What caused the overwhelming smell of ozone in my office this morning when a monitor (Viewsonic G810) blinked out for the last time?
I run three of the above on my office computer, and one of them gave a small spark and went black this morning. We tested it on other computers, and hooked an unused 17" up to the card involved in this particular videocide. No question about it, the monitor went south. The video card was fine.
Now I’ve presided over the demise of several of what I have considered good monitors.
Incidentally, when informed, my boss ordered me two more of the same.
So, what, when the thing blew, caused the ozone smell?
Any electrical arc in air makes ozone, and you may be smelling that. Remember, though, that hot transformer wire, circuit boards, and wire insulation also make a mighty acrid smell.
It doesn’t necessarily have to arc to produce copious amounts of ozone. A high voltage can create corona discharge, which is an ionization of the surrounding air, under some conditions. Cracks in the HV insulation, or partly conductive dirt or residue can lead to corona, which often precedes an arc.
When electronics go “poof” you get a lot of different smells. You can have ozone from the arcing. Additionally, when something fails it typically causes a bunch of stuff around it to fail too, usually from too much current being pulled through one bit or the other on the board. Resistors, capacitors, integrated circuits, etc. can all sit there and literally make fire, so you’ll smell whatever material they are made out of burning. Capacitors can pop and spew all of their electrolyte out all over the place. Even the circuit board material itself (plastic with layers of stuff on it) can make some rather obnoxious odors.
I don’t know what truck brakes are made out of, but I do know they can get awful dang hot. I suspect the heat is making similar compounds to what the electronics make as they burn, but I’ll leave that for someone with a bit better knowledge of chemistry to answer for certain.
