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Series Circuit Issues
Last Post 07 Feb 2015 04:52 PM by jwd217. 1 Replies.
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Edward McMaster
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03 Feb 2015 10:38 AM
    I have had a few issues in the past with series circuits, and having them work or not work in the manner they should.

    I am in the explosives industry and we often use series circuits to bundle blasting caps, electric matches, various detonators or even flash bulbs.

    This is done when we have a situation where as we would like either all, or none of the items to initiate, as having only some initiate could cause problems.

    However, a few times in the past (and once again today) we have had an issue where aseemingly good detonator/flashbulb is set into a series circuit with others of the same type, and one or more did not initiate. Assuming that the item itself is in good working order and that there were no problems with wiring or having the correct amount of energy put through the line, what could be a reason for this?

    Also, in the past when this has happened and such a thing was possible, we have attempted to fire the individual detonators or flashbulbs that did not initiate and they have initiated just fine.

    Thoughts?
    jwd217
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    07 Feb 2015 04:52 PM
    Running explosives in series does not sound like the best way to make sure they all initiate. if one of them initiates before the others, then it will break the circuit and could stop the others from initiating. So unless they all trigger at the exact same time or don't need any more current to complete initiating once started, I would look at the time aspect of how long each takes to initiate.
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