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Power Electronics

Overvoltage incident (again)

Jun 12, 2026 · 1 min read · Phase 2 — Head Electronics

Another buck converter failed due to an incorrect load. Learned my lesson — properly rated this time.

What happened

I was testing servo movement via the Wemos D1 Mini when the second buck converter went down mid-test. The output voltage wasn’t checked after initial setup — a mistake I’d already made once before.

The converter shipped miscalibrated, sitting above 7V on a line rated for 5V. The moment the servo drew current, it was already too late.

The code at the time

// servo_test.go
func main() {
	// sweep servo 0 -> 180 -> 0
	for angle := 0; angle <= 180; angle += 10 {
		servo.SetAngle(angle)
		time.Sleep(50 * time.Millisecond)
	}
}

Lessons learned

Always verify buck output with a multimeter first

Converters ship miscalibrated. Check the output voltage before connecting anything — every single time.

Add an inline fuse on the input side

A fuse would have killed the circuit before the converter took damage. Cheap insurance.

PWM averaging fools multimeters

Use an LED blink test to confirm a pin is actually toggling — a steady voltage reading on PWM doesn't mean the signal is right.