Discharge those capacitors

[millirad]

That's for sure.....

About the other, instead, i don't suggest to short it with a screwdriver

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Speaking of getting zapped by capacitors, I clean my face with Noxzema (or whatever generic equivalent at the store) in the shower, but when I open up a new tub of it and touch it, it zaps me. I assume it's because the cream inside acquires a charge differential compared to the outside, and when I touch it, it discharges into my body. It's especially bad if I try taking a sniff of the Noxzema. ZAP!

 

[Coherent Light]

BB why would you for God's sake sniff Noxzema?

 

[Trevor]

I just acquired 95 300v 2200uF capacitors.

After reading this thread, I think I'll go short the leads.

-Trevor

 

[Leodahsan]

I charged one with 200v (a 400v/400uF one) and discharged it with a steel piece (sitted on a table). A somehow big spark got out, then when I measured with a voltimeter..
1.. 2.. 10.. 20.. 30v !! growed to ~15% the old charge after discharge. try it with a 2000v one haha

offtopic: I have plenty of the 400v 400uF ones here, just don't know what do to with they (all are with the wires shorted ).

 

[jedirock]

Forget capacitors, just short out the mains with a screwdriver. One "enlightening" experience I had while in university was taking apart a computer power supply to diagnose a blown fuse. Was working on it one time when my screwdriver bridged the solder on the hot wire to the case (ground). And while I had turned the switch off, I had left it plugged in, so this solder connection was live. Needless to say, a got a real nice spark out of that one, which my roommate sitting behind me about a foot back, facing the opposite direction, said lit up the whole wall in front of him.

I replaced the power supply after that with a new unit. :eg:

 

[Things]

I was building my tesla coil kit, but it wasn't outputting anything. I disconnected the power, and opened it up carefully. I knew the caps could be charged, but wasn't sure. I took my pliers and whacked them across the capacitor terminals. Lets just say, there were little bells in my ears for a LONG time, and I didn't do any more work on it that night.

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

I got into HAM radio mannnnny years ago. We were always told to add bleeder resistors across capacitiors. It's not a bad idea to add a bleeder on LM317 style drivers to keep the voltage under control.

HMike

 

[millirad]

^ Yeah, and a lot of guitar amps have bleeder resistors, but not the one I was zapped on.

Gotta try sniffing some Noxzema to see if it will shock me too. Thanks for the info Badger!

 

[vk2fro]

HemlockMike:

yep I'm a ham too - I wont even go near a big hf amplifier (old style tube amp) unless its been switched off for 24 hours, and has bleeders, or I can easily get acess to the caps with a 10K resistor on a stick to discharge them.

Likewise I wont go near one thats hot - 2-3kv for the tubes at 500ma to 1 amp would not give you a second chance. You'd be very dead