[sdiy] How to discharge a capacitor ?

[ryan williams]

in high school, in an electronics class, we used to connect several 
power supplies in series onto large caps (mF though F) and charge them 
up, then short the terminals. It was pretty fun, sort of like welding i 
guess. the wires we had connected melted together.

so maybe that is not the safe way. I would expect using a resistor to 
let it drain slowly would be more appropriate, but I'm not experienced 
with that.

megaohm wrote:
>   How does one go about discharging an electrolytic capacitor? I know 
> there have been long discussions in the past on the proper way to 
> discharge a cap. I don't want to use the screw driver method. Could 
> anyone give a step by step instruction on how to do this properly? Sort 
> of an "idiot's guide" to discharging caps. This would be immensly helpful.
>  
> peng