Electrical – Voltage Spike/Noise due to Switching

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I am currently looking over a PCB and performing a spike check on the device of interest. The device itself has a 7V maximum rating on a pin and I am seeing a strange behavior resulting in a 17-18V spike/switching noise. The scope shot is shown below:
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At first glance, it appeared to be a spike when I look at the full spectrum (shown below), but it is not a spike since it is approximately 150us burst width. A regular spike would appear to be much shorter in time. Since there is relays and capacitors between the power supplies, could it be a relay sticking and having a hard time switching off? Have anyone seen behaviors like this before?

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Best Answer

If you have a schematic of the circuit and identify where you are measuring, it might be easier to say, but I speculate since you mentioned relays, that this is flyback caused when an inductive load is disconnected. If you don't already have flyback diodes anti-parallel to the relay coils, try adding that.

If it is from the relay, you could be seeing the extended and repeated pulses as the contacts separate, essentially bounce.