Originally posted in general electronics but not sure if this would be a better place. I've been looking over this forum for a few weeks now. It's pretty neat that there's a website dedicated to caps. I'm a computer/electrical engineer in college so I do have a little knowledge.
Here's my question. I started a project today to wire up a 500w power inverter on my boat. I grabbed the inverter (vector sst max 500w) to test it with the alligator clips it came with, and about 5 seconds later, wham a lam, a huge pop from it and it shut off. Of course, I was up close looking at the led since it was bright out. Anyway, I've never used this inverter and it's probably been sitting for about 2 years on the shelf. After the loud pop, it turns back on normal but no voltage. I opened it up and sure enough, one of the 2 caps I can see had popped out the top and tore off the wire underneath(+). The caps are 4700uF xunda 105c 16v. I'd like to repair it but my question is, could there be something else wrong that would cause the cap to explode like this? I don't want to replace it and it happen again. All I did was clip it to the battery, no load, turn it on, and boom, explosion. My neighbor even looked over to see what happened. I even checked the polarity of the clips just to be sure I wasn't stupid or something but all was well.
Please feel free to move this if it's not in the right place. Thanks guys.
EDIT: After cutting all the wires and sliding the board out, it looks like the other 16v cap is bulged too. The 160v is a different brand and is fine. I assume because there was no load on it. What's kind of odd is there are no internal fuses either. Here's a pic. The other 16v cap is in the middle.
Here's my question. I started a project today to wire up a 500w power inverter on my boat. I grabbed the inverter (vector sst max 500w) to test it with the alligator clips it came with, and about 5 seconds later, wham a lam, a huge pop from it and it shut off. Of course, I was up close looking at the led since it was bright out. Anyway, I've never used this inverter and it's probably been sitting for about 2 years on the shelf. After the loud pop, it turns back on normal but no voltage. I opened it up and sure enough, one of the 2 caps I can see had popped out the top and tore off the wire underneath(+). The caps are 4700uF xunda 105c 16v. I'd like to repair it but my question is, could there be something else wrong that would cause the cap to explode like this? I don't want to replace it and it happen again. All I did was clip it to the battery, no load, turn it on, and boom, explosion. My neighbor even looked over to see what happened. I even checked the polarity of the clips just to be sure I wasn't stupid or something but all was well.
Please feel free to move this if it's not in the right place. Thanks guys.
EDIT: After cutting all the wires and sliding the board out, it looks like the other 16v cap is bulged too. The 160v is a different brand and is fine. I assume because there was no load on it. What's kind of odd is there are no internal fuses either. Here's a pic. The other 16v cap is in the middle.
But today, I’m making an exception here. Why? No idea. Perhaps only because the repair details are still “fresh” in my head… which is ironic, given this is a 16 year old monitor that hardly anyone will care about today. It is new to me, though.
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