Hi, I have a circuit with a capacitor and resistor in series, and a bulb in parallel (it was more complex but I simplified it to try identify what is happening with the capacitor). When I attempt to charge then discharge the capacitor it discharges instantaneously. I've tried increasing the time constant by increasing the resistance but it still discharges instantly. The values are R=10k ohms/10M ohms (tried the 10 M ohm resistor to increase time constant), capacitance = 0.33 uF and up to 370 V charge capacity, voltage source = 24V. For the time constant I used T=RC and got about 3 seconds.
When I disconnect the voltage source, the voltage across any component instantly falls to 0 V and the bulb turns off instantly. I've tried multiple capacitors in parallel, ensured the resistor is providing the rated resistance, allowed the capacitor to charge for over 20 minutes (even though it should take about 15 seconds based on my calculations). I can't figure out what else is wrong.
I'm no expert with circuits, I only started recently so I might be missing something obvious here. I would hugely appreciate if anyone here could point out what I'm doing incorrectly or how I could stop my capacitor discharging instantly.
When I disconnect the voltage source, the voltage across any component instantly falls to 0 V and the bulb turns off instantly. I've tried multiple capacitors in parallel, ensured the resistor is providing the rated resistance, allowed the capacitor to charge for over 20 minutes (even though it should take about 15 seconds based on my calculations). I can't figure out what else is wrong.
I'm no expert with circuits, I only started recently so I might be missing something obvious here. I would hugely appreciate if anyone here could point out what I'm doing incorrectly or how I could stop my capacitor discharging instantly.