A bleeder resistor is a resistor placed in parallel with a high-voltage supply for the purposes of discharging the energy stored

in the power source's filter capacitors or other components that store electrical energy when the equipment is turned off. Power supply circuits used to supply DC power needed by electronic devices, particularly switching mode power supplies, use a bridge rectifier to convert mains AC power into DC at 320 V (for 220 V mains) or 160 V (for 115 V. mains), before the voltage is reduced by thechopper. These incorporate a filter capacitor to smooth the pulsing output voltage from the rectifier. These must typically store enough energy at this high voltage to power the load during the zero crossings of the AC input. In fact, the capacitors in many supplies are large enough to support the load during AC outages lasting for a significant fraction of a second. This stored energy can remain in the capacitors for a long time after the unit has been turned off. It can be a potentially lethal shock hazard for the user, who may believe that because the device is turned off or unplugged it is safe. Therefore, to discharge the capacitor after the supply has been turned off, a large-value resistor is connected across its terminals. By choosing the proper size for this "bleeder resistor", the voltage will quickly decay to safe levels when the supply is switched off, yet the resistor will not consume too much power while the supply is on.