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I want to remove an appaently faulty capacitor from a 1980’s Metz flashgun. It is likely to be holding some charge at maybe up to 300 v, DC, so i do not want to injure myself or cause an explosion.
Can i use a multimeter to discharge this capacitor before I remove it from the gun and if so what settings do I set on the multi meter.
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cagmccarry2 normally you should discharge through a resistor. You would need to choose the resistor high enough so that it doesn't fry and discharges the capacitor at a decent rate. For a smaller capacitor you can use a multimeter to discharge it by setting your meter to read voltage, not current etc., and then connect the leads across the capacitor. This will cause the charge to leak but it can take a while.
It’s not the voltage rating on your capacitor, it is the capacitance rating. A big capacitor would have something like a few hundred millifarads etc.
This is how I discharge large motor start capacitors etc.. I use a 20 KOhm 2 watt capacitors for that
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Thanks. Looks as if the multi meter will be OK. I do not yet know the exact spec of capacitor but it will be around 2000uF and 360V, which seems to qualify as small. I shall give that a go.
cagmccarry2
Sounds good. Let us know how it works out for you.
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Use the cables. Attach one end to a good ground, like a, water pipe, and use the other end to touch the capacitor ends.
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