capacitor discharge

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krahsami

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Joined: November 10, 2008

Location: Ontario, Canada

Posted: November 29, 2008 at 11:06 PM / IP Logged

Yes I'm a newbie. But while drinking a couple beers with my buddy the other day I was asking how to discharge a couple 1 farad capacitors I have. We were talking and he said resistor right away. Now he needed to know the specs of capacitor to tell me resistor type I needed. Hes got a devry degree in this stuff right down to the circut board level. I then remembered a documentary I had watched about Tesla and asked him a question. Can you ground a capacitor by Shoving it in to the earth itself. He had this amazed look on his face like wow a whole new level type thing you don't usually think about. He said that would do it. (I tried anyway gotta wipe Contacts off after wards is all). So I believe him and thought this up myself after watching TV documentary. Is this true I need other ppls opinions also. I also thought another way but this isn't very nice. The Ultimate tazer. Just gotta find some one ya don't like. Would that work also?

i am an idiot

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Joined: September 21, 2006

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Posted: November 30, 2008 at 8:40 AM / IP Logged

The ultimate tazer is going to require a bit more than 13 volts.

KarTuneMan

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Joined: December 14, 2004

Location: Isle Of Man

Posted: November 30, 2008 at 5:22 PM / IP Logged

Just throw a screw diver across the terminals....KRACK,ZAP

(i'm kidding of course) You can use a good old fasioned test light. The bulb in the light will be your resistor.

DYohn

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Joined: April 22, 2003

Location: Arizona, United States

Posted: November 30, 2008 at 6:13 PM / IP Logged

A taser uses high voltage with low current. A capacitor stores low voltage at high current. A taser immobilizes your muscles but in theory can't kill you. A large capacitor can store enough current to stop your heart. Don't shock people with a capacitor. Be safe, not stupid.

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aznboi3644

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Joined: May 01, 2006

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Posted: November 30, 2008 at 11:31 PM / IP Logged

IIRC it only takes a few milliamps to stop your heart

KPierson

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Posted: December 01, 2008 at 8:06 AM / IP Logged

IF you could get the cap deep enough in to the earth to actually "ground" it what do you think would happen?

If you only manage to ground one terminal there will be no load placed on the cap and no current will flow so nothing will happen.

If you manage to ground both terminals there will be a direct short across the cap and it will discharge immediately. Since it is underground if the cap explodes it will be less likely to harm anyone. But, other then that why go through the hassle?

To make sure a cap is fully discharge you can hook up any 12vdc device to the cap and let it sit there for a few seconds. A test light would be great (or any other incandescent 12vdc light), a resistor will work (just make sure you get a lower ohm with a higher wattage so it doesn't take a long time), or just hook the coil of a 12vdc relay up to it.

Kevin Pierson

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capacitor discharge

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