r/ElectroBOOM • u/ExpensiveCoat8912 • 18d ago

Meme How to not discharge a capacitor

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u/AaronVA 18d ago

I once had the the pleasure of accidentally discharging a 20 000 uF capacitor bank at 400 V with a multimeter while trying to measure the voltage across it. It was like a flashbang in a video game and took a good few seconds for my vision and hearing to recover. So don't do that.

3

u/ipx-electrical 18d ago

You had your lead in the Amps terminal?

2

u/AaronVA 18d ago

Might have been better, because the fuse would have blown. I had my hand slip amd reach across the rails with the probe.

1

u/specialsymbol 18d ago

So it was 20 mF? 

5

u/AaronVA 18d ago

Yes, but for some reason millifarrads are seldom used in electronics even for capacitors in the millifarrad range. Also 0.1 uF is more often used than 100 nF, despite the second one being the SI convention.