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From: Paul on 3 Feb 2010 10:35
Man-wai Chang to The Door (24000bps) wrote:
> The Antec TruePower New 650W was bought on 08 Oct, 2009!
>
> Smoke came out of the power supply. When I removed it from the case,
> some light yellow liquid came out. Fortunately, the motherboard was not
> harmed.
>
> So... what could that light yellow fluid be?
>

The article here, has a section on "Electrolyte".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolytic_capacitor

"The electrolyte is usually boric acid or sodium borate in aqueous solution..."

Plenty of information to keep an amateur chemist busy. That list only covers
the basics, and there may be more to the electrolyte, than is described
in that section. For some of the compounds listed in that section, they
have a distinctive smell, which would hint at whether they're present or
not.

The second article on Wikipedia of interest, is the Capacitor Plague one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

And the links at the bottom, include this article. Apparently, the pH can
shift to basic (higher than pH 7), when a capacitor is failing or has
failed. So the drooling liquid might not be acidic at the moment. It
all depends on what kind of solution chemistry problem has happened.
If the capacitor failed mechanically, the liquid might be in good
shape and slightly more acidic.

http://www.dfrsolutions.com/pdfs/2004_Electrolyte_Hillman-Helmold.pdf

In terms of liquid chemistry interactions with human skin, pH isn't the
only consideration. Consult an MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for more
details. There is an example here of an MSDS for a particular electrolyte.
This might not be the same as your capacitor, but it illustrates the
basic idea.

http://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/msds/HighVoltageParts.pdf

"Ethylene Glycol 80 - 90%
Boric Acid 5 - 10%
Azelaic Acid 2 - 8% (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azelaic_acid)
Ammonia 1 - 3%
Minor Additives < 0.5%

Solubility in Water - Soluble in warm water
Appearance and Odour - Brownish liquid with glycol odour.

Mild skin irritation.
Strong eye irritation. [if you get the liquid in your eyes...]

Skin: Wash with soap and water
Eye: Immediately flush eyes with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes."

HTH,
Paul
From: kony on 3 Feb 2010 13:25
On Wed, 3 Feb 2010 09:03:15 -0500, "Jan Alter"
<bearpuf(a)verizon.net> wrote:

>
>
>
>"Man-wai Chang to The Door (24000bps)" <toylet.toylet(a)gmail.com> wrote in
>message news:hkbus2$dej$1(a)news.eternal-september.org...
>>
>>>
>>> Electrolyte from a capacitor.
>>>
>>
>> BTW, isn't electrolyte from a capacitor acidic? My skin was not burnt....
>>
>> --
>> @~@ Might, Courage, Vision, SINCERITY.
>> / v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and Farce be with you!
>> /( _ )\ (x86_64 Ubuntu 9.10) Linux 2.6.32.7
>> ^ ^ 21:48:01 up 4 days 5:54 0 users load average: 1.15 1.13 1.16
>> ???! ???! ???! ???! ???! ???! ????? (CSSA):
>> http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_addressesa
>
>
>
>You've made an assumption that the discharge was as a result of a leaking
>capacitor. That might have been the problem and caused a short or something
>else could have caused the 'explosion' that led to the leakage after the
>fact.
> I don't know how acetic the electrolyte is to cause burning. Get a hold of
>of some litmus paper and you can determine it for yourself.

For electrolyte to leak out THAT much, the capacitor vent
must not have been sufficient, normally when they vent it is
only a small oozing which dries up practically as fast as it
seeps out.

The explosion was probably the capacitor can itself coming
apart, the inner windings shorting out. The PSU would have
shut down long before any possible corrosion shorted out
something else... but it is a bit beside the point, a visual
inspection of the PSU would tell you if a capacitor had this
happen but if it is under warranty still then opening it
might mean removing a tamper sticker which may void the
warranty.
From: Man-wai Chang to The Door (24000bps) on 3 Feb 2010 23:04
> something else... but it is a bit beside the point, a visual
> inspection of the PSU would tell you if a capacitor had this
> happen but if it is under warranty still then opening it
> might mean removing a tamper sticker which may void the
> warranty.

Warranty voided if seal opened. I can't open it. I got a replacement
from Altech (Antec's Hong Kong distributor), but interestingly, this new
unit does *NOT* have that "Warranty voided" sticker.

Does it mean someone in Altech have tempered with the power supply and
re-packed with plastic?


--
@~@ Might, Courage, Vision, SINCERITY.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and Farce be with you!
/( _ )\ (x86_64 Ubuntu 9.10) Linux 2.6.32.7
^ ^ 12:02:01 up 4 days 20:08 0 users load average: 4.78 4.46 4.00
不借貸! 不詐騙! 不援交! 不打交! 不打劫! 不自殺! 請考慮綜援 (CSSA):
http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_addressesa
From: Man-wai Chang to The Door (24000bps) on 3 Feb 2010 23:07
> In terms of liquid chemistry interactions with human skin, pH isn't the
> only consideration. Consult an MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for more
> details. There is an example here of an MSDS for a particular electrolyte.
> This might not be the same as your capacitor, but it illustrates the
> basic idea.
>
> http://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/msds/HighVoltageParts.pdf
>
> "Ethylene Glycol 80 - 90%
> Boric Acid 5 - 10%
> Azelaic Acid 2 - 8% (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azelaic_acid)
> Ammonia 1 - 3%
> Minor Additives < 0.5%
>
> Solubility in Water - Soluble in warm water
> Appearance and Odour - Brownish liquid with glycol odour.
>
> Mild skin irritation.
> Strong eye irritation. [if you get the liquid in your eyes...]
>
> Skin: Wash with soap and water
> Eye: Immediately flush eyes with plenty of water for at least 15 minutes."

Thank you. More than what I wanted to learn about that "light yellow
liquid".

--
@~@ Might, Courage, Vision, SINCERITY.
/ v \ Simplicity is Beauty! May the Force and Farce be with you!
/( _ )\ (x86_64 Ubuntu 9.10) Linux 2.6.32.7
^ ^ 12:07:02 up 4 days 20:13 0 users load average: 4.89 4.45 4.09
不借貸! 不詐騙! 不援交! 不打交! 不打劫! 不自殺! 請考慮綜援 (CSSA):
http://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/index/site_pubsvc/page_socsecu/sub_addressesa
From: ~misfit~ on 5 Feb 2010 06:37
Somewhere on teh intarwebs Man-wai Chang to The Door (24000bps) wrote:
>> something else... but it is a bit beside the point, a visual
>> inspection of the PSU would tell you if a capacitor had this
>> happen but if it is under warranty still then opening it
>> might mean removing a tamper sticker which may void the
>> warranty.
>
> Warranty voided if seal opened. I can't open it. I got a replacement
> from Altech (Antec's Hong Kong distributor), but interestingly, this
> new unit does *NOT* have that "Warranty voided" sticker.
>
> Does it mean someone in Altech have tempered with the power supply and
> re-packed with plastic?

You have been given a 'refurbished' unit.
--
Shaun.

"Give a man a fire and he's warm for the day. But set fire to him and he's
warm for the rest of his life." Terry Pratchet, 'Jingo'.
Nota bene: 'Return to' email is never checked. I changed email clients and
realised that I don't have a record of the password for that account.


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