Electrolytic Nightmare?

[HUGH]

I always stick to known brands.

8846

Rubycon is fine but they wouldn't last long over 35V.

[KC2UGV]

And they sure wouldn't be 6800uF either...

[n2ize]

Wow !! The wrong condenser in a phony can.

[W5GA]

I'd sure hate to see that in a high voltage unit!

[w2amr]

I always stick to known brands.

8846

Rubycon is fine but they wouldn't last long over 35V.
Did you open it up?

[kb2vxa]

I saw that picture and comments about e-Bay caps on the intertubes two years ago, who you jivin' with that cosmik debris?

[KC9SQR]

That's just not cool....

[NY4Q]

I'd not seen that but it doesn't surprise me.

[HUGH]

It's probably an old picture but I only spotted it recently.

During the process of fail-safe testing electrolytics I always opened one sample and destroyed several more. The idea was to overload them splitting the can open at the end, emitting some vapour, mostly water, and then just sit there acting open-circuit.

Certainly one Chinese manufacturer assured us that their capacitors were fail safe but when it came to testing 250Vdc caps with 400Vac (quite possible in event of a rectifier failure) they didn't burst the can until it had swollen frighteningly and then caught fire, burning with a green flame. Another maker's sample looked hand wound inside the can, they passed the tests but the construction ruled them out.

Don't do this at home unless it's behind a screen, you have suitable smoke extraction and a fire extinguisher to hand. Alternatively, in the summer, what I preferred was to do a whole batch out of doors in the field behind the laboratory and see how far the can's contents would travel. A most enjoyable aspect of testing.

[kb2vxa]

You sound like the Mythbusters but remember the motto they stole from me. If at first you don't succeed use a bigger hammer, if all else fails dynamite always works. I've seen catastrophic failure take many forms, the most spectacular was the can rupturing with a bang and everything flying over a wide area. The most common was venting, steam propelled boiling goo, the cap looking like an angry bombardier beetle. Maybe you could build something like their hysterically funny salami rocket powered electrolytically.

"...it had swollen frighteningly and then caught fire, burning with a green flame."

Ronnie's in the Army now & Kenny's taking pills.
Oh! How they yearn to see a bomber burn!
Color flashing, thunder crashing, dynamite machine!
WAIT TILL THE FIRE TURNS GREEN!

This would be a little bit of vocal teen-age heaven, right here on Earth.