Hey!  That's what I used to do for kicks in the garage as a kid (my Dad was
an ME/EE).  I fixed up this rig with a lamp plug and switch, except instead
of the lamp, I put two alligator clips.  I would go through my Dad's bins of
misc "junk" electronic parts, clip the leads to them, and whack 'em with
110v household current to see what would happen.

I was about 10 years old, and all I remember was that the bigger capacitors
would REALLY make a great *POP* and jump all over the place.  :-)  Most of
the resistors were pretty boring, though.

God I hope my kids never do anything like that when they get older...

Brent Christensen
'89 GL Syncro Westy "Klaus"
Santa Barbara, CA

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Beierl" <dbeierl@attglobal.net>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2000 11:43 AM
Subject: Re: Capacitor fix questions

> At 13:27 8/17/2000, Jay L Snyder wrote:
> >since replaced the AFC with a new unit.  I am pretty sure I did not use
the
> >tantulum capacitor.  Maybe this is key.
>
> Getting the polarity right is certainly key, as a backwards one will get
> leakier and leakier (electrically) and finally short.  If there's enough
> power in the circuit, an aluminum cap will blow its can off (until the
> spoilsports put a crease in the top so now it just peels open) and a
> tantalum will squirt a tiny jet of molten tantalum in some random
direction.
>
> d
> David Beierl - Providence, RI
>   http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/
> '84 Westy "Dutiful Passage"
> '85 GL "Poor Relation"