Capacitor Discharger

If you watch video #38 you will see 4 50 Watt 1K resistors is to slowly discharge the capacitor you need to discharge.
The other part is to show you that the capacitor is discharged.
I believe Paul explain it.

Showing it here in the forum would be against the rules.

Maybe the LED might be confusing to you, so you always need to have a resistor in series with the LED to limit the current to the LED to keep it from burning out. The 2 diode is used for reverse current flow if the test leads are reversed.

So building it would be up to you how you would like to build it.

You do not need the two wire going to a meter and that would be up to you.
The 4 50 Watt 1K resistors is only to short out the capacitor.
A direct short as many have done over the years is hard on the capacitor. 

@ Devin82m. The circuit is among the simplest and easy to follow. If you say that you are a Patreon “contributor” Just keep watching the video taking notes of what you see in the video. As a visual learner one very simple way of working things out is using a pen and paper. What I mean is:

Have a schematic (printout on paper) in the front of you and then start drawing each component as they look like in real life on another (blank paper) and connect them all as per schematic, Is should be self explanatory since all components on that schematic have only to legs each. (So , no IC’s, no transistors or any other 3 -legged components to complicate things and throw you off rails are present here). Please note that at the bottom of any page on this website there is a link called Forum Rules. Click on it and it will take you there. It states that no schematic or PCBs artwork or any other detailed info regarding the inner workings of MCL’s Patreon projects are allowed on the forum. You can however showcase pictures of the finished projects but only the outside of it or blur the forbidden parts so that they cannot be copied. I there was some kind of secure part on this website where only current Patreon members are allowed and where we can freely show the “guts” of any Patreon project but….unfortunately no such thing (as of yet) so… sticking with the riles is your best bet. So what Larry has said (above) he is 100% right. A quick example of how to learn to hook up things the “dead bug style” is presented below:

@ovi4 I love your art works.
I was thinking to something like you did, but did not want to give away the farm.

As a young boy I love making sparks, and maybe why I learn how to weld.

I am sure I caused damage to a few cap’s.

@ Devin82m you might find helpful (video 109) Understanding Schematics Made Easy!

It is part one of lessons on of Understanding Schematics Made Easy!

@larry_n71uf and @ovi4, thanks for the suggestions, that does help. I may spend some time doing just that tonight. Also I will checkout the schematic series. I’ve been a Patreon and subscriber for 4+ years or so, I took a break, and then resubscribed recently. I have had the parts for the project for 2 years and done nothing with it, but now that we moved and I reestablished my office/shop I want to finish all these projects. I love learning, but also love building and repair things. I did watch that schematic series when it first came out, but need to rewatch it. Also, I get tend to get lost when he starts speaking about old equipment, I was born in 82, so all I know is circuit boards, when you start pulling in point to point stuff and vacuum tubes I start getting lost. I did not realize it was against the rules, so I will refrain from asking for pictures next time I have a question. I’ve seen rip offs of Mr. Carlson’s Capacitor Discharger for sale online while I was searching for pictures of the layout last night, some of them are for sale on Aliexpress.

Anyway, I will sit down and work this out. I haven’t just put my full concentration on it. I have a laser engraver and CNC router I’m trying to learn as well, so my attention is split among those projects, work, and our young kids!

But any further suggestions and advice are very much welcome.

Devin (KI4VVA)

Thanks!

@devin82m You are welcome Devin, I was lucky I grew up in the old school point to point years back in the 50’s and 60’s.
I was born at the end of WW2…yike I am old…LOL

Just be careful working with old equipment and I was always told keep one hand behind my back when working on high voltage stuff.
You do not want a current path crossing you heart.

Good Luck de Larry N7LUF 

@larry_n7luf Yes, definitely, that was my plan at least. I’m going to do a recap of the FT101-E and 1-640, both of which I bought high quality caps kits from reputable sellers. I’m pretty nervous about it, I don’t have to worry so much about this stuff in modern electronics. The only downside to the modern is the SMD stuff and increased complexity. Let alone the if a custom or hard to find IC goes bad you’re out of luck! But I want to learn more, heh, if we ever get hit by an EMP then I may only be working with the older stuff as long as it wasn’t connected to an antenna or mains power…

I have not build a Capacitor Discharge yet, but have had the parts for a long time now.

I just found a 0-300 volts DC meter that I would like to add to the circuit.

Is there a way to read the voltage if the leads are reversed?

Maybe I should also think if the voltage would be higher that 300 volts and how to protect the meter.

I just can not think how to do this. 

This is what I beleive what would work.

I am thinking to add some kind of diode across the meter to protect voltage over 300 volts.

Any good Ideas and will this all work.

This is just something I have been thinking about.