Capacitor blown up

[qwarren]

Hello guys,

a few days ago a had a little problem with my Git 2. I connected the cam to an USB power adaptor, and after about one second there was a little pop sound and some smoke left the cam - a capacitor has exploded.



As you can see in the picture, the capacitor is on the back of the front PCB, right underneath the lense.

I don't know if it was caused by the cable or adaptor (both were not mine). But the cam does still work. The only thing is that the cam can not be run anymore by an external power supply. Charging the battery in the cam is also impossible now. The rest works still fine.

Does any of you accidentally know which type of capacitor this is? I would try to replace it. It could already be enough to have the code on the capacitor to identify the type.

 

[Nigel]

It's normally a voltage regulator that blows first, you will need @gitup to tell you the part number.

Was it a smart charger that was previously charging a tablet that takes a higher voltage and it accidently gave the Git2 the same high voltage?

 

[qwarren]

I don't know, sorry. But whatever it was, the damage is there.

Ok, I am not sure if it really was a capacitor that is blown up there, but after being a physically big component I thought that it was a capacitor.

 

[Deleted member 24437]

Hello guys,

a few days ago a had a little problem with my Git 2. I connected the cam to an USB power adaptor, and after about one second there was a little pop sound and some smoke left the cam - a capacitor has exploded.



As you can see in the picture, the capacitor is on the back of the front PCB, right underneath the lense.

I don't know if it was caused by the cable or adaptor (both were not mine). But the cam does still work. The only thing is that the cam can not be run anymore by an external power supply. Charging the battery in the cam is also impossible now. The rest works still fine.

Does any of you accidentally know which type of capacitor this is? I would try to replace it. It could already be enough to have the code on the capacitor to identify the type.

Send a PM to Gitup!

 

[jokiin]

might be easier to arrange a replacement PCB, talk to @gitup and see what they can do to help you out

 

[qwarren]

I will think about a contact to GitUp, while I don't mind to try it by myself I use the cam frequently (battery operation is still working), so I prefer the way that works fast [and cheap].

 

[gitup]

@qwarren, we can ship a new PCB to you for replace, will contact you via PM.

 

[SawMaster]

Don't trust someone else's equipment until you know for sure it's OK I learned that lesson the hard way when a contractor's over-voltage jobsite generator turned my air compressor into junk. After it fried, my meter showed 155 VAC when it should have been 124 VAC tops. One compressor and 2 hours pay for my crew were gone and never compensated for. There went that weeks profit

Phil

 

[Deleted member 24437]

Gitup: Two thumbs up!

 

[Gibson99]

Don't trust someone else's equipment until you know for sure it's OK I learned that lesson the hard way when a contractor's over-voltage jobsite generator turned my air compressor into junk. After it fried, my meter showed 155 VAC when it should have been 124 VAC tops. One compressor and 2 hours pay for my crew were gone and never compensated for. There went that weeks profit

Phil

Yep... Once when we set up out truck to advertise for the Houston region SCCA at the grand Prix of Houston, our timing truck was fed 220vac instead of 110. it fried all the overhead lights and several breakers in the panel. Thankfully none of our timing computers or other equipment was plugged in, so we were OK at the next race. Also lucky that the breaker for the AC self destructed before letting the ac fry!

And yes, the fried component in the op is indeed a voltage regulator. Or it used to be...

 

[qwarren]

@qwarren, we can ship a new PCB to you for replace, will contact you via PM.

I will check my inbox, thank you so much!! !

Don't trust someone else's equipment until you know for sure it's OK

If you have to choose between power or no power.... You have the same experience. And be honest, chances are low that an USB power supply delivers a wrong voltage

 

[gitup]

This is a 100UF capacitor, is related for charger and reduce noise, it can be damaged if the input voltage is over 7V.

 

[SawMaster]

No electronics are immune to failure. When most PS regulation circuits fail you lose regulation and get over-voltage instead of simply losing power completely. I lost about $300 in Ham radio gear once because of that Even a crappy DMM will tell you when something is seriously wrong and I've always got a neter with my 'road' equipment. The only sources I don't check before use are AC mains which I hook up myself and batteries- I've found those reliable and trustworthy. When the choice is no power or an unknown source I choose no power, because there's no good in not operating later because of fried equipment once reliable power can be had.

Known good or no-go, that's my way. YMMV

Phil

 

[Nigel]

This is a 100UF capacitor, is related for charger and reduce noise, it can be damaged if the input voltage is over 7V.

It should still charge with a noisy supply so there is probably also something else failed, a new PCB seems a good idea.

With the high power USB chargers that can output high voltages for fast charging tablets/laptops etc, I think it is a good idea to turn them off before plugging the camera in so that they are definitely reset to 5V. They are not supposed to blow things up, but not everything works perfectly.

 

[Deleted member 24437]

Doesn't the device determine the power it will draw?

 

[Gibson99]

Doesn't the device determine the power it will draw?

The device determines the amps it will pull. The power supply determines the voltage it will deliver.

My understanding is that newer quick charge devices like Qualcomm QC and others actually establish a data connection between the charger and device to negotiate what volt/amp combo the device wants, since it varies as the battery gets closer to full. since the dashcam or action cam didn't normally respond to the charger's queries for QC data, the charger defaults to 5v and then just makes something like 1.5-2.1 amps for the device to pull from as it wants.