Capacitor Switching Design The Best Capacitor Bank Applications

By Pat Shebby..

Switch capacitors have the tendency to contain dangerously large amounts of charge even if the unit has not been operated for days. A typical surplus of voltage left in these capacitors range from 220uf 250volts to 330uf 400volts. If your profession involves operating such equipment, it is always best practice to drain the energy still residing inside.

Here are three ways to drain the power supply of the switch capacitor.

1) Discharge the capacitor with a insulated rubber handle screw driver (Not Recommended). I would only recommend this method of discharging a capacitor if it only contains a small charge. However it should be noted that the printed circuit board may become damaged from the spark created while discharging the capacitor with the screw driver. From personal experience, I know this is possible and unfortunately common in such an industry. Another piece of advise, if you are using this method make sure to use some type of eye protection. It has been known that if there is a heavy spark some of the soldered lead or copper may become shrapnel and cause injury.

2) Place the leads of a 100 watt electric bulb on the leads of the capacitor. This method had been used by many technicians around the world for the light bulb will act as an indicator to see if the capacitor still holds the charge. If there is a charge the light bulb will light and after discharged the light bulb will turn off.

3) Place the leads of a high wattage resistor on the leads of the capacitor. I use a 2.2k ohm 10 watt resistor to discharge the high voltage capacitor in a switch mode power supplies. It is simple to use and very effective .It takes only couple of seconds to fully discharge the capacitor.

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Want to find out more about Capacitor Switching, then visit Southern State's site on how to choose the best Reactor Switching for your needs.