Mr. Joules - when things fail catastrophically ;)

[joeqsmith]

I don't see a reason to start a new thread.   Maybe you could rename the thread to something more fitting. 

I'm enjoying watching them.   I saw your last two.  The inductor was my favorite so far. I was surprised to see the Ferrite get damaged.   It may be good to post the details of the new parts you run (fuse holders and fuses).   

I like the additional lamp to discharge the system. I do something similar where I always have a load. So, even if the leads are not connected to anything all of the energy is dissipated internally. If you continue to add capacitors, you may want to find something better to drain it down.  The bulb may explode at some point.   In my discharge probe, I think I have 10K or high voltage resistors.  These are in parallel with another resistor and LED.  The LED stays on to about 20 volts.   I still strap the thing.. 

Looking forward to seeing your fuse holder test! Stay safe!

 

[joeqsmith]

I played with some 20 and 30mm 1A fast blow glass fuses using a bench supply, car battery, the AC line and my generator.  I tried running a panel mount fuse holder as well.  Like you show with Mr Joules, the 30mm parts are more forgiving, sometimes.   

Looking forward to seeing your fuse holder test. 


 

[randomtronic]

Here is a fuse holder from ebay on request from chickenHeadKnob and joeqsmith




I tried... 

[chickenHeadKnob]

Thankyou for going the extra mile on my request. I am some what reassured now as I use similar panel mount protection on my projects and am on wimpy North  American  120v power grid. 

[joeqsmith]

Subscribed.   I was really not sure what to expect.  Thanks for running it. 

Is there a Mr Joules 2.0 in the works? 

[randomtronic]

Subscribed.   I was really not sure what to expect.  Thanks for running it. 

Is there a Mr Joules 2.0 in the works?

Thanks! No, there is no plans for Mr. Joules 2.0, but rather evolution as I go along. Eventually it will become 2.0 naturally, just have to see what mods will be necessary.

I have another type of fuse holder coming, an inline type on a wire. It looks wimpy on pictures, might be interesting video

[joeqsmith]

I have another type of fuse holder coming, an inline type on a wire. It looks wimpy on pictures, might be interesting video

Sounds good.  Looking forward to it.   

[CCitizenTO]

Impressive stuff. Thanks to these videos I know why Dave makes such a big deal about HRC fuses over those cheap glass ones.

[randomtronic]

The rubber band is not in use anymore, i have changed the chamber door to "slide in" and added some interlocks. Have a look at the newer Mr. Joules in the playlist

[CCitizenTO]

Yeah I seen you upgraded to v1.1 and the slide on protection looks much more sturdy.

As for components to put into Mr. Joules... I'd love to see some cheap binary logic gate DIP chips handle 400V and a ton of joules 

I went to school for Computer Networking and they made us take some basic electronics courses. Of course one of the other students put one of the caps in backwards and blew it up... So being immature college kids we blew up a few more intentionally for laughs (because it's so easy to get them to fail catastrophically)

[randomtronic]

OK, here is Mr. Joules episode from today: RFP12N10L MOSFET. Observe the sparks show

[MacMeter]

The rubber band is not in use anymore, i have changed the chamber door to "slide in" and added some interlocks. Have a look at the newer Mr. Joules in the playlist

Knowing very little about electronics, all I can comment on is I LOVE the inginuity of the box. The use of materials one can find around the home is great. My favorite of course, the CLOTHESPINS, I'll miss the rubber bands. Well done. All I can suggest is save up for a camera that can capture at higher FPS.

[Ian.M]

Actually I quite liked the rubber band, as it effectively allowed overpressure in the chamber to dissipate easily, though it could have done with a deflector round the sides, and IMHO the operating handle shouldn't be at the chamber end.  The sliding lid design wont fail safe, and there's no way of telling how much blast energy it can actually withstand.  e.g. a large Tantalum bead cap might be a little too exciting for it

Personally, I'd add a pullcord or other mechanical remote trigger mechanism so you can stand back + a plastic 45 deg mirror on a stand so you and the camera can look down into the chamber without being in the line of fire if anything fails.

[randomtronic]

The chamber is not fully closed to relieve the pressure if present. The side towards the voltmeter is fully open, so if anything goes really bang, it should vent through there. The side towards the handle is solid, so should prevent any blast from heading that way.

I honestly think it is relatively safe as long as I don't touch the wires directly. And during discharge I never look at it, but away from it (too scary    ) so if there is any debris, it will hit me in the back (I guess less important part than face...)

I am worried for the camera sometimes, but its a distance away and zoomed in, plus it has a UV filter on, which is just a replaceable layer that would have to break before anything reaches actual camera optics.

large Tantalum bead cap

Thanks for suggestion, I will look for one...

[joeqsmith]

My first generators, I was not too concerned about safety.  The voltages started out pretty low and the energy levels were below 1J.  This changed.  I made my boxes out of 1/4" plate aluminum as I was concerned if the generators internals cut loose it may be worse than the meters.

[randomtronic]

Hi All,

Here is episode 13 of Mr. Joules's adventures: an in line fuse holder which refuses to blow up  (perhaps because it's the 13th episode... )

[Terrius]

I'm impressed that these videos seem to prove that any fuse holder (even the super cheap ones) are better than just a bare fuse. Which I supposed should be fairy obvious, but it's a good bit of information for a newbie like me!

Keep up all the destruction! Hopefully you can test out a small ceramic 20mm fuse soon!