PeterD wrote:

On Sat, 22 Jan 2011 02:02:54 -0000, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:



"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
rs.com...
On 1/20/2011 4:44 AM Michael A. Terrell spake thus:

mike wrote:

Yes, that's what I had in mind. All you need is a switch that can
handle that much volts safely...and maybe some means to make sure
that switching a charged cap doesn't explode the diode or the switch.

Some months ago, I had to replace the diode in my old one.
Hooked a resistor to a couple of clip leads and hooked them to the cap.
I never did find any of the resistor pieces. May have gotten swept up
when I cleaned up the puddle I made. ;-)

You exceeded the maximum voltage rating of that resistor.

Gee, ya think?

Another incredibly useful 1-line post from the shoot-from-the-hip master
...



Actually, I think that it is quite a useful comment, as in my experience in
the electronics service business, many techs - particularly modern ones -
have no understanding that a resistor has a maximum working voltage rating,
and have even laughed at the very idea when I have suggested it to them,
until I have shown them in a component catalogue. I'm willing to bet that
prior to this exchange, there were more than a few reading what Michael
said, and doing just that ...

Absolutely they do, but I suspect he also exceeded the power rating of
that resistor by a tiny bit as well... g


You can exceed the voltage rating, without exceeding the power
rating. Pulse applications can be well below the rated wattage, yet arc
over internally.


--
You can't fix stupid. You can't even put a band-aid on it, because it's
Teflon coated.