Holy $#!% Ultra-Capacitor

[vk2fro]

Large caps also have memory - they tend to recharge themselves after a short while even after you've made it go BANG! with a screwdriver.

 

[vk2fro]

I'd hate to see what $800 worth of these things could do

 

[Ghostchrome]

I blew up a small capacitor tonight (reversed the polarity, oops) and surprised the heck out of me.

Capacitors are scary man.

 

[LaZeRz]

lol Ghost, your growing up fast kid! Taking capacitors head on *sniffs*:cryyy:

 

[Fiddy]

we had a mass capacitor at work blow up...(over voltage) dam that thing let some energy loose, blew soo many chunks in bus bars! not to mention the flash and bang!

 

[vk2fro]

I thought it was common practice for electronics nuts to not only blow stuff up with capacitor banks, but also to blow up capacitors by connecting them backwards. The best ones are the non vented ones. Hell they make a bang

 

[Ghostchrome]

lol Ghost, your growing up fast kid! Taking capacitors head on *sniffs*:cryyy:

Haha thanks man. :crackup: +1

It was a small SMD style. I'm used to soldering through hole stuff. http://www.mouser.com:80/Search/Pro...irtualkey64600000virtualkey80-B45196H3106K109

I assumed that the side with the big line on it was the negative side like a diode. Whoops! Don't assume... look at the specsheet!

 

[aXit]

Haha thanks man. :crackup: +1

It was a small SMD style. I'm used to soldering through hole stuff. B45196H3106K109V17 Kemet Tantalum Capacitors - Solid SMD

I assumed that the side with the big line on it was the negative side like a diode. Whoops! Don't assume... look at the specsheet!

Tantalum capacitors with reversed polarity. Now there's a definite fire hazard. I had one in a laser host once for battery decoupling, a friend put the battery in the wrong way (no-one seems to understand the concept of case positive) And well, that was a bit of a bang.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

I thought it was common practice for electronics nuts to not only blow stuff up with capacitor banks, but also to blow up capacitors by connecting them backwards. The best ones are the non vented ones. Hell they make a bang

I'll be glad to donate my 4KV cap to blow up if someone wants it. But we need a video of it blowing up.

 

[vk2fro]

I'll be glad to donate my 4KV cap to blow up if someone wants it. But we need a video of it blowing up.

I'll pass on that one - someone with a pair of microwave oven transformers should be able to make it go pop. My bank will only go to 1350 volts once its finished, so would probably not be able to destroy a 4kv cap, even if reverse polarised (or if it does, it'll do so in non spectactular fashion)

Blowing up computer power supply caps should be fun tho - dumping 2.5-5kj into them reverse polarity at 3x their rated voltage *grin*

 

[Things]

I'll be glad to donate my 4KV cap to blow up if someone wants it. But we need a video of it blowing up.

PCB's and all?? I think I'll pass on that one too

 

[Jacob32123]

I remember seeing some powerline capacitors, 40kV range, for sale once.

I was recently told that a scrapyard around hear just got some powerline caps, and is selling them for $55 each. I just cant find a way to charge them otherwise I would get a few :eg:

EDIT: post 445

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Just buy one of those cheap USB plasma balls and you'll have all the high voltage you need from its flyback transformer.

 

[Benm]

This might do the trick for charging High Voltage Caps - and it is only US $9.79 plus free shipping

6.8 Million Volt Mini Stun Gun LED Light (Rechargeable) | eBay

Heck who needs boostcaps ? . . . If you bought 10 of these mini stun guns and connected them in series you could have 68 million volts to play with :evil:

Edit: might be a slight problem finding jumper connecting wire having insulation rated in millions of volts

Hehe.. apart from not producing a voltage nearly that high, you often cant wire these things in series - the output is alternating current.

They often work in a 2 stage process: the battery charges a capactor to several hundred volts, just like the system in a photo flash. The capacitor connects to a step up transformer via a sparkgap, resulting in the high output voltage. This will not yield you megavolts, but unloaded something in the order of 10 - 100 kV would be feasible if the secondary transformer is built well enough.

 

[Cyparagon]

Yeah, that's a BS rating. If it were true, it could jump across like... 6 feet which is a stretch even for most tesla coils.

 

[Jacob32123]

I'll be glad to donate my 4KV cap to blow up if someone wants it. But we need a video of it blowing up.

What type of cap? Would low voltage reverse polarity work?