Burnt electrical smell and that puff of white smoke. . .

**blk02si** · 08-14-2006, 08:53 PM

Not sure if I should put this in LCD or POWER SUPPLY thread but. .

I bought my 2nd 'super' ebay touchscreen a couple months back and planned on using it for car PC 2. It was working perfect for these months running off of the 12v wall power supply for testing. Yesterday I decided to start moving things to the car as Im leaving on friday for a roadtrip. So i did the same thing I did on carpc 1, hooked the screen up to the 12 volt rail of my M2ATX power supply. This should power the LCD with a clean 12v. I wired up the plug and plugged in the screen with the power supply on and it worked for about .5 sec. Hrm. Took it apart to find the fuse blown. Replaced the fuse with a small strand of speaker wire thinking the fuse popping was a fluke. Hooked it back up to the M2 which was followed after 3 seconds with that little puff of white smoke that makes your gut twist. No more screen. Fried some untraceable transistors on the super board. I think it may only be the inverter circuit but im not totally sure. I was lucky as hell to source a lightly used Xernec 45 minutes from my house and picked it up tonight to replace the fried super. I must say the Xernec is way brighter and much sharper than either of my super's. Anyway im not hooking the new screen to that evil 12 volt m2 source. Im not actually sure if its the m2 or if my screen just called it quits. The supers are kinda funny like that. Im just going to run the Xernec off of the cig lighter untill I can get a 12v regulator. Has this happened to anyone? Completly frying your touchscreen just hooking it up to the 12volt rail of your DC>DC power supply? I found it so odd that this happened. Polarity is correct and Im very cautious with all my things and builds. Like I said I have another setup running like this with no issue. So RIP super and im sold on Xernecs now. BTW the super is still 'new' I have not even removed the protective layer of plastic from the screen yet. Wondering if I should sell this for parts of what.

**2k1Toaster** · 08-14-2006, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by blk02si

Took it apart to find the fuse blown. Replaced the fuse with a small strand of speaker wire thinking the fuse popping was a fluke. Hooked it back up to the M2 which was followed after 3 seconds with that little puff of white smoke that makes your gut twist. No more screen. Fried some untraceable transistors on the super board.

Well fuses are there for a reason!

Did you have anything else hooked up to the M2 or was the only thing drawing power the screen?

**TimmyM** · 08-14-2006, 09:13 PM

any chance you got the + and - backwards? Not sure if that would make a difference or not.

**blk02si** · 08-14-2006, 10:39 PM

I have my full ATX 1.6 p4 / geforce MX hooked up to it. The M2 pushes all of it just fine. And yes my + and - or polarity, as I stated in the first post was correct. I tested the leads with a multimeter for polarity and found it was putting out 12.25 volts. Still not sure why this happened. The voltage won't pop a fuse the amperage will. But devices will only draw as much current as they need. Maybe the p4 setup is forcing too much unregulated current through the 12volt rail?? Not sure but i just tested the wife's car cig outlet and its a regulated 12 volts even when the car is running so i will run the screen temp. off of this circuit. At least I have all kinds of spare parts for carPC1 now.

**parksgm** · 08-16-2006, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by blk02si

Replaced the fuse with a small strand of speaker wire thinking the fuse popping was a fluke.

Seriously? Why would a fuse popping be a "fluke"?

In any case, my M2 died while powering my screen, taking the motherboard, RAM, a hard drive, and a CPU with it. I'd stay away from using the M2 to power ANYTHING other than your PC, as it seems to irreversibly damage connected components if it is even minorly overloaded...even transiently.

**blk02si** · 08-16-2006, 08:56 PM

Well i hooked up the screen while the m2 was powered on. Second time (with fuse replacement) it was hooked up and a cold boot was started. Thats when she cooked. I think Im going to convert the TS to a straight USB connection. The TS controller is still fine. TS still has the factory plastic on ot. Sell that rest of the super for parts. LCD is still good.

**parksgm** · 08-17-2006, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by blk02si

Well i hooked up the screen while the m2 was powered on. Second time (with fuse replacement) it was hooked up and a cold boot was started.

Connecting equipment to a running power supply has never been a good idea in my experience. Bad luck though!

Have a nice time on your vacation and try to forget about your LCD woes. ;-)

**blk02si** · 08-18-2006, 02:23 AM

Yeah Ill have the parts of this screen up for sale soon. Im going to convert the TS to a stand alone USB touchscreen overlay. Sell the case, screen, what ever. If that is the super parts dont end up in my stang, carpc1!!

**LiquidKernel** · 08-18-2006, 03:08 AM

Originally Posted by blk02si

Yeah Ill have the parts of this screen up for sale soon. Im going to convert the TS to a stand alone USB touchscreen overlay. Sell the case, screen, what ever. If that is the super parts dont end up in my stang, carpc1!!

I'll take the front bezel for your screen.