Effecient way to Bleed down a capacitor

Thread Starter

Geoffr67

Joined Dec 5, 2011
69
Hello everyone,
I have a circuit i made and am having a problem, It keeps hanging up when i shut power off and then reapply power, while this wont ever really happen in real world,its causing the pic chip to lock out a input when power is reapplied within a few seconds. When the capacitor is discharged after power is removed it works fine. Can anyone suggest a good way to bleed down the cap, are there better options besides useing a resistor between the cap? something that will bleed it down almost instantly?

Thanks everyone!
 

K7GUH

Joined Jan 28, 2011
190
A dead short will certainly do the trick. However, it may not be terribly convenient. Use a relatively high value of resistor across the capacitor, so as not to load down the input of your circuit. You need to know the equivalent resistance of your working circuit, then pick a resistor value 20-30 times that for the bleeder.
 

Thread Starter

Geoffr67

Joined Dec 5, 2011
69
" You need to know the equivalent resistance of your working circuit, then pick a resistor value 20-30 times that for the bleeder."

So how would i determine this, measure the resistance at the input? and then go 20-30 times that number? Forgive my ignorance on this first time ive ever had to do this.
 

crutschow

Joined Mar 14, 2008
34,280
" You need to know the equivalent resistance of your working circuit, then pick a resistor value 20-30 times that for the bleeder."

So how would i determine this, measure the resistance at the input? and then go 20-30 times that number? Forgive my ignorance on this first time ive ever had to do this.
The equivalent resistance is simply the supply output voltage divided by the supply output current into your load.
 

luvv

Joined May 26, 2011
191
Could you use a pnp fet and smaller resistor to dead short the cap when the power is turned off?

I don't know if it would work,just sounds reasonable to me :)
 

ErnieM

Joined Apr 24, 2011
8,377
When I need something for a breadboard I do something really simple and foolproof. Here that would be a relay on the power input and a diode separating the power in from the cap. When power goes off, the relay opens and the NO contacts can do anything you wish from dead short on the cap to a small resistor or something else.
 

THE_RB

Joined Feb 11, 2008
5,438
The PIC should have BOR and WDT options, either or both can probably save you from the latchup situation, although it does also depend on oscillator type.
 
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