Exploding Capacitor  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: nick.sek
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 07, 2012, 03:37:14 am
content: Just a short video of the effects of no regarding the polarity of capacitor, the maximum voltage and current being fed into a capacitor.....Formula for a capacitor going boom.Enjoy

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 05, 2013, 05:47:24 pm
content: good one...

author: traqn_savov
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 05, 2013, 06:53:41 pm
content: funny

author: Branqazwsx
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 06, 2013, 11:28:26 pm
content: wow, that powerful

author: nmmbeginer
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 01:09:34 am
content: nice

author: mtc2629
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 01:24:32 am
content: Yea i attached an led to 15v battery not expecting it to explode and it did lol

author: simpson
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 02:44:37 am
content: A lot of things will blow up if you put straight lines voltage through them.

author: deth502
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 03:14:29 am
content: i only had one experience with this. a guy that used to work with us opened up a non-working tv one time. i looked at it and told him the fuse was blown. he decided that he was just going to put a piece of tin foil in there to jumper it. i told him that wasnt a good idea. thats really, really not a good idea. he ignored my warning and i went back to what i was doing at the other end of the shop.seconds later. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!i couldnt believe that small thing was that loud. blew a small part of the board out as well, left about a 1/2" hole behind it.needless to say, that was the end of that tv. it never got repaired.

author: Greyersting
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 04:41:04 am
content: Once I had a disposable camera and I was turning the little circle thing over and over and eventually I heard a really loud pop. I guess it shorted out the capacitor somehow.

author: jbe
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 08:58:08 am
content: I especially love the schematicAn EE told me that they used to prank each other in the lab by hoocking caps to a mains plug an plugging it in under their colleagues desks

author: nparlev
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 11:34:09 am
content: Heheh, I'm using the same experiment to show beginners that the capacitors could be dangerous!

author: TonyPh
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 11:37:38 am
content: Always great to see stuff blowing up.

author: georgedone
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 12:31:33 pm
content: He he, I had a computer with exploding caps around 2000-2001, no need to connect them in reverse. Amazing, it still booted, unreliably, with 90% success rate after first cap popped (the metal casing was ejected completely and exposed the impregnated foil.

author: geo_leeman
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 01:02:43 pm
content: Ha! Dangerous, but I suppose that's the point being demonstrated.

author: eendje
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 01:03:15 pm
content: Cool ,always a laugh to see stuff blow... unless it is your newly build power amp ....Bob

author: mcotis
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 04:05:10 pm
content: Wow, nothing left but the magic blue smoke!

author: GadgetUK
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 04:48:36 pm
content: Try a similar test on a Tantalum, now those do go with a bang!

author: jakehiltz
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 05:01:13 pm
content: Id like to see how powerful one of the larger caps would be!

author: olsenn
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 05:07:32 pm
content: Electrolytics now often have perforations in the top so that they will lose pressure more slowly and not totally explode. Older ones are better if you're looking for a bang

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 05:57:22 pm
content: I have a 50uF motor run cap that is half way to exploding, it has bulged nicely at the terminals, but did not get enough pressure to pop before it went low resistance ( about 100k or so at 250V test) but it does bounce nicely when dropped on the terminals.

author: Stephen1424
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 06:32:40 pm
content: Love it : )

author: Capital
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 07, 2013, 07:48:32 pm
content: Be extremely carful- I know someone who almost lost an eye to an exploding electrolytic capacitor. ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GLASSES!

author: Khashoggi
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 03:03:00 am
content: Impressive!

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 04:31:56 am
content: I was testing a 50 year old electrolytic last night and for whatever reason I had the alligator clips correct on the cap but connected them backwards to the battery. Luckily nothing happened bad just you could see on the multimeter it was fighting the charge. It would charge to about 5V and then stop and when you disconnected the leads, it quickly shot down and then went negative 0.8V. It took about 5 attempts before I realized what I did wrong.I have heard caps blow up though. On the other end of the building I worked at about 11 years ago heard what sounded like 2 gun shots. Everyone ran to the empty room to see the computer there off and some brown fluff on the wall behind it.When I opened it up I saw the blue jacket from the caps laying on the motherboard. The strange part was they were power supply caps and I didn't see any vents big enough to allow them through.

author: PokemonCookies
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 04:45:49 am
content: When I was younger I used a microwave transformer to blow up all kinds of caps.I'm really glad I wasn't hurt by either the voltage or the shrapnel.People should really take safety into consideration and never try this.