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DIY monolithic power supply


seti

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Thought I would share this beastie! My friend and I have been working on this mercury vapor power supply for a while. It was the most complicated portion of the amp so we took our time.  We just got it up and stable over the weekend. It takes a minute for everything to come up due to relays and slow rise 6D22S tubes. It runs cool and quiet. Now to build the other three chassis for the amplifier 8-) This chassis is 17x17x5 but the others will be 17x17x3.

 

The blue glow is super cool!

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The meters on the right are actually correct 940v 280ma. The one on the left needs some adjustment.

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2 minutes ago, Schu said:

how expensive are those tubes?

 

The meters were probably more than the tubes lol... The tubes were free as they were in my stash of tubes aquired for little or nothing. 866a are normally $10 to $30 each and the 6D22S are usually 4 for $20. The most expensive part of this amp is time as most of the parts Chris or I have had on hand.

 

 

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1 hour ago, tube fanatic said:

You are more insane than me (that’s a compliment)!!!

 

 

Maynard

 

Don't be so sure. I would NEVER EVER NEVER do this on my own.  I am but a soldering monkey. My friend has 30+ years experience and we are building this together. The power supply took over a year but we also built other things and repaired many pieves of test gear Sound Technoilogy and some scopes.

 

 

 

 

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8 hours ago, mark1101 said:

Are those mercury vapor street lights?

Dam straight!!

 

12 hours ago, Jeffrey D. Medwin said:

What amplifier configuration were you two fellas planning, with 940 VDC of B+ and 280 mA. on tap ??

 

Single ended triode maybe eimac 304tl or eimac 450tl or maybe 3 paralell 211per chan... I'm most excited about 304tl. Thinking about making the output tube chassis swapable so we could experiment or swap for flavor. It would certainly be unique. I've run lots of flea power SET now wanna run other end of the spectrum.

 

ee.jpg

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8 hours ago, babadono said:

No but the street lights around his house dim when he fires it up:)

 

Actually we have a meter for line voltage. When AC and pool equipment kicks on in the house the AC voltage dips a bit but the power supply is not affected. Pretty cool... 

 

 

 

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34 minutes ago, Jeffrey D. Medwin said:

Wow. 

You must teach yourself all you can, before messing with this, about safety procedures with high voltages.  One momentary error can be fatal.

Ask  :

Is any added risk worthy of the anticipated performance ???

Might there be other choices / ways to get there !!

My very best wishes go out to you.

 

Jeff

 

 

 

Yes. Also like I said I am the solder monkey. The tech I am working with is a pro with 30+ years experience and is not a stranger to these voltages. Otherwise I would not touch this with a 3000ft pole. There are lots of safety features being built into this project.

 

Be cautious with any voltage. They can all get you to the same place. Certainly don't want to see the electric blue jesus.

 

27 minutes ago, moray james said:

Quote: The blue glow is super cool!

 

Don't forget how much uv is radiated by mercury vapor tubes, please be safe.

 

The 866s are rated to 10kv so they are crawling at this usage.  

 

 

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On 8/28/2019 at 7:33 AM, Jeffrey D. Medwin said:

What amplifier configuration were you two fellas planning, with 940 VDC of B+ and 280 mA. on tap ??

Looking really fabulous!  I have the same question.  Remember the time-honored 'one-hand in-your-pocket' when taking anode readings like that! 

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3 hours ago, erik2A3 said:

Looking really fabulous!  I have the same question.  Remember the time-honored 'one-hand in-your-pocket' when taking anode readings like that! 

 

More like one hand tied behind my back.

Wear no metal not even metal zippers.,

Drain all caps after testing every time.

Test with meter before soldering anything.

All tools have rubber handles.

When we measure the amplifier turned on we use meters with clips put them in place and then turn it on for measuring then off then drain.

Respect 2.5v as much as 1000V.

Respect miliamps as much as amps.

 

 

 

 

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This has brought back memories of the power supplies my ham operator EE neighbor and I constructed in the mid 60s to power his 5 kilowatt linear amplifier for use on 40 and 75 meters.  Of course, that amount of power was totally illegal!  The station was built around a surplus Collins ART-13 which was an absolute "battleship."  Lots of fond memories of his station.

 

 

Maynard

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6 hours ago, erik2A3 said:

Looking forward to following this great thread Seti!  Will you guys please post some images of wiring too?  Fun!

 

This will be a slow project as it took a year and a half to get here. I'll ask if he wants to post schematics and if so will do.

 

5 hours ago, tube fanatic said:

This has brought back memories of the power supplies my ham operator EE neighbor and I constructed in the mid 60s to power his 5 kilowatt linear amplifier for use on 40 and 75 meters.  Of course, that amount of power was totally illegal!  The station was built around a surplus Collins ART-13 which was an absolute "battleship."  Lots of fond memories of his station.

 

 

Maynard

 

Exactly.. This is an ode to a HAM buidler!!!! That is where most of these parts came from. The HAM stuff we have on hand is scary AF. They were the real cowboys. What we are doing is tame by comparison...

 

 

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On 8/29/2019 at 12:06 AM, Jeffrey D. Medwin said:

Wow.  

 

You must teach yourself all you can, before messing with this, about safety procedures with high voltages.  One momentary error can be fatal.

 

Ask  

 

Is any added risk worthy of the anticipated performance ??? 

 

Might there be other choices / ways to get there !! 

 

My very best wishes go out to you.

 

Jeff

 

 

Jeff, I think SETI covered the safety procedures they are using.

 

Seti is a vintage guy, there might be other ways to get there, but not wirh the vintage parts, meters and tubes they are using.

 

Heck yeah the risk is worth it, for those blue beaming tubes alone.knows it's worth the risk.

 

The safety issue isn't so much the B+, the safety issue is droping a mercury vapor tube in an enclosed space, now that can kill you.

 

If you accidentally drop on you need to run out of the room, open doors or windows for at least 10 minutes.  You have to kill your HVAC right away, and you can't vacuum up the glass (it will stir up dust and mercury back into the air).

 

Have fun Seti.

 

There once a was a man named Nation,
Who worked for a radio station.
Although he was tall,
His hands were too small,
Wee paws for station identification.

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8 hours ago, dwilawyer said:

Jeff, I think SETI covered the safety procedures they are using.

 

Seti is a vintage guy, there might be other ways to get there, but not wirh the vintage parts, meters and tubes they are using.

 

Heck yeah the risk is worth it, for those blue beaming tubes alone.knows it's worth the risk.

 

The safety issue isn't so much the B+, the safety issue is droping a mercury vapor tube in an enclosed space, now that can kill you.

 

If you accidentally drop on you need to run out of the room, open doors or windows for at least 10 minutes.  You have to kill your HVAC right away, and you can't vacuum up the glass (it will stir up dust and mercury back into the air).

 

Have fun Seti.

 

There once a was a man named Nation,
Who worked for a radio station.
Although he was tall,
His hands were too small,
Wee paws for station identification.

 

Hell there is risk everytime we step out the door.

 

Check out the mount of mercury in the tube and it isn't vapor it is liquid. General Electric Ignitron... YIKES!!!

 

 

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