Capacitor discharge changed my bench routine for good

For years I would poke at old camera boards with a screwdriver and hope the charge was gone, which is stupid and I knew it. Last spring a Pentax Spotmatic gave me a nasty zap that threw my arm back, right in my home shop near Tacoma. Now I built a simple discharge tool from a 10k resistor and two alligator clips, cost me about 4 dollars and 20 minutes of soldering. I touch the leads to the cap terminals for a few seconds, then I check with my multimeter to confirm it reads zero. That one jolt taught me to never trust the visual, because those capacitors can hold a charge for weeks after the camera sits dead. Has anyone else gotten bit by a sneaky cap and changed their whole safety approach because of it?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliot5421d ago

Sold my old Canon F-1 after getting popped by its flash cap, swore I'd never trust a dead camera again. I used to think the whole discharge tool thing was overkill, but now I've got the same setup with a resistor and meter sitting right next to my bench. Better than learning that lesson twice.

caleb_gibson21d ago

Took me way too long to realize this applies everywhere, not just cameras. Like, every time I've skipped the safety step because I was in a hurry, I ended up paying for it twice. Dead batteries in a smoke detector, skipping the torque wrench on lug nuts, even just not unplugging something before I poke at it. The whole "measure twice, cut once" thing sounds like old man advice until you're the one with the scar. Ngl, your resistor and meter setup is basically the adult version of learning to read the instructions, and it's a lesson most of us gotta learn the hard way once.