Exploding SMD caps

[D]

I hear 'em every now and then inside my big Dell 30" FP display. I'm pretty sure that'S what they are. I just wonder how many of them can explode before the unit fails... :eusa_think:

[Animus]

I can't see how any caps exploding can be a good thing. :eusa_think:

[kdm]

I seriously doubt they are exploding or you would see the after effects in the display, as well as seeing smoke and smelling them.

It could be a short arc'ing or plastic expanding. I would have it checked out though. If it's a short, it's a serious problem waiting to happen if you can hear it.

[RiffWraith]

If you are talking about capacitors ("caps" is in fact how they are called for short) trust me, they are not exploding. Not if your monitor is still functioning properly, and as well - as kdm alluded to - there would be smoke, fire and brimstone, and all that other good stuff. What exactly are you hearing?

[Sam]

i hear the plastic expanding and possible little static discharges as my 26inch samsung warms up sometimes...maybe the dell is similar?

[D]

I'm not convinced. The sound is quite alarming in both tone and dynamics. It's a really loud pop. Kinda like Lucinda "Double Bubble" Juicely popping her gum on steroids.

[kdm]

I would have it checked out. It isn't caps for sure or it would be dead or displaying garbage by now - there also aren't that many if you've heard this more than a half dozen times or so. Caps are usually used in filters circuits (line noise, ground control, AC, DC filters, etc) and if they blow, the circuit can, iirc, be left with a very high, or low resistance, which effectively kills that path. That's assuming they aren't surface mount caps, which if they blow, they'll take the board with them. Even hole-mount caps will often blow tracks.

They also go out with a bang and smell that is unmistakable, and inescapable. You would smell it even outside that room.

Anything else that loud doesn't sound good. My bet is still on a short or a problem with the power transformer. Have it checked out before it does blow something that causes a fire, and I wouldn't leave it on if you aren't in the room with it.

[TerryG]

Definitely not right. Be thankful you've got this quirk letting you know you're facing an impending component failure.

[Michael Tibes]

I seriously doubt they are exploding or you would see the after effects in the display, as well as seeing smoke and smelling them.

Not necessarilly. I've had caps exploding, where I just heard an exploding noise somewhere, that I couldn't determine. Then it took me half a day to figure out that it had actually been the caps of the computer's mobo I was trying to install. No smoke, no smell, just very fine cracks in the housing of the caps, very hard to see. And the bloody box was still running, at least for a while - before it bluescreened.

Power supplies (that's where caps 'normally' explode) might be able to take some beating in terms of failing parts. At least for a while, especially in digital circuits. If it was a micpre's psu, you'd definitely hear some noise...

Michael