Question is of course what it will destroy... probably the USB port it has been plugged into, maybe the neighboring USB ports that share the same chip, but how much else?
And how long until manufactures protect the port against overvoltage, rendering this toy useless?
As others have mentioned, it's a high voltage generator.
However, if you really want to see the laptop belch fire, just take a USB cable, chop off one end, and replace the connector with an AC power plug[1]. Insert the USB connector into the target computer, the other end in the wall receptacle, and no more computer. I would build one of these but suspect that I might try it just to see what would happen.
One of my friends attached a USB flash drive to the end of a large plastic syringe. He demonstrates it to the clueless by plugging it into a computah and pulling on the plunger thus "sucking" the data out of the computah. Amazingly, there are often a few believers.
[1] The clip lead version of this "adapter" is called a "suicide cord" or "brain booster".
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
I damaged a USB hub and a Microchip programmer/debugger while testing an SCR trigger circuit that had 120 VAC on it. Now I have a USB isolator I can use when working on such "dodgy" circuits.
Well, depending on the thermal mass of the zener. I note the capacitors appear to be 1825 size. A typical part might be a 0.68uF 250V unit. These could store 22mJ, and five could store 0.1 joule.
A common HBM, or human body model (see AoE pages 200 and 804) has a 100pF cap charged to 1.5kV. That's only 0.1mJ, or 1/1000 of the USB killer's potential energy delivery. This means that USB inputs provided with protection for the HBM are likely not prepared to withstand the USB killer. That could be true even if they had say 100x HBM protection.
Most zeners short when damaged, but a severely- excess discharge could blow past that failure mode.
I doubt it would be effective for that. Even if it contrived to burn out the hard-disk electronics, the disk itself would still be readable.
Perhaps for an SSD, but on the whole I doubt the damage would extend that far into the PC anyway. Kill the USB port, no doubt, but that's probably all.
You can get a TVS designed for fairly high energy surges. Here is one that is rated for 5 VDC operation and can handle surges of 43 amps, with peak power of 400W, for about 20 cents.
formatting link
The chart shows it can handle 400 watts for 1 mSec, or 0.4 Joules. That's about 4x the estimated energy of the USB killer:
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