"Heinz Schmitz" wrote in message
...
Pilgrim wrote:

Your PIV rating for the new diodes is much too low. You
should have at
least a 1KV diode. Also you don't need that high a current
diode.

Agreed. As a proof, I would check the diodes. They should
be
dead now. If they are not, there's still another fault at
work.
Maybe the one that caused the death of the selenium
rectifier.

Regards,
H.

One note on voltage drop of selenium rectifiers: Rectifiers
were constructed by placing a set of plates is series. The
size of the plate determined the current rating. A new
rectifier had about 1.5 volts drop per plate at rated
current. Each plate could withstand about 45 to 50 reverse
volts. Most designs pushed the reverse voltage right to the
limit. As the device aged, the forward drop would increase,
power dissipation would rise, and the stack would eventually
fail with a very obnoxious smell.

David