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RE: Interesting subject matter that should be taken to heart that is often misunderstood.

Posted by banpuku (A) on April 11, 2014 at 06:14:41

In Reply to: Interesting subject matter that should be taken to heart that is often misunderstood. posted by Michael Samra on April 10, 2014 at 22:32:38:

Mikey,

On the Valve Wizard article, it says: "When the reservoir capacitor charges up with each input cycle, it draws a large current pulse from the rectifier and power transformer. This is known as the ripple current, and the larger we make the capacitor the larger it will be...this is why you should not use a ridiculously large value capacitor, as the increased ripple current would put a great strain on the rectifier and power transformer. "

So, regarding vintage tube amps and their power supplies, is there any data that tells us how large the capacitor (film) should be that replaces the electrolytic capacitor? For example, in my Lafayette KT-550, the schematic shows a 2 x 200uF electrolytic capacitors as the "reservoir capacitors". In replacing these electrolytics, I have used 2 x 110uF Claritycap TC film capacitors. Smaller in uF value, but film instead of electrolytic. In the back of my mind, I always wonder if I should get 2 x 200uF film capacitors. This would go against the recommendation in the quote from the article, but aligns with your comments about needing more filtering given our modern day noisey AC.

So, which is better? Lower uF film capacitance or higher?

Pat

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