Shocking! (heads up)

[Michael in FtW]

Well, YT - my first thought was a cracked plug or bad cord - and maybe wet hands ... but, if it was holding a charge after being plugged in and turned on ... it really sounds like a blown bleeder resistor, since a blown cap will not hold a charge (and the appliance wouldn't work anyway - since a blown cap will not charge).

I used to rewind my own primaries and run them through a pair of 2n3055s, I have a fantastic one here hooked up to my CW voltage MX and get a lovely 36Kv out, that then charges the bank of Ex-Soviet Millitary caps

Humm ... sounds like you should have a callsign ... and perhaps quite an impressive "home brew" amp??? Well, assuming your use of CW is the same as mine.

 

[Corey123]

well the "Science" behind it is to put a Capacitor across the motor to act as a an EM noise filter.

ever put a hairdryer, drill or vacuum cleaner on near a TV and seen the dots that appeared like interferance on the picture?, well this Cap is supposed to reduce that by acting as a shunt for over voltage spikes caused by Back EMF from the motor.

However! there should be a resistor across this cap to discharge it fairly quickly and that`s not Always the case with some makes.

I've heard of a capacitor being used to help the motor's start windings kick in in some small and major appliances, but this is the first time that I heard of one being used for THIS application.

My washer has one, along with the food proscessor and both air conditioners for the start windings in their compressors.

 

[YT2095]

naah this is the cap from the line-filter, not the exciter cap used in some AC motors.

 

[Corey123]

That's right, you said that it was DC (direct current).

 

[YT2095]

the current that was stored in the cap AFTER under unplugging was indeed DC at roughly 400V, caps can`t store AC

 

[Candocook]

the current that was stored in the cap AFTER under unplugging was indeed DC at roughly 400V, caps can`t store AC

So, this is really more of a European problem/possibility than in the US since we don't have that current.

 

[YT2095]

difficult to say, if you have 3 pin plugs there then yes, this could happen too.
of course the voltage may be a little less for you as you only use 120VAC, we use 240VAC.

it really all depends on the appliance and how it`s wired and how well/poorly it`s made.

but you may be certain that a 200V shock WILL make you jump!