Capacitor Discharge

[Robbieg]

Hello All,

First post and I hope this is not a dumb question and someone can help me out. How do you discharge capacitors? I have searched and googled and haven't found anything related to my situation. Is this something you only have to worry about on high voltage systems. The reason I ask is I'm trying to design my own pedal on a breadboard and ordered a 0.047 microfarad orange drop cap that is 200v (didn't realize how huge it was). Does that mean it stores more energy as opposed to a 50v cap? Can I discharge it with a multimeter? If so how do I do that? Do I need to discharge it with resistors? If so any information would be greatly appreciated. I built my first pedal a couple of months ago from a kit and I've spent the last few months learning as much as I can about circuits and effect design. I don't won't to make a stupid mistake and kill myself out of ignorance. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[DutchMF]

Hi, and welcome!! The voltage indication on caps means how much voltage they can withstand and still function. So, the 50V cap will work in circuits where the maximum voltage is no higher than 50V, whereas the 200V cap will work until 200V is reached. Keep in mind that caps being subjected to voltages over their rating can fail catastrophiccaly, or: BLOW UP!!!!

Discharging caps is a practice used when working on valve amps, where the caps can hold a lethal voltage, even after the amp is switched of and disconnected from mains power. In pedal building, you don't really need to worry about it. Have a look at this to read how it's done http://ampmaker.com/discharging-capacitors-946-0.html As always: Be VERY CAREFUL WITH MAINS VOLTAGES!

Paul

[gingataff]

+ 1
dont worry about pedals so much but anything running off the mains  should be treated with respect. I learned a lot from the weber amp tech videos.

[Robbieg]

Awesome. Thanks a lot guys. And thanks for the link Dutch, just what I was looking for. I gave power to the breadboard and the cap had .5 volts of charge after everything was disconnected and it slowly drained with my multimeter