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Michael A. Terrell Michael A. Terrell is offline
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Default Selenium rectifier question


Arfa Daily wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
m...

EricM wrote:

I have replaced two old Federal/ITT selenium rectifiers in an
amplifier power supply with new silicon diodes; the original part
numbers are 103H4AX1 and 104B1AX1. I can't find any reference to
either part on the web - anywhere - ITT can't even provide
information. Since one of the legs of the circuit supplies the plate
voltage (600V) I used 600V 10A diodes (NTE5815HC) to be safe. Problem
is, there is a time-delay relay that closes to engage the 600V
circuit, and without it attached to the amp; all tube supplies,
biasing voltage, etc. are normal. If hooked up, once the relay closes
- the main power fuse blows. I'm guessing I need a dropping resistor,
but it would be nice to have the original data on the selenium parts
to be able to figure out the value. The 600V and the -38V biasing
voltage are derived from the same part of the power transformer. The
-38 side works, but the 600V side reads upwards of 927 volts without a
load. Using a Variac, the plate voltages were above 600V at about 70
percent. Is there a way to find the original specs on these selenium
parts? Any leads would be greatly appreciated!



If the DC voltage is 600 volts you need higher voltage diodes. That
is a PIV rating, not an RMS rating like they used on Selenium
Rectifiers. As a minimum you need 600 * 1+1.414 PIV. That is 600 for
the voltage across the capacitor, and 600*1.414 (848.4) volts when the
AC line reverses polarity, for a total of 1448.4 volts. That assumes
your line voltage never exceeds the rated transformer input, no spikes
from motors or other heavy loads, no lightning induced surges. As a
MINIMUM, I would use three 1000 PIV diodes in series to replace each
section of the original rectifier.



So would I, along with 10 watt wirewound resistors with a starting value of
say 1k



Yes, I only like to fix a problem once. Varo used to make some nice
3 KV PIV rectifiers that looked like the larger microwave oven diodes.
They were great for upgrading old broadcast and high power commercial
two wy radio systems. Using four of them and moving the meters allowed
me to reduce two full six foot racks into a single four foot outdoor
rack. It was bolted to the base of the tower and was still in use when
the owner died, years later. I did all the HV wiring with 25 KV second
anode wire.


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