capacitor discharge
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Relays
Forum Discription: Relay Diagrams, SPDT Relays, SPST Relays, DPDT Relays, Latching Relays, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=113347
Printed Date: May 15, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Topic: capacitor discharge
Posted By: rwpool
Subject: capacitor discharge
Date Posted: April 22, 2009 at 4:54 PM
In the "constant to momentary output" relay circuit, a 10k resistor is used to bleed off the charge of the capacitor. What value resistor can I use so the capacitor will discharge within 3 seconds or less?
Replies:
Posted By: icearrow6
Date Posted: April 23, 2009 at 8:32 PM
Its dangerous to try...what's the rush anyways?
If you must...just try a automotive test light.
Posted By: i am an idiot
Date Posted: April 23, 2009 at 8:43 PM
Depending on how long it is taking to discharge now, with a 1K resistor, it should discharge 10 times as fast as it is taking presently.
Posted By: rwpool
Date Posted: April 24, 2009 at 12:31 AM
Thank you, i am an idiot....that is the answer that points me in the right direction.
Posted By: dualsport
Date Posted: May 01, 2009 at 9:42 PM
It really doesn't make sense to try changing the resistor to shorten the timing. Just get a smaller capacitor, and you can make it as short a time as you like.
The cap is already a HUGE cap, and there's no good reason to use it-
It might be good to illustrate a concept, but I think that idea of using that configuration for the delay is a bit silly when it's so easy to simply add a transistor driver. Then you can precisely set longer or shorter times without using such a huge cap.
Posted By: rwpool
Date Posted: May 02, 2009 at 8:24 AM
Thanks to all that have responded.
Just for clarification, I'm not looking for an adjustable time delay for the relay. I'm looking for a more rapid discharge of the capacitor so that I can activate the circuit again within 3 seconds. As long as the capacitor maintains a certain amount of voltage, it won't allow another action until it has discharged. An illustration of the circuit can be found on this web site: www.the12volt.com/relays/page5.asp.
As it turns out, using a 3.3k resistor provided the result I was looking for.
Posted By: dualsport
Date Posted: May 02, 2009 at 8:39 AM
Since your driving signal is apparently +12V/open circuit instead of +12V/Gnd, you could have simply put a discharge resistor on the input side of the coil.
That'll shorten the cycle time without affecting the pulse on time, and won't require a 10,000uF cap. Since you don't need any particular pulse time you could use a smaller cap and you'd still have a long enough pulse.
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