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Topic: Pooohf! |
Ray Montee
From:
Portland, Oregon (deceased)
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Posted 19 Aug 2010 7:39 pm |
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I've enjoyed a hassel-free, electronics experience for several decades, no crackle, no pop, no static.
Just got to wondering what happens if a capacitator goes poof?
Same.....what about a power tube?
What aboue a transformer?
Is there a SMELL of melting or burning plastic or whatever? Is there a cloud of SMOKE?
Care to share your experiences? |
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Brint Hannay
From:
Maryland, USA
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Posted 19 Aug 2010 7:46 pm
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| The output transformer in my Deluxe Reverb amp went up in smoke back in 1984 (shorted output tube, I suppose, and some idiot--not me, I swear! I was too ignorant even to do something so stupid--had put in a 10 amp fuse, where the correct fuse is 2 amp!). The smoke had the most awful, toxic chemical smell I've ever experienced, and there was a lot of it! |
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Brendan Mitchell
From:
Melbourne Australia
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Posted 20 Aug 2010 12:10 am
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| All I can say is don't let the smoke get out , if it does you can't get it back in and the thing will never work without it . |
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Pit Lenz
From:
Cologne, Germany
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Posted 20 Aug 2010 12:47 am
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Hi Ray,
"exploding capacitors" or something similar in YouTube`s search field will get you many results, like this or this one for example... |
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Dick Sexton
From:
Greenville, Ohio
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Posted 20 Aug 2010 4:06 am Capacitors...
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| This is what most often happens, at the voltage levels we deal with in modern consumer electronics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDGjWOabJ2E&feature=related Not to say the dramatic doesn't happen at all, it does occasionally, but usually when an electrolytic capacitor is installed backwards. The aforementioned based on personal experience. If it could be done, I probably did it, at least once. Notice the lines and crimp marks on top of the capacitors, those are expansion points, to allow room for internal gas build up(Smoke?). Probably mandated by the electronics police to protect us. |
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Rick Schacter
From:
Portland, Or.
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Posted 20 Aug 2010 3:31 pm Re: Pooohf!
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| Ray Montee wrote: |
Is there a SMELL of melting or burning plastic or whatever? Is there a cloud of SMOKE?
Care to share your experiences? |
Ray,
The answer to your question about smell is YES!
I use to work for Fender Musical Instruments when they were here in Lake Oswego,Or.
When the production people would install a pwr. supply cap backwards, the whole factory knew about it. KABOOM! 
If an output tube goes bad, it could take out some other components and your room will smell like burning plastic. I saw a few output tubes make circuit boards go up in smoke on the "burn in rack".
I didn't see any transformers die in the factory, but a few years ago I was playing somewhere when my output transformer decided to go belly up. It smelled TERRIBLE! Good thing I always carry a backup amp.
Rick
Last edited by Rick Schacter on 20 Aug 2010 5:32 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Len Ryder
From:
Penticton B.C.
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Posted 20 Aug 2010 4:11 pm
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Ray:
Many, many years ago while doing a tour in Northern British Columbia we were working with a supplied power generator. Some Do Do turned up the R.P.M.'s on the generator that was on a trailer. Some of the lightbulbs in the hall popped. Then I smelled something burning, Turning around there was my Fender amp smoking like a wet campfire. The trasnsformer was kapoot.
Len Ryder |
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Billy Tonnesen
From:
R.I.P., Buena Park, California
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Posted 20 Aug 2010 8:59 pm
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| I had an Amp where the one of the bolts that held the Transformer in place came loose and the Transformer leaned into one of the other circuits and then here comes the Smoke & Smell. |
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Alan Brookes
From:
Brummy living in Southern California
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Posted 21 Aug 2010 9:19 am
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I had a problem after I moved from England to the US thirty years ago. I brought with me a tape recorder that had a switch to change from 240 volts to 110 volts. What they don't tell you, and very few people realise, is that you have to change the fuse after you switch from 240 to 110.
The reason is obvious, if you think about it. The recorder is going to consume the same number of watts no matter the voltage, so if you halve the voltage you double the amperage, and your 5 amp fuse has to be changed for a 10 amp or it will blow. 
That's what happened to me... the fuses kept blowing. I got the usual sweet burning smell.  |
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Archie Nicol R.I.P.
From:
Ayrshire, Scotland
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Posted 21 Aug 2010 4:14 pm
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Alan, I thought you were about to make a comment about gay capacitors/capacitators!
Arch. |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 21 Aug 2010 4:52 pm
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| Years ago I was playing a monthly Opry type show in Waxhaw NC, we were in the middle of the steel solo in some fast tune, and I noticed the teenage gals in the front row all pointing at me with wide eyes, I'm thinking I was pretty hot until I heard a nasty noise and turned to see 8 inch green flames coming out of the back of my amp. Power supply caps, as I recall. I don't remember the smell, but they were purty green flames! |
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Robert Harper
From:
Alabama, USA
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Posted 22 Aug 2010 10:12 am Wrong Title IMHO
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The title of this thread should be when good amps go bad, sorry Ray couldn't resist. Maybe something more muscial All Smoked Up
_________________
"Oh what a tangled web we weave when we first begin to deceive" Someone Famous |
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