On Fri, Jul 13, 2012 at 6:40 PM, William "Chops" Westfield wrote: >> that can I do at the PCB level to reduce or eliminate arc tracking? > > Well, the article referenced says essentially "clean your boards really w= ell", and implies "don't use PCB pitch any finer than necessary." I have seen very little written.. I've seen it started by failed SO-8 Mosfets and 0603 capacitors where the applied voltage was 24V, and the pitch was determined by the package. "Clean your board" doesn't apply under these conditions, as the failure of the PCB was caused by the failure of a component, and the arc started inside the component and propagated to the board. I must admit I'm somewhat at a loss here, I can't justify designing in TO-3 Mosfets and huge caps, even if I could physically fit them. The idea that ignition can be sustained by the energy input from a coin cell as they show in their report, is just shocking. --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .