSchoolboy error, keep spares on hand and just resolder in a new one as needed.

author: atferrari
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2015, 04:30:35 pm
content: Two in distress make sorrow less but if they are some tens, then I feel OK.In bed because a foot surgery, I am just reading.No silicon lately but maybe worst fingers burnt of my life during the smoke test of a current source. My error was not taking into account the huge power dissipated when shortcircuited to ground. Xtor survived.

author: void_error
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2015, 08:11:49 pm
content: Well, I blew my first micro, due to being in a hurry and not having time to inspect a DIY PCB, a MCP 1640 was running with no feedback at 7.3V and fried my micro when I powered it up. Next time I make something for someone there'll be no deadline or cutting corners because someone wants it done ASAP, it'll be done exactly when it will be done.

author: Electric flower
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2015, 08:21:18 pm
content: Been playing with new power supply i made and i blew few 1/4W resitors. Hope that magic smoke isn't dangerous...

author: Rerouter
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 30, 2015, 10:13:26 pm
content: Was asked for a file off an old laptop, last powered on about 7 years ago, plug in the mains side, switch on the power and "Boom" something detonated inside the AC/DC charger...So i currently have a laptop running off a bench supply on a cut cord, for any others that get stuck with needing to power up an older DV5 laptop, outer ring ground, inner ring +, and center pin tied to + with a 330K resistor,

author: niflheimer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2015, 10:27:03 am
content: Blew the flow meter again - not-keyed connector and 48V on a 5v data line. This is getting ridiculous.

author: klr5205
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 09, 2015, 12:56:43 pm
content: Not me but someone at work managed to put 120V on his docking station's USB hub.... it did not survive