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Discharge caps Sony STR-DA1000es?

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I have a Sony STR-DA1000es that had some brandy spilled in it quite a while back.

It wasn't turned on at the time and has not been since.

Anyway, I need to take out a lot of the guts so that I can clean it out.

And it has a couple large-ish capacitors in a place that I need to clean.

I know that you're "supposed" to discharge capacitors to avoid shocking yourself/damaging equipment.

However, the unit has not been powered on in at least a month...Maybe as long as 4 months ago.

Is there any way they might still be holding any sort of charge I'd have to worry about?

The capacitors are a little shorter than a roll of quarters (maybe a little thicker) and say 71v 10000uF on the side.

And if they should be discharged just in case...Can anyone recommend a good way of doing it without buying any equipment?

I've read of course about doing it with a screwdriver, but I've seen so many people saying it's a bad idea, as it can damage the electronics.

The recommended way I've read about is to use a resistor...But when I hear resistor, I think of a resistor on a circuit board.

It's apparently a special tool for discharging capacitors, etc.

I don't have one, and I'm reluctant to go out and buy something I'm probably almost never going to use if I can avoid it.

Forgive me if this sounds stupid (I'm not an electrician, obviously), but could I just pull a resistor off a board and cobble something together with a soldering iron and electrical tape that'd serve the same purpose well enough?

If anyone has any suggestions about a good way of doing this without having to buy any special equipment, or any input about whether it's even necessary given how long the units been off, I'd love to hear them.

And I apologize if this isn't the best forum/sub-forum for this question, as I didn't know what would be.

Thanks a lot in advance for your help.

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I suspect the brandy took care of any latent charge.

In seriousness, what you need is a high-wattage resistor, which are sold at electronics stores, or on the internet, usually for a few dollars. These will appear as a piece of ceramic with two wires coming out either end, since they are designed to transfer all that electricity into heat without overloading the capacitor. A 5w or 10w model will do. The capacitors don't have a whole lot of energy (10,000 uf is .01 f), but the voltage is sufficient to cause harm if you manage to discharge it into yourself.

Reply to joebob2000

Thanks a lot for the info.

I guess I'll just have to buy one of those resistors to do it right...I was hoping I could avoid it, but things are as they are.

I'm glad that you mentioned that the charge could potentially still be harmful. I thought it would probably be fine by now, given how long it's been turned off, and I've thought about just going for it with a screwdriver more than once.
So you might've saved me a shock/component damage.

Thanks again.

Reply to blender

How long the unit been un-plug from the outlet?

If it's more than a month it should have been discharge by now, any charge left will not pose any danger. You should check with a Volt-Ohm-Milliammeter (VOM) and see if there's any power at all. Spend $5 with the VOM and it'll be a better invesment than the resistor.

Use 90% isopropyl alcohol to clean it and compress gas; let it dry by the sun. Don't use hair dryer.

Message edited by rexter on 12-13-2008 at 08:29:02 AM

Reply to rexter

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