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Almost Got My Eye Poked Out

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josh132:
So you all know, when you connect an IC to the wrong voltage and put 10x more current its capable of, the IC blows up. Faulty ICs and mosfets can blow up. I was using an IRF530N n channel mosfet for some general switching, but as i rose the voltage, the mosfet blew up. the shrapnel hit the lower part of my eye leaving a black eye and a lot of pain. Moral of the story: always double check if you set your current limiting correctly. I had it set at 20 amp. On a faulty mosfet.

Someone:
or you know... wear PPE when dealing with high energy systems.

rstofer:
The real lesson is to always wear safety glasses.  Not that I expect many people to actually do that but when you are working with high energy, "oopsies" are always a possibility.

jmelson:
Yup, years ago I was working on a 1 KW power factor corrector / inverter.  I had a problem with it blowing IGBTs.
I eventually started powering it up while crouched under the bench with ear protectors on, after having a pair of IGBTs simultaneously pass by both sides of my head by a few inches, glowing yellow!

Jon

VK3DRB:
Tantalum caps that have been soldered in reverse can have a much more dramatic effect. I have seen in manufacturing on occasion, fireballs of white hot tantalum capacitor material fly off the board. In one case melting a deep hole in ESD flooring. After this, all PCBA ICT and functional test equipment required shields; and all debug technicians were required to wear safety goggles as a condition of their employment.

Who was the clown that came up with the hare-brained idea that the negative line marking (-) means positive on a tantalum capacitor? I see no common sense in this approach. The negative line means negative on everything else including electrolytic capacitors, schematics and in mathematics.

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