artto Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 How long should I take to slowly bring up the voltage and reform the caps on some 30+ year old valve power amps that have been in storage for more than a year or two? Is this something that can be done safely in an hour? Or should I take my time (like 24 hours or more)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Richard Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 If you have 30+ year old electrolytics in your amps I would reform them in the trash can and install new ones before I ever powered these units. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 I posted an article on the matter at the end of this thread: http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/70068/685961.aspx#685961 Wm McD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted December 28, 2009 Author Share Posted December 28, 2009 Thanks guys. I was able to contact a guru on these amps. He said he has had the opportunity to measure the leakage on the top mounted (chassis) caps and said "None of them have ever exhibited bad behaviour and the leakage was very low considering their voltage and capacitance ratings and would leave these alone". But there are four 22uF caps mounted under the chassis under the output trans and he has seen these physically leaking and replace them as a matter of course. So, just to be on the safe side, since these parts are only $1.50 each, I'll just replace them. Since the amps haven't been powered up in a while this is probably the safest and easiest time to do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 So what exactly are you powering up here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted December 28, 2009 Author Share Posted December 28, 2009 So what exactly are you powering up here? My three Luxman MB3045. For the past 1.5 years or so my music room has doubled as my office and as a storage room while we remodeled the Kitchen, two baths, master bedroom, my and my wife's office. About 15 years ago, they were in storage for several years for other reasons. When I powered them up, they started blowing output tubes, one by one, until after about an hour, five of the six output tubes had blown. Not reforming the caps first was a very expensive mistake and I don't want to repeat it. Now that the amps are officially "old" by any standard, I guess it's time to anty up (the time mostly) as the parts are inexpensive. You can only keep these things "original condition" for so long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 Why do you try to reform 30 year old caps that were designed to last 20 years at the maximum? So you blew $200.00 worth of tubes to save $20.00 in caps.Break into that old odorus wallet and buy some new caps. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted December 28, 2009 Author Share Posted December 28, 2009 Why do you try to reform 30 year old caps that were designed to last 20 years at the maximum? So you blew $200.00 worth of tubes to save $20.00 in caps.Break into that old odorus wallet and buy some new caps. JJK Why don't you read what you're responding to? [:#] And those tubes cost a little more than $200.00 USED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 So what exactly are you powering up here? My three Luxman MB3045. For the past 1.5 years or so my music room has doubled as my office and as a storage room while we remodeled the Kitchen, two baths, master bedroom, my and my wife's office. About 15 years ago, they were in storage for several years for other reasons. When I powered them up, they started blowing output tubes, one by one, until after about an hour, five of the six output tubes had blown. Not reforming the caps first was a very expensive mistake and I don't want to repeat it. Now that the amps are officially "old" by any standard, I guess it's time to anty up (the time mostly) as the parts are inexpensive. You can only keep these things "original condition" for so long. You are right better safe than sorry. Never heard those Luxmans but they look excellent. IBSlammin has a Luxman KMQ60 I can't wait to hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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