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I was working on a BLDC motor circuit in my apartment which has 1 small room and not much airflow. I am using up to 30V and 10A to drive the motor. Because I am still testing on a breadboard, a lot of these components get hot pretty quick with 2A - 10A flowing (N-CH MOSFETs, jumper wires, resistors). I did not solder anything yesterday, and was simply making connections and applying 2A - 10A for around 30-45 seconds.

I was feeling pretty good yesterday, but after working on this circuit for about 2.5 - 3 hours it started to hurt my chest a little when I took deep breaths. I woke up this morning and it still hurts a little bit to breath, but it's getting better. Overall the room smelled pretty normal, but it maybe had a slight "electronics?" smell to it from the components heating up.

I am wondering if, in general scenarios similar to the one described above, could it be possible to damage your respiratory system from high current circuits by breathing in air pollutants emitted from hot components?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I never heard of this problem before, but it could be one of those things where we find out 50 years later it was a bad idea... but then you'd be feeling bad in 50 years, not straight away... \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 4, 2023 at 13:31
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    \$\begingroup\$ Do a covid test. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 4, 2023 at 13:36
  • \$\begingroup\$ 10A on a solder-less breadboard? Double check if it is rated for such high current. If I remember well, the one I have was rated 2A. So you might have started to melt a bit the plastic (and plastic fumes are rather unhealthy, no idea if enough so to explain your symptoms) \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 4, 2023 at 13:43
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    \$\begingroup\$ Posture, if you're not working at a proper bench or desk, could cause unusual aches after several hours in an unfamiliar position. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 4, 2023 at 13:59
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    \$\begingroup\$ Most likely you are either having some unrelated issue, or some psychological effect. Sometimes when I think I might be breathing some bad stuff I start feeling unwell, even if I know that it is the case. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 4, 2023 at 14:32

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Of course. A commonly used plastic in electronic appliances is PVC, which is used as isolator. It doesn't have to be heated a lot until it starts to decompose, and the fumes contain hydrogen chloride (forms muriatic acid in your lungs), phosgene (used in WW I as chemical weapon), dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (both nasty carcinogens). Many circuits, especially high voltage ones, are also able to react with the ambient air, creating nitrogen oxides (toxic pollutants which form nitric acid in your lungs) and ozone (highly reactive and pulmonotoxic allotrope of oxygen). Better be careful.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I doubt any noticeable effects would appear after one day of work. Unless the op was burning plastics the whole day long. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 4, 2023 at 14:29
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    \$\begingroup\$ @EugeneSh. Answer optimally has to be useful to the general reader, not just the person asking the question. For general readers, it is actually not that relevant whether or not the circuit indeed was the source of OP's respiratory problems, because the more specific details of the circuit are unknown to all but OP. What wide audience is more interested in is finding out whether or not high current circuits could damage the respiratory system, and the answer is yes, they can. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Apr 4, 2023 at 17:14

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