On Wed, 19 May 2010 12:33:27 +0100, "Ian Iveson"
wrote:

Arfa Daily wrote:

Thanks Adam. It is indeed a Planar 3. I had in fact
already been on that site, and seen the reference to the
150 ohm resistor. I suppose it's possible that there might
be more than one value having been fitted over the life of
production, because given 40 odd years of looking at burnt
and discoloured resistor stripes, I definitely would not
have said that the middle one was originally green, but
who knows ? (well, hopefully someone on one of these
groups does ! ) I was pretty sure that the first two were
brown and red for 1- 2 - something. I was just concerned
that if the final band was red, or even orange, I didn't
want to be putting 120 ohms in there ...

What's the resistor for? Assuming the motor draws tens of mA
when running normally, the resistor would need to be a few k
if its purpose is to drop from 240 to 120V.

If it is to drop from UK mains to 220V, then 120 or 150 ohms
would be the right order of magnitude.

Well the turntable draws about 4 watts according the the OP (or
someone else in this thread). So that's 30 MA. To drop 120 volts (240
to 120)at that current and power you would have to use a resistor of
4K. But since half that power is the motor, and half is the resistor,
twice the value (8K) is more appropriate. 120 ohms would result in a
current draw at 120 volts of hundreds of watts!

If an increase in
value is advisable, then that should reflect a proportional
increase in the difference between 220 and UK mains, so an
increase from 120 to 150 ohms would be reasonable.

It's common for motor drivers to use fuse resistors to save
the motor from burning out if it stalls or jams. It could be
that, in your case, the choice of resistor power rating
suitable for protecting the motor is such that the resistor
runs habitually hot, and fails occasionally. I guess a
higher power rating, in combination with a higher
temperature coefficient, might protect the motor equally
well, whilst not burning out so quick under normal
conditions.

Ian