Re: discharging caps

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Sujet : Re: discharging caps
De : jl (at) *nospam* glen--canyon.com (john larkin)
Groupes : sci.electronics.design
Date : 09. Sep 2026, 11:22:03
Autres entêtes
Organisation : A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID : <2ic2allc4l9tin13frua4b332lh51h3vaa@4ax.com>
References : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
User-Agent : ForteAgent/8.00.32.1272
On Wed, 9 Sep 2026 16:45:27 +1000, Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org>
wrote:

On 9/09/2026 5:59 am, john larkin wrote:
On Wed, 9 Sep 2026 02:10:38 +1000, Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org>
wrote:
 
On 9/09/2026 12:23 am, john larkin wrote:
On Tue, 8 Sep 2026 11:19:33 +0100, chrisq <syseng@gfsys.co.uk> wrote:
>
On 9/7/26 19:52, john larkin wrote:
On Mon, 7 Sep 2026 19:33:35 +0100, chrisq <syseng@gfsys.co.uk> wrote:
>
On 9/7/26 16:18, john larkin wrote:
Suppose we have a box with some big caps inside, for example 0.2
farads that run at about 200 volts. When AC power is off, we want to
discharge them for several reasons.
>
Putting, say, a 1K resistor across them dissipates 40 watts and has a
200 second time constant. It will take many tau before the voltage
gets low enough for people to poke around inside.
>
The ideal discharger would be a constant-current or even better a
constant-power load, all the way down to zero volts. It would be dumb,
not switched by some decision circuit or anything fancy like that.
>
And of course we need several LEDs as warnings that the thing is hot.
>
>
What sort of design needs 0.2 Farad cap, at 200 volts ?. If you are
working at that level, put in a cheap relay and a rated heatsink
wirewound resistor to dump the energy, when the power goes off.
Cheap, and lossless as well. Motor drive inverters often have
big resistors to brake the motor.
>
>
John Larkin
Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center
Lunatic Fringe Electronics
>
It's a 1500 amp laser driver.
>
The input to our box is DC, from an external power supply.
>
>
>
I do want a circuit that's foolproof, that always discharges the caps
but doen't often go up in flames.
>
A resistor makes an exponential decay which could be a very long time
to get down to safe levels.
>
No doubt you could calculate the correct resistor value, discharge
time, and other parameters, but need to specify what is the target
performance, which hasn't been specified.
>
I said what I want to do in my original post: discharge 0.2F charged
to 200v, in a couple of minutes. Later posts clarified that I want it
to be safe and foolproof and discharge all the way.
>
There's an infinite range of fools available.
>
I thought the group might like a circuit design problem once in a
while, a break from politics.
>
>
Great idea, but the a relay and resistor combo is about as simple as
it gets, and if you are really paranoid, use two relays.
>
I can't think of a simple, safe way to drive the relay coils.
>
No surprise there.
>
And how do you think the relay contacts should be wired? Would a coil
failure discharge the caps, or would it not?
>
You could also use a thyristor, but then you have the complication and
possible reliability issues of a triggering circuit.
>
>
And a thyristor would stay on once it was triggered.
>
A thyristor only stays on a long as it is carrying it's holding current.
>
Capacitors may keep on leaking some current for an appreciable time, but
that is eventually going to fall below the holding current.
 
Unless the SCR triggers while the power supply is still on.
>
With you as the circuit designer, that might be a risk. Actively
clamping the thyristor gate to ground while the power supply was on
would eliminate it.

Excellent. You have added yet another failure mode to discharging the
caps.

The energy we'll be dealing with, a couple of KJ, is roughly the bang
from 16 firecrackers, or five .45-caliber bullets.

>
Envision flames and smoke.
>
Envision a slow blow fuse. No flames, no smoke.

The fuse would be fun, dumping a couple kilojoules.


John Larkin
Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center
Lunatic Fringe Electronics

Date Sujet#  Auteur
7 Sep 26 * discharging caps162john larkin
7 Sep 26 +* Re: discharging caps7Simon Simple
7 Sep 26 i`* Re: discharging caps6john larkin
7 Sep 26 i +- Re: discharging caps1Simon Simple
8 Sep 26 i `* Re: discharging caps4legg
8 Sep 26 i  +- Re: discharging caps1john larkin
8 Sep 26 i  `* Re: discharging caps2Phil Hobbs
8 Sep 26 i   `- Re: discharging caps1john larkin
7 Sep 26 +* Re: discharging caps12ehsjr
7 Sep 26 i`* Re: discharging caps11john larkin
7 Sep 26 i +* Re: discharging caps2Liz Tuddenham
7 Sep 26 i i`- Re: discharging caps1john larkin
8 Sep 26 i `* Re: discharging caps8Jan Panteltje
8 Sep 26 i  `* Re: discharging caps7john larkin
8 Sep 26 i   `* Re: discharging caps6Jan Panteltje
8 Sep 26 i    `* Re: discharging caps5john larkin
9 Sep 26 i     `* Re: discharging caps4Jan Panteltje
11 Sep11:54 i      `* Re: discharging caps3Simon Simple
11 Sep12:01 i       +- Re: discharging caps1Jan Panteltje
11 Sep14:59 i       `- Re: discharging caps1Phil Hobbs
7 Sep 26 +* Re: discharging caps2Bill Sloman
7 Sep 26 i`- Re: discharging caps1john larkin
7 Sep 26 +* Re: discharging caps87chrisq
7 Sep 26 i+* Re: discharging caps84john larkin
8 Sep 26 ii+* Re: discharging caps62Bill Sloman
8 Sep 26 iii+* Re: discharging caps4john larkin
8 Sep 26 iiii`* Re: discharging caps3Bill Sloman
8 Sep 26 iiii `* Re: discharging caps2john larkin
9 Sep 26 iiii  `- Re: discharging caps1Bill Sloman
8 Sep 26 iii`* Re: discharging caps57john larkin
8 Sep 26 iii `* Re: discharging caps56Bill Sloman
8 Sep 26 iii  `* Re: discharging caps55john larkin
9 Sep 26 iii   `* Re: discharging caps54Bill Sloman
9 Sep 26 iii    `* Re: discharging caps53piglet
9 Sep 26 iii     `* Re: discharging caps52john larkin
9 Sep 26 iii      +- Re: discharging caps1Bill Sloman
9 Sep 26 iii      `* Re: discharging caps50Jeroen Belleman
9 Sep 26 iii       +* Re: discharging caps9Bill Sloman
9 Sep 26 iii       i+* Re: discharging caps6john larkin
9 Sep 26 iii       ii`* Re: discharging caps5Bill Sloman
9 Sep 26 iii       ii `* Re: discharging caps4john larkin
10 Sep 26 iii       ii  `* Re: discharging caps3Bill Sloman
10 Sep 26 iii       ii   `* Re: discharging caps2john larkin
10 Sep 26 iii       ii    `- Re: discharging caps1Bill Sloman
9 Sep 26 iii       i`* Re: discharging caps2chrisq
9 Sep 26 iii       i `- Re: discharging caps1Bill Sloman
9 Sep 26 iii       `* Re: discharging caps40Bill Sloman
9 Sep 26 iii        +* Re: discharging caps37Jeroen Belleman
10 Sep 26 iii        i`* Re: discharging caps36Bill Sloman
13 Sep01:27 iii        i `* Re: discharging caps35Waldek Hebisch
13 Sep01:38 iii        i  +* Re: discharging caps20Lane W
13 Sep04:11 iii        i  i`* Re: discharging caps19Waldek Hebisch
13 Sep15:50 iii        i  i `* Re: discharging caps18john larkin
13 Sep16:14 iii        i  i  +* Re: discharging caps3Lane W
13 Sep17:18 iii        i  i  i`* Re: discharging caps2Bill Sloman
13 Sep17:28 iii        i  i  i `- Re: discharging caps1Lane W
13 Sep16:28 iii        i  i  `* Re: discharging caps14Bill Sloman
13 Sep20:03 iii        i  i   `* Re: discharging caps13john larkin
13 Sep23:54 iii        i  i    +* Re: discharging caps9Simon Simple
14 Sep01:12 iii        i  i    i`* Re: discharging caps8john larkin
14 Sep07:05 iii        i  i    i `* Re: discharging caps7Bill Sloman
14 Sep16:21 iii        i  i    i  `* Re: discharging caps6john larkin
15 Sep09:28 iii        i  i    i   `* Re: discharging caps5Bill Sloman
15 Sep18:23 iii        i  i    i    `* Re: discharging caps4john larkin
16 Sep09:39 iii        i  i    i     `* Re: discharging caps3Bill Sloman
16 Sep11:21 iii        i  i    i      `* Re: discharging caps2john larkin
16 Sep12:16 iii        i  i    i       `- Re: discharging caps1Bill Sloman
14 Sep06:59 iii        i  i    `* Re: discharging caps3Bill Sloman
14 Sep16:22 iii        i  i     `* Re: discharging caps2john larkin
15 Sep09:31 iii        i  i      `- Re: discharging caps1Bill Sloman
13 Sep01:59 iii        i  +* Re: discharging caps3john larkin
13 Sep05:21 iii        i  i+- Re: discharging caps1wmartin
13 Sep07:27 iii        i  i`- Re: discharging caps1Bill Sloman
13 Sep07:24 iii        i  `* Re: discharging caps11Bill Sloman
13 Sep14:36 iii        i   `* Re: discharging caps10Waldek Hebisch
13 Sep17:05 iii        i    `* Re: discharging caps9Bill Sloman
13 Sep19:40 iii        i     `* Re: discharging caps8John R Walliker
13 Sep20:08 iii        i      +* Re: discharging caps4john larkin
14 Sep07:18 iii        i      i`* Re: discharging caps3Bill Sloman
14 Sep16:24 iii        i      i `* Re: discharging caps2john larkin
15 Sep09:36 iii        i      i  `- Re: discharging caps1Bill Sloman
14 Sep07:11 iii        i      `* Re: discharging caps3Bill Sloman
14 Sep16:56 iii        i       `* Re: discharging caps2john larkin
15 Sep09:50 iii        i        `- Re: discharging caps1Bill Sloman
10 Sep 26 iii        `* Re: discharging caps2john larkin
10 Sep 26 iii         `- Re: discharging caps1Bill Sloman
8 Sep 26 ii+* Re: discharging caps14chrisq
8 Sep 26 iii+- Re: discharging caps1chrisq
8 Sep 26 iii`* Re: discharging caps12john larkin
8 Sep 26 iii +* Re: discharging caps3chrisq
8 Sep 26 iii i`* Re: discharging caps2chrisq
9 Sep 26 iii i `- Re: discharging caps1john larkin
8 Sep 26 iii +* Re: discharging caps5Bill Sloman
8 Sep 26 iii i`* Re: discharging caps4john larkin
9 Sep 26 iii i `* Re: discharging caps3Bill Sloman
9 Sep 26 iii i  `* Re: discharging caps2john larkin
9 Sep 26 iii i   `- Re: discharging caps1Bill Sloman
8 Sep 26 iii +- Re: discharging caps1Bill Sloman
14 Sep17:44 iii `* Re: discharging caps2Buzz McCool
14 Sep18:15 iii  `- Re: discharging caps1john larkin
11 Sep07:23 ii+* Re: discharging caps3Bill Sloman
17 Sep08:19 ii`* Re: discharging caps4Cydrome Leader
8 Sep 26 i`* Re: discharging caps2Jan Panteltje
7 Sep 26 +* Re: discharging caps20Lasse Langwadt
8 Sep 26 +- Re: discharging caps1legg
9 Sep 26 +- Re: discharging caps1Jeremiah Jones
9 Sep 26 +* Re: discharging caps17someone
9 Sep 26 +* Re: discharging caps6Joerg
13 Sep19:52 `* Re: discharging caps8legg

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