NEW SEGMENT: EEVsmoke #1

[Cerebus]

My HP8656B sig gen IEC mains filter. You better have the correct fuse in your mains feed when this burns up as it's before the fuse.

Not the first Schaffner filter I've seen that happen to. There's a period - I forget exactly when - where the caps they fitted to those aged badly, even on the shelf. Recently, I had one that had been on the shelf for years go up about 15 minutes after power was applied. As I was sitting next to it at the time I got a face full of capacitor smoke, the shit scared out of me and clothes that still smelt evil after a couple of washes. It's still on the back step waiting to be autopsied once the smell has faded a bit.

[EEVblog]

I got 50 emails with new submissions!, please no more for now.

[Cerebus]

I got 50 emails with new submissions!, please no more for now.

Aww, I was going to conduct an 'autopsy' that I'd been putting off. Just for you.

If you've got a big pile of them, collecting similar failures together could be quite instructive. Either similar components with a range of failure modes, or alternatively similar failure modes across dissimilar components - scratch that, the latter sounds a bit dumb.

It's already been quite instructive that Rifa X class caps have had a lot of discussion in this thread.

[madires]

Not the first Schaffner filter I've seen that happen to. There's a period - I forget exactly when - where the caps they fitted to those aged badly, even on the shelf. Recently, I had one that had been on the shelf for years go up about 15 minutes after power was applied. As I was sitting next to it at the time I got a face full of capacitor smoke, the shit scared out of me and clothes that still smelt evil after a couple of washes. It's still on the back step waiting to be autopsied once the smell has faded a bit.

Congratulations! You've found a Rifa cap

[SeanB]

Rifa, Real Intense Fire Action.

[max_torque]

"exploded" IGBT, after the soot has been washed off:




Lots of melty carnage on the Gate/Source boundary! 

[ion]

However, the first thing that greeted me when I opened the case was this:
(I've brightened up the image so you can see a bit more detail)


Don't think I'll be trying to resurrect the UPS ...

That looks like my UPS did a few months ago (something went wrong while probing an intermittent fault).  After the flames died down I cleaned it up, replaced the MOSFETs and a shorted diode and it came back to life - so even looking like that, it might not be that hard to repair.  Pity I didn't take a picture of my unit at the time.

[tautech]

However, the first thing that greeted me when I opened the case was this:
(I've brightened up the image so you can see a bit more detail)


Don't think I'll be trying to resurrect the UPS ...

That looks like my UPS did a few months ago (something went wrong while probing an intermittent fault).  After the flames died down I cleaned it up, replaced the MOSFETs and a shorted diode and it came back to life - so even looking like that, it might not be that hard to repair.  Pity I didn't take a picture of my unit at the time.

The UPS or your underpants ? 

[larrybl]

Speaking of UPS's, Batteries having a bad day. 

[Cerebus]

Speaking of UPS's, Batteries having a bad day. 

Ooo, that is nasty. It's bad enough having to clean up any mess, but when that mess contains sulphuric acid and dissolved lead salts it really is a bad day.

[jonovid]

Quote from: larrybl on Today at 01:02:45 AM

Speaking of UPS's, Batteries having a bad day. 

Ooo, that is nasty. It's bad enough having to clean up any mess, but when that mess contains sulphuric acid and dissolved lead salts it really is a bad day.

Hydrogen .......... Boom!

[Cerebus]

Quote from: larrybl on Today at 01:02:45 AM

Speaking of UPS's, Batteries having a bad day. 

Ooo, that is nasty. It's bad enough having to clean up any mess, but when that mess contains sulphuric acid and dissolved lead salts it really is a bad day.

Hydrogen .......... Boom!

If they're in a submarine, Chlorine. Even worse...

[fable]

HV transformer from crt tv

[Kfj]

What happens when you don't pay attention to the voltage rating on an electrolytic capacitor

[mcs_5]

Regarding the Rifa PME271, these are a classic for failures. The potting material appers to be too brittle, cracks form, moisture gets in.
The metalised paper winding starts increasing capacitance (good?) and increasing loss factor (sure not good).
When connected to the mains, things get ugly.

Not only Rifa/Kemet have this problem - Wima MP3 caps do the same thing. They release a lot of white smoke, a terrible smell, and spew brown stuff on the board area next to them.

[EPTech]

"exploded" IGBT, after the soot has been washed off:




Lots of melty carnage on the Gate/Source boundary!

Hi there,

I never cleaned of the soot of one of those, not to mention the sticky gel that comes with it . very interesting. What type of IGBT was it? How many amps?
Are you sure it is the gate source that failed? Looks more like the source drain to me. The gate usaully has the smallest surface on an IGBT. It could be the structure to the left side of your picture though I usually see the gate in the middle of an IGBT. Also, gate source failures are usually more subtle. Sometimes they can be seen as a very faint darker line or spot escaping from the gate structure.

I have a couple of failed power modules lying around. I tried taking some pictures but I am sorry to say I do not have the equipment to take that kind of a macro shot. Your picture is amazing. Thanks for sharing.

[EEVblog]

Not my kind of segment without failure analysis.
But I don't have to watch it. So go for it. 45k views indicate a lot of people like it.

75k views now and only 10% thumbs down, so more than enough to do another one.
Another one should show the true interest. Lots are going to click on the first one just to see what's going on.

[SeanB]

"exploded" IGBT, after the soot has been washed off:




Lots of melty carnage on the Gate/Source boundary!

Hi there,

I never cleaned of the soot of one of those, not to mention the sticky gel that comes with it . very interesting. What type of IGBT was it? How many amps?
Are you sure it is the gate source that failed? Looks more like the source drain to me. The gate usaully has the smallest surface on an IGBT. It could be the structure to the left side of your picture though I usually see the gate in the middle of an IGBT. Also, gate source failures are usually more subtle. Sometimes they can be seen as a very faint darker line or spot escaping from the gate structure.

I have a couple of failed power modules lying around. I tried taking some pictures but I am sorry to say I do not have the equipment to take that kind of a macro shot. Your picture is amazing. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, more like the integrated PNP power transistor itself had a SOA failure. IGBT devices are funny, the only place since they stopped making commercial Ge devices where you find a power PNP device.

http://www.ixys.com/Documents/AppNotes/IXYS_IGBT_Basic_I.pdf

[Cerebus]

Yes, more like the integrated PNP power transistor itself had a SOA failure. IGBT devices are funny, the only place since they stopped making commercial Ge devices where you find a power PNP device.

I'm sure that can't be what you meant to say. There are an awful lot of PNP power transistors in the world.

[SeanB]

Yes, more like the integrated PNP power transistor itself had a SOA failure. IGBT devices are funny, the only place since they stopped making commercial Ge devices where you find a power PNP device.

I'm sure that can't be what you meant to say. There are an awful lot of PNP power transistors in the world.

True there are power PNP devices, but almost all SMPS applications use 2 NPN power devices, and there are no PNP transistors designed for line output switch application as far as I know. My bet was if there ever was one it would have been in a Sony TV set, as a complement to those lovely GCS thyristors that they were enamoured of for a decade or three.

[Stupid Beard]

Not my kind of segment without failure analysis.
But I don't have to watch it. So go for it. 45k views indicate a lot of people like it.

75k views now and only 10% thumbs down, so more than enough to do another one.
Another one should show the true interest. Lots are going to click on the first one just to see what's going on.

For what it's worth, I watched the second one to see if my opinion would be different. I still think that it's a subject that's better suited to a forum thread than a video. I did watch the whole of it, but for the last couple of minutes I found myself switching to another tab and reading other stuff. I don't think I'll continue watching eevsmoke unless I'm bored and there's nothing else to watch.

I also did not thumbs down either video, because giving a thumbs down just due to my personal preference seems like a shit reason to thumbs down a video.

One way I think that this could work in a video format would be as part of a small segment in a regular larger segmented format show type thing. But that would be more work and is not really the way you like to film things so maybe that's a crap suggestion.

[WackyGerman]

Here we see the control board of a led bulb after a delayed new years eve bang

[Godzil]

Is this the bigdavedotcom channel???

[tpowell1830]

I think this would be boring unless there is video of the actual event.
i have seen plenty of burned components in my career.

PEACE===>T

[Brumby]

Burned is boring.

What works here is the exceptional - detonations, capturing magic smoke and other intriguing failures.