At 10:50 AM 5/9/98 -0500, you wrote:
>        Good-day to all. I am about to take A+ exam for second time.
>        Can anyone tell me, how and what device would one use if he(she)
>        were to let discharge off a pc monitor and why?
>
>            a. probe
>            b. multimeter
>            c. line analyser
>            d. high voltage meter
>            c. low voltage meter
>
>
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>
What you want is a discharge path with a good deal of resistance , letting
the charge off in a controlled fashion so as to not damage components in
either the monitor or the discharging device. What you are discharging is
capacitors that are capable of holding a high charge for a fairly long time
(the charge will leak off over a period of hours, but if you are working on
a monitor you'd like to get rid of that charge safely rather than through
your body). Even a small cap can hold enough juice to give you a good
surprise, and they are capable of discharging practically instantaneously
if the discharge path is of low resistance. Hence the need to discharge
gradually through a large resistance.

The choices you give are a bit ambiguous- I've seen a device called a
"probe" that was basically just a pair of probes with a large resistance
between them, and that was used specifically for discharging caps.

A high voltage meter is another choice, but they usually have enough
resistance that they don't really let much current through.

The other devices would probably be destroyed by placing them across a
large charged filter cap.

So there you have it- what you are looking for is a large resistance to
slowly drain off the charge. BTW, instantaneous discharge of a capacitor
can damage it, which is why a special device is used in the first place.

Hope this helps-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rick Lindstrom
<[log in to unmask]>
Tallahassee, FL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~