"I'd never seen a component physically blown off the motherboard before!"
Bought some of the small "buck" voltage up-converters from China - up to 30v in - up to 35v out. Trying to set it up for the desired output voltage off-load was fiddly as the pot was a tiny multi-turn. In addition I was trying to hold the probes of the multimeter to the terminals. Then there was a bang and the aluminium can of the output side capacitor ricocheted off my finger. The paper contents were left attached to the board.
On investigation I found that the output capacitor was marked "35v" - the maximum voltage the module was supposed to supply. Presumably the setting could go well over that limit. Other suppliers' apparently identical modules had a margin for error by using a "50v" capacitor.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
