Serge Auckland wrote:

"Anton Gÿsen" wrote
Eeyore wrote:
Anton Gÿsen wrote:

I have a capacitor rated 0.22 microfarads 250 V AC which came out of a
broken power tool (it was wired in series with the mains supply IIRC) -
would that do?

GOD, you're thick. You shouldn't be allowed ANYWHERE NEAR electricity.

Keep spreading the love, Graham.

What I'm sure Graham meant to say was that the capacitor you have was
designed to go across the mains switch of the power tool as a suppressor. It
would only be in series with the mains supply when the switch was off, and
be shorted out by the switch when switched on. I would not want to use
capacitor rated at only 250 volts on the mains, I would prefer one rated at
least 350v.

NEVER put capacitors across switches without a serious watty R of about 100 ohms
in series too. I've seen the results. DRAMATIC barely explains it.

Ever seen a capacitor literally EXPLODE and shower the internals with metallised
foil ?

Graham