EEVblog #42 - Exploding Capacitors in High Speed

[@paparoysworkshop]

The first cap I blew up accidentally was back in the sixties when I was just a kid. More noise than damage, but was a real wake up call for me to be more careful when playing with things I did not yet understand.

[@grzesiek1x]

the same here! And this is the moment you realise that you need to learn and understand more than you think! Fortunetelly usuelly there is no damage but a lot of surprise hahah (I blew once a medium size capacitor and it was sooo loud but since then I am really carreful..)

[@neway518]

The first cap that I blew up was a small electrolytic during the laboratory time in high school, deliberately😂

[@CNKayutube]

I tried it once a long time ago. ran an extension cord out in the front yard put in a 470uf 25V and went into the garage and plugged in to the mains. US 120V. about 5sec and man what a loud explosion. it was dynamite.

[@mattrainey9259]

That made my day!

[@IsettasRock]

Blew up lots of caps when I was a young, damn government wouldn't allow us kids to have firecrackers so we had to improvise. Quickly learned how dangerous they can be, I didn't have the balls to go bigger than 470uF at 10v in size.... that was scary enough.

[@JustWickedSwede]

I threw a cap in dads barbeque grill after pulling it out of an old radio. I think I actually played that it was a piece of dynamite (I think I was five). Little did I know that it would explode and spew glowing charcoal all over me and the garden.

[@computergarage-australia2301]

+En Person lol

[@prizedcoffeecup]

First capacitor: Craps it's guts sideways Second capacitor: Pops it's top, then becomes a fireball. Third capacitor: WORLD WAR FREAKING 3 INSTANTANEOUSLY!

[@metalmoto]

Blew the alligator clips off my wires. One cap embedded itself into a nearby wall. Lot's of fun, but stand far away, and have something to shield you from flying pieces.

[@EEVblog]

I am using an external mic. But the Sanyo doesn't have an screen audio level meters, so not as easy to setup as the old cam. Need more practice.

[@robertherberg9595]

That last one pissed off your neighbors. Now we know what they were talking about.

[@av6966]

learning about electronics .... watch EEVblog and see this, smile at the bag of capacitors inside my drawer! Ace video Dave!

[@dell177]

Many years ago I was working on the bench next to someone testing a fais sized military power supply. He ran the variac up and then tried to dial it down fast. Not quite fast enough - one of the computer grade caps was in backwards and it launched out of it's case up into the overhead 8 foot flourescent fixture. There was smoke and glass everywhere. Those computer grades could be pretty spectacular when they let go.

[@qoaa]

next lets try supercapacitors

[@NJPurling]

I had an electrolytic blow like that in a radio I was building. In my defence I will say that it was late, I was tired and maybe not paying as much attention as I ought to have. The bang of the electrolytic sure woke me up. The effect was like one of those party poppers, but without the pretty coloured paper. Are you sure the alleged tantalum capacitor was not really an electric igniter to light your gas stove?

[@turboslag]

Would be interesting to see something like a 47,000 MF 25V would do when subjected to that treatment, and I just happen to have one!

[@gonXay]

Well, did you die?

[@MelroyvandenBerg]

+gonXay I think so, I didn't answer anymore since...

[@3OrMoreBones]

And the government thought firecrackers were unsafe.

[@VomAdminEditiert]

A few months ago i soldered some caps parallel on a stripboard to do some testing. So I hooked it up to 4 AA Batteries in series and tried like an idiot to get the connector in; didn't realized I tried to hook it up the wrong way. Still glad these didn't blow up, not even a single bump on the vents...

[@vaporlock32578]

I just repaired a large audio power amp that had lots of damaged components (physically damaged) at first I was looking for the bullet hole in the outer case LOL and then realized that an axial el cap blew up and went down the board like a bullet!

[@BlackXeno]

Anyone here after the last mailbag (# 1410)?

[@htomerif]

Ah, I remember the terrible terrible stink of exploding electrolytic capacitors. If I remember right, you get the job done quicker and with a bit more bang if you bias them correctly and just exceed their voltage rating.

[@whiskeyify]

I used to do this when I got bored in the tv repair shop...I'd hook them up to the AC variable transformer and blow them up. there's a lot of smoke that comes out and I don't think it's good to breathe.

[@Adamisgood24]

I've done this with a model train variable transformer, and electrolytic capacitors, when I was 17.

[@MrMacman98]

You can use AC to blow up caps, halogen downlight transformer works best for smaller ones

[@douglas787]

I guess there is a connection btw electronics guys and blowing up parts.When I was a kid I started out blowing up LEDs which would crack or the top would blow off when too much current passed through. Of course I blew up caps too, but the best explosions I got was from the old carbon batteries, like d cells they had back in the 70's. Alkiline didn't do much, but the carbon ones would explode when hooked up to 120 vac for 15 seconds or so. I built a battery holder with nails for terminals.

[@Derundurel]

When tantalum bead capacitors blow their ends off, they usually leave a nice little smoke trail!

[@SimoWill75]

Woah! The old metallic blue RB electro you're holding takes me back to the 1980's and Dick Smith funway kits!!

[@gregjhill]

Cool!!! Even better across the 240V mains!

[@andygozzo72]

Ooh, definitely! ;-)

[@thediemaster]

i remimber back in the day i had a old 300mhz celeron computer i built (first one i ever built my self) and a week later a cap in the power supply blew up like a bullet. shot out of the power supply case and computer case leaving bullet-like holes and embedding it's self across the room in our stone mason fireplace. glad i wasn't sitting next to the computer at the time.

[@zerorisers]

Damnit Dave! Stop giving me ideas! XD

[@wire54321]

zerorisers ideas No, excuses Yes; just do it

[@Toastmaster_5000]

holy crap i had no idea such a little capacitor could so violently explode. i've got a couple caps lying around easily 4x the size that would probably have a much more violent explosion.

[@computergarage-australia2301]

+Peter Schmidt could probably scare the crap out of your neighbours

[@EEVblog]

Pretty darn loud. The wife was inside and came running out to see what the bang was :->

[@shamshiffs4429938]

Hi , i am currently working on a project as part of my uni and was planning to implement a supercapacitor based storage system. After watching your video I am very dreaded and giving second thoughts. I have been going through lot of documents where people talk about balancing circuits using resistors, inductors or caps but not any concrete circuit ideas. Can you please make a video over supercapacitor balancing circuit please??

[@GratefulJWB]

For a lot of laughs, take a handfull of those 10uf tantalum caps and insert them into a switch-controlled outlet. BE SURE THE SWITCH IS OFF!!! When the next unsuspecting person walks into the room and flips on the switch for the lights, all hell breaks loose!

[@neway518]

Will there be any danger of explosion during the process of reforming at 10% voltage step of large 5800uF 400V capacitors? Any fire risk? I intend to do it in the bathtub (without water of course) and covering it with a plastic tub (how big should it be to allow for air expansion during explosion?) with vent to prevent electrolytes spraying all over.

[@whiskeyify]

I fix tv's and have had these caps blow up in my face...now I always wear some glasses...they also protect your eyes when soldering.

[@kd01492]

Makes a rocket if you do it from a breadboard; that's what I did by accident in EE lab some 30 years ago. Shot a perfect arch across the room. Ha,ha.

[@VoidHalo]

Looks like the can of that 3rd cap just went shooting off like a rocket.

[@Geoffr524]

Love it, much fun here. If you ran out of igniters for model rockets, you could use a capacitor, like the one used at 02:30

[@Hellhound604]

just watching these caps explode brings back the smell.... Nothing like the smell of an exploding cap

[@QlueDuPlessis]

Now do this with a 2F 20V capacitor! :P They're used in car audio applications for that mobile rock concert effect. You may need a bigger blast shield... :P

[@computergarage-australia2301]

+Aadil Shah that would be 1 hell of a blast......dave might get a visit from the cops too

[@hyvahyva]

That one doesn't have a safety vent; that actually is the Nasty Failure Mode. They only use the non-vented design on very small caps like this where the energy that will be released by the cap blowing off isn't like, enough to be of interest to Mythbusters or anything

[@andygozzo72]

Ever come across those little bulk ceramic plate caps destroying themselves? Had an io card in a pc that would pop one every few minutes in a puff of stinky smoke!, had to replace the lot on it!

[@SirDamned]

man, that non vented electrolytic, blew its guts all over the shop

[@deemas82]

@gglovato DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! You know, another fun experiment: get a large, high voltage cap, charge it up (don't blow it) and throw it against a metal door/wall/sheet. They'll weld on with a loud pop. If you mistakenly grab both contacts, it won't be pleasant (anyone who dissasembled a camera with a flash probably knows), but it's a lot of fun. DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!

[@Armadurapersonal]

blew a 330uf 25v cap the other day, sounded like a 22 going off in my lab!

[@f-s-r]

One day we blew lots of them on the technical school. I'm not sure what the professor was doing, but at some point, someone killed a big, naked-aluminium, ancient cap, and hell it didn't even explode, but it created quite some smoke screen. What the hell did they put inside them, anyways? The smoke smelled like piss. Well, at the end we all sort of evacuated the lab, and the one next to it because of the smoke.

[@ROBK636]

I had one explode on me in the right polarity. A small 22uf 15v one. The casing ruptured instead of popping off like that last one. Smoke(steam?) with a hiss and then a loud bang. I never did find all of the pieces.

[@gaijintendo]

I sincerely hope you get a whole bunch more varieties of cap to play with, this was great.

[@asdf7108]

Are you done with that capacitor i lent you? I need it for my mom's life support machine..

[@michaelricketson1365]

Ha ha ha ha!

[@wire54321]

You mean the one he blew up? Lol

[@danielhildebrand6892]

Dave needs to revisit this today....

[@MacGuffin1]

@EEVblog Yeah I once saw a colleague forget to switch back to 240v from 110 on a VERY expensive linear amp (a really big one ;-) & it blasted off 2 huge electrolytics that were about the size of 12 gauge shotgun cartridges & went off with more force denting the 2mil stainless case from the inside leaving 2 large indentations. I felt sooo bad for him :( I think it fryed some tracks also.. BTW blowing-up caps is a bad idea as the contents are often carcinogenic. Luv ur show.. where's pickit link?

[@KB1UIF]

I had a cap part my hair working in the tv repair trade as an apprentice. My boss had two big smoothing caps blow up in his face while trying to detect where the heat was from. Some jerk had replaced the caps or the bridge rectifier and put them it backwards. Funny now but not at the time.

[@achemachew]

I have that too! I wonder why many people don't have that!

[@moderngeek7911]

Do this with a fully enclosed metal one without the blowoff cap. I've had one instantaneously go off, and it was scary! 36V to a 12V cap due to a miscalculation.

[@WesselLemmer]

Is it considered bad practice to glue the tops of these vented caps to the casing of a product? i mean covering the vent lines entirely. I would think it is and i've seen it done in some chargers I teared down recently. This was some proper gray glue and the caps was 330uf mains, their tops glued right up against the case, if they went it would blow that thing to pieces.

[@ourplesoop]

I blew up a small radial capacitor like that in my hand while staring at it without any face protection. Obviously not on purpose. Amazingly I didn't get hurt. Let's just say I'll never make the mistake of reversing the polarity again.

[@EEVblog]

@gglovato For sure, caps can be seriously dangerous.

[@djentlover]

Yeah they do explode even with vents

[@soteriology1012]

I was curious if over charging an electrolytic or tantalum capacitor in the correct polarity would be more spectacular than charging it in the wrong direction. In fact I wonder about overvolting any capacitor in the right direction. Oh do you remember the famous scene in the old class B Sci-Fi movie "This Island Earth" where they overcharged an alien technology capacitor that supposedly had enough capacity to power a whole city?

[@grawey77]

Enjoyed the video buddy. I have one question though; how much coffee do you drink in a day?

[@mr_gerber]

@EEvblog Revisit with the chronos high speed, maybe?

[@Gin-toki]

It would be nice to see the videocaptures in real time with sound too :)

[@computergarage-australia2301]

+Pelle Reinke yes wouldnt mind hearing how loud the blast actually was

[@KevinChen5]

The music at the beginning sounds familiar...

[@rubber20021]

Plans for super condensors coming/????

[@dalksnis]

capacitors*

[@syonastarlight]

I want to see this done to one of those huge car amplifier caps.

[@thehappylittlefoxakabenji8154]

cool and dangerous I've seen a cap put a dent in a 10 gauge steel case !

[@feynthefallen]

You should get together with the slomo guys and see if you can borrow some time on their phantom.

[@sonnyfontes558]

Imagine if one of those caps blew up in the back of someone's TV. And I thought modern caps were bad.

[@TheBrentieman]

Failure like that is very rare. The reason this one blew up so hard is because Dave put a reverse voltage on it. When a capacitor pops in a TV it's usually because the electrolyte dried up, and not reverse voltage.

[@pikuorguk]

Nice :) I think you now need to investigate what happens when regular alkaline batteries are put in that 45 minute super charger from the other week...

[@IRFP260N]

Never had that before, since my latest cake had resistors.

[@bellinivernon]

Exelente canal ! ; gracias ,desde argentina.

[@EEVblog]

@ModernGeek That's a pretty big miscalculation! #shithappens

[@LaraSchilling]

I wish you were one of my teachers. Seriously. I mean, it was cool when the acting head teacher burnt resistors last year, but this is even better! HAHAHAHA!

[@chandin69]

lol i used to do the same thing hooking them up on the reverse to lantern batteries

[@adrianzie]

Fantastic video!!!

[@ValirAmaril]

Never gets old

[@achemachew]

Blowing up capacitors is a pastime of mine!

[@MrHowzaa]

What do you say about putting a huge electrolytic capacitor in circuit at your local 130Mvar substation?

[@samulinukala585]

only thing that has changed is that he calls the camera bastard

[@frogz]

focus ye bastard! im only here on this video because im interested in the topic, hey dave you wanna re-do this video with your newer cameras?

[@EEVblog]

This blog made it on to BoingBoing, so 27K views in a matter of hours!

[@martinkuliza]

BLOWING UP CAPS....... You can't go wrong 10 years later, people are still watching hehe

[@EEVblog]

@grawey77 None. It's called enthusiasm.

[@stawmy]

Try a 10,000uF cap with 300volts AC, or reverse feed an old speaker transformer (4 ohm at 240vac)-you should get a nice green glow before it blows (don't try this at home)

[@p4tmchef]

Awwwwwww. You didn't start out with "HI"

[@javierlazo398]

you should get in contact with the slowmo guys and capture in ultra slow motion :D

[@EEVblog]

@DanFrederiksen I have been know to exaggerate a tad from time to time...

[@DedmenMiller]

thank you... now im scared of sitting next to my computer ;D

[@audiodood]

What a classic.

[@WizzRacing]

They can fix them, we have the technology!

[@daftbeyer]

Impossible! how could have 10 capacitors seen this video

[@DjRobin2000]

supply 230Vac 1000uF/25V = instant hard explosion = glowing red hot core = hole in carpet ;(

[@gonnmz]

I want the 2020 remake with 10k FPS!

[@gryzman]

capacitive diods blow up nicely too :)

[@awsomemustang]

The last cap is like "bitch let me fly weeeeee"

[@imRyRy]

I like you, you're very up-beat and interesting. Keep it up!

[@bmxanthrowolf]

One and a half volts over the rating, or one and a half volts?

[@SigEpBlue]

My next birthday cake will have reverse-polarity tantalum capacitor candles. :3

[@hyvahyva]

I have a scrape in my glasses from one of these

[@MelroyvandenBerg]

DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME! Although he said so...

[@spudw2k]

1:40 1st 2:12 2nd 3:05 3rd

[@jagai]

loved the video

[@computergarage-australia2301]

that was cool

[@DjRobin2000]

yes, also lithium batts

[@jks2]

the second on burned as hell!