On Tue, 25 Sep 2012 00:48:39 -0000, "pdxareaid"
<public_email@...> wrote:
i looked around at the tantalums that had one smoking yesterday and noticed a solder bead on one of the three.
i poked it and it fell off...and a trace slowly snapped back. some adjustments and things were sweeping! how the heck does a solder bead on the outside of a tantalum cause this? was there a cold solder i tweaked at the same time?
I have seen solid tantalums fail this way before. They sometimes
develop an internal short and the increased temperature and pressure
cracks the epoxy shell. When they gets hot enough, melted metal from
inside extrudes through the crack.
David Hess