Failure
The failure of a bleeder resistor prevents the discharge of the capacitors, resulting in dangerous voltages being retained for many days. This is one of several reasons for the typical warning on most equipment: "Warning - No user-serviceable parts inside". An un-suspecting user may get an electrical shock from opened equipment due to failure of a bleeder resistor, or the common practice of not fitting them, long after the device has been turned off or unplugged.
Safe design suggests mounting a bleeder close to a dangerous capacitor, ideally directly to the capacitor terminals, and not through any connectors, so that it is difficult to disconnect the bleeder accidentally.
Despite the presence of a bleeder, it is wise to prove that any potentially dangerous capacitors are discharged, perhaps by shorting their terminals (or through a suitable low resistance for high energy capacitors), before working on any circuit.
Read more about this topic: Bleeder Resistor
Famous quotes containing the word failure:
“Everything ultimately fails, for we die, and that is either the penultimate failure or our most enigmatical achievement.”
—Edward Dahlberg (1900–1977)
“In the deeper layers of the modern consciousness ... every attempt to succeed is an act of aggression, leaving one alone and guilty and defenseless among enemies: one is punished for success. This is our intolerable dilemma: that failure is a kind of death and success is evil and dangerous, is—ultimately—impossible.”
—Robert Warshow (1917–1955)
“All war represents a failure of diplomacy.”
—Tony Benn (b. 1925)