"Ian Malcolm" wrote in message
...

Discharging them safely is going to be a real problem. The obvious
approach is a series chain on high voltage high power resistors in an
insulating tube that is good to at least 30KV. Maybe a chain of bleeder
resistors from microwave ovens? However I'd want specialist advice myself.
Why not ask on sci.electronics.repair. Do you have a drum of suitably
rated EHT cable? If not you cant really make ANY connections safely to
them.

It's really, really fun to drop them in a bucket of water while fully
chargedG.

Actually, it doesn't do much, but you get a nice crack and a cloud of steam
each time.

We did that at the Transitron lab because the engineering department was too
cheap to spring for a high voltage bleeder array. Not that it would've
cost much, but they didn't want to use up "valuable bench space".

Now... dropping a wet paper towel across the terminals -- THAT's fun!

LLoyd