Creating a Power Supply for a Capacitor Bank

AI Thread Summary
A user is constructing a capacitor bank with 450 volt, 1200uf electrolytic capacitors and seeks budget-friendly methods to charge it to 800 volts. They considered using an AC transformer to convert to DC but are unsure how to create an appropriate circuit. Alternatives discussed include a DC/DC converter, though existing plans are overly complex for their needs. Suggestions for limiting DC voltage and creating a bleed valve for excess voltage are also explored. A full bridge rectification circuit with suitable diodes is proposed as a potential solution for charging the capacitors safely.
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I am making a large capacitor bank (I guess not that big, but enough to kill you a couple times over) and I need a little help with charging it. I am using 450 volt 1200uf electrolytic capacitors. I have them in two sub banks of 4 wired in parallel, and connected to each other in series. I only want to charge the bank to 800 volts (100 less than it is rated for) and am having a bit of trouble doing this on a budget.

I thought of making a ac transformer and then changing it to dc power, but I do not know of a way to create an acceptible circuit for ac to dc. I have tried to find the circuit diagram online but haven't really found anything.

Another solution I thought of was to create an DC/DC converter and up the voltage to the desired voltage through this. I did find plans for this on the internet, but they seem very complicated, and the problem is that they have it set for a certain output, in my case 10kv, way way too much. I don't know enough about the concept behind the circuit to limit it for my application.

Is there an easy way to limit DC voltage? Because if there is I could just use a neon sign transformer and go from there (those are dc output right?)

If anybody has any suggestions, please let me know, because I am going nuts.

Another thing I thought of was creating some sort of bleed valve for the capcacitors that would dissipate extra voltage when it got to a certain point. this way I could use anything above 800, and not really worry. Any ideas on how to do this?
 
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I thought of making a ac transformer and then changing it to dc power, but I do not know of a way to create an acceptible circuit for ac to dc. I have tried to find the circuit diagram online but haven't really found anything.

Would a full bridge rectification circuit, with some filter to smooth the output work? You just have to find diodes which can safely operate at that voltage-- probably not too hard to find, nor too expensive.
 
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