Making Connections

[Silent Jack]

Looking at hooking up some high voltage capacitors in a series parallel configuration and was hoping some of the experienced folks here could share their recommendations for how best to connect them.  I've had traces posited, as well as solid-core wires and bus bars.

 

[Hero999]

You really need to provide more information.

It depends on the capacitance, voltage and rate of discharge.

 

[Silent Jack]

Happy to; 6x 400V capacitors @ 470uF.  Arranged 2x wide, by 3x deep.  As rapid a discharge as possible once fully charged (Dumps to a solenoid).

 

[Kevin Weddle]

Solid copper wire solders good to component leads. High voltage on PCB's isn't good. Any sort of damage has to be evaulated for reuse.

 

[Hero999]

Just make the connections as short and as thick as possible.

What are you using for back-EMF protection? Electrolytic capacitors don't like being charged in the reverse direction.

 

[Silent Jack]

What have you found to work best in your experience?

 

[Hero999]

I've never done it before so wouldn't be able to answer that question.

What's the resistance and inductance of the coil? You should ensure the impedance of the capacitors and wiring is significantly less than that of the coil.

 

[Silent Jack]

I could give you the physical specs of the coil, but I don't know its impedence.  What is the best way to determine it?

 

[Hero999]

By using a formula which can be found using Google.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&client=opera&hs=4eV&rls=en&channel=suggest&q=inductance+calculation&aq=f&aqi=g7g-m3&aql=&oq=