How do you safely discharge a big capacitor?

Question

I’ve been learning about capacitors, and one thing that keeps coming up is that large ones can still hold a charge even after the circuit is turned off. I don’t want to accidentally shock myself or damage components. What’s the proper and safe way to discharge a large capacitor? Do people usually just use a resistor, or is there a specific method or tool that works best?

CircuitSphere · Answer

Firstly, don’t try to discharge a large capacitor by shorting it directly, as that can damage the capacitor and possibly hurt you.

The safe way is to use a resistor with a suitable value (for example, 10 kΩ–100 kΩ, a few watts). Connect it across the capacitor terminals and let the voltage bleed off slowly. Always confirm with a multimeter that the voltage has dropped close to zero before handling the circuit. This way you stay safe, and the capacitor stays intact.