HowTo-Color (8) / Hacking Electronics / Simon Monk / 236-3 / Chapter 10
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Hacking Electronics
Figure 10-1 Safely discharging a capacitor
The legs of a 100Ω resistor are bent to the right fit for the capacitor contacts and held in the teeth of a pair of pliers for a few seconds. You can use the highest setting of your voltmeter to check that the capacitor has discharged to a safe level (say, 50V). If you have a high-wattage resistor, all the better. If it is not high enough power, it will break, but not in as spectacular a way as a capacitor being discharged dangerously. Some devices that can pack a painful and sometimes lethal punch are: ●● Old glass CRT TVs ●● Switch-mode power supplies ●● Camera flash guns and disposable cameras with a flash
How to Take Something Apart AND Put It Back Together Again It is often said that “any fool can take something apart, but putting it back together is a totally different matter.”
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