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Discharging Farad Capacitor
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 9:04 am
by Djkthegame
I got a single Sub and Amp powered directly from the Battery through a 1/2 farad capacitor which i no longer want as part of my system. I have been doing my own systems for 10 years but this is my first one with a cap. I still have the transistor it came with so how do i discharge the farad cap?
Re: Discharging Farad Capacitor
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 5:09 pm
by Shae
Just unhook the power and let it sit, it will discharge it self within an hour, probably under 15 minutes, but an hour to be safe.
Re: Discharging Farad Capacitor
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:14 pm
by Wes
The "proper" method is to short the negative terminal and the pos terminal ONLY with a resistor in between. I have only bought 2 caps before, and both came with the required resistor and instructions on how to charge and discharge.
Re: Discharging Farad Capacitor
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:20 pm
by gonzo4191
just about wes....
just take the negative terminal cable off and hold it to the positive post while it the positive cable is still attached.
Re: Discharging Farad Capacitor
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:36 pm
by Djkthegame
well i already removed the cap, which i still need to discharge but i still have the resistor it originally came with. I pulled the fuse of the lead to the cap and unhooked the neg from the cap then i unhooked the pos from the cap and removed it.
Re: Discharging Farad Capacitor
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 9:46 pm
by John Deere Boy
I accidentally discharged a large capacitor once with a screwdriver...it was the last job that screwdriver ever saw.
Re: Discharging Farad Capacitor
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 12:22 am
by 00Beast
John Deere Boy wrote:I accidentally discharged a large capacitor once with a screwdriver...it was the last job that screwdriver ever saw.
I bet you had to go change your pants after that too!
Re: Discharging Farad Capacitor
Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 1:30 pm
by Bugsi
I once wired a commercial air conditioner's compressor capacitor backwards. When I turned it on, the cap exploded and shot about 30 feet into the air.
Yes, shorting a big cap with a screwdriver will discharge it. Quickly. And melt the screwdriver.
Just clip a (physically) large (electrically) small resistor across the terminals. If it came with one, just use that. Otherwise a $0.50 ceramic 10-ohm power resistor from Radio Shack will do fine.