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Discharging Capacitor




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From:  SBJohnston@aol.com [SMTP:SBJohnston@aol.com]
Sent:  Saturday, February 07, 1998 1:05 PM
To:  tesla@pupman.com
Subject:  Re:  Discharging Capacitor


Patrick wrote:

>In order to adjust the primary coil after the TC has been 
>running, one would prefer to discharge the capacitor(s) to 
>eliminate the chance of becoming a human wire.  I was
>wondering how others have accomplished this without 
>damaging anything.

Since the hi-voltage components are not all inside a cabinet, a mechanical
interlock shorting switch won't be much help, but you could get a 120 or 240
VAC solenoid and connect it across the primary (after the disconnect switch).
 Mount this solenoid so that it pulls a shorting bar up and away from a
convenient HV contact point when energized, and falls back under gravity to
short the HV when you turn off the primary power.  This will be a relatively
certain way of knowing the cap is discharged after power down.

Steve Johnston

sbjohnston@aol.com