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RE: Flashes in a mesh plate rectifer on switch on.

Posted by Chris O on January 23, 2009 at 08:04:25

In Reply to: RE: Flashes in a mesh plate rectifer on switch on. posted by rtsang on January 23, 2009 at 06:09:40:

I once had a pair of very nice Dario GZ32 tubes that I used in an amp that, according to all the specs, should have worked fine. However, at turn on, the rectifier sparked and killed itself.

My guess was that it was not just a first cap problem, but rather the excess current draw from energizing the whole power supply, second cap and all. This was combined with the fact that I was using the tube at the higher end of the max DC voltage rating. Also, when the output tubes are not warmed up the AC voltage feeding the rectifier is much higher, pushing the limits there as well. When these rectifiers were made, amps had much lower total capatance and amps probably had more power supply resistance in general. However it happend, it was obvious that the tube was over taxed.

All I know is that your rectifier will fail if it is sparking. What is happening is arcing, like in an arc welder. If the arc causes a short in the tube you could destroy your power transformer.

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