Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [damage]

180 questions
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Is it possible to physically destroy a microcontroller with software?

Assumptions: No external circuitry connected (other than the programming circuit, which we assume to be correct). uC is not faulty. By destroying I mean releasing the blue smoke of death, not bricking it in software. It's a "normal" uC. Not some…
Juan Carlos
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Stopping electric arcs between layers in PCB - big PCB burn

Firstly, let me preface this with the fact that I am not interested in chastising the user, and I am not interested in looking at the original source of the arc (it was a tool accidentally breaching the power rails). This question is EXPLICITLY…
David Molony
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What destroys a LED in the reverse direction?

When a LED is included in a circuit that applies a reverse voltage that exceeds the reverse breakdown, a reverse current can flow and the LED might be destroyed. But what is it that actually destroys the LED: is it the reverse voltage itself, or…
Paul Fryer
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I ripped the lead off this film capacitor by mistake - is it beyond repair?

As the title says, I accidentally ripped the lead off this film capacitor. It was the only one I had - am I out of luck, or can this be soldered back on? I've provided photos, including one under my microscope of the damaged area. This appears to be…
riptusk331
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Is this resistor leaking? If so, is it a concern?

I found this resistor on the control board of an old Whirlpool washing machine: Is that fluid leaking from the resistor? Why would that happen? Could it be something like stray epoxy or a chemical reaction with the substances in the machine like…
Nonny Moose
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Can electronics be damaged by undervolting it?

I was wondering if there are some particularly important mechanism by which one can break electronics, when undervolting it. Its pretty obvious that lots of electronics will not work properly if undervolted, but what about permanent damage? The…
Pasha Reshetikhin
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How to solder this pin

A customer that has bought this device years ago somehow managed to fry this IC and he tried to replace it himself. That did not work out though and he messed up the track for good. He sent it to us to repair it. My boss gave me this board and told…
user18596
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Does magnetism affect SD cards?

Would a strong magnet have any effect whatsoever on a thumb drive (I'm assuming not) or on an SD card? It seems unlikely, but I'm hoping someone can give me a definitive answer, since I'd rather not find out the hard way that it actually can. …
iconoclast
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What about water makes it destroy electronics?

From my understanding water shouldn't really damage electronics, but it does. what about water actually causes damage, and why is water with impurities such as salt make it so much worse?
Terry
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Can the fake USB flash drive attack happen over Ethernet?

You may have seen the article This USB Drive Can Nuke A Computer where it shows how a flash drive shaped device can completely fry out all the components of a computer. This is very shocking (pun intended) for me as an Internet cafe owner. But…
user3900751
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Is static electricity really so dangerous?

I'm a beginner in electronics, and in my free time I love making stuff with my Arduino. As I was handling a few Bluetooth modules with my hands, I thought about static electricity discharging on the chips. I'm not very familiar with this, so I have…
Meletis Flevarakis
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How exactly is an LCD damaged by DC current?

LCD displays are driven by AC waveforms. I've seen many references referring to permanently damaging them with DC current. When exposed to DC, LCD's fail and conduct excessive current. My question is: what exactly changes physically? Does a contact…
gtrevorjay
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High Current or High Voltage that damages components?

Very basic question here and I'm only looking for a generic over view, but is it a too high current or a too high voltage that will damage electronics? I assume it will depend on the component in question - 1) For example if you have a working…
RJSmith92
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What was this completely destroyed piece?

Yesterday morning, I was preparing my tiller pilot (auto pilot for small boats) but it sounded like something was loose inside. When I opened it up, I found a damaged rubber sealing and the piece in the image below flying around loose. It is…
PMF
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"recommended that CLK begin toggling within 150 ms ... to ensure long-term reliability of the device" -- why?

In Intel's Pentium Processor Family Developer Manual, regarding the CPU clock, it says that "it is recommended that CLK begin toggling within 150 ms after VCC reaches its proper operating level. This recommendation is to ensure long-term reliability…
Zane Kaminski
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