04-05-2015, 06:01 PM
Skip,
1. Have you tested all your tubes.
If not, DO NOT power up unless you know for a fact your radio tubes are at least not shorted, AND your rectifier tube is full good.
Forget dim bulb, it's a dumb thing to do anyway. Not even sure why people use it.
2. Before you populate tubes, without ANY tubes test your transformer. If you do not have a variac, OK, use the hotdammit dim bulb. Make sure the outputs measured at AC are good.
3. Check for the load short across first and second electrolytic cap. (108 and 47A).
4. Now you could power it. Keep your meter on one of the above caps, your hand on the power switch. Your voltage should go up in about 30sec, all the way to almost 500V, and then in a few sec start dropping down to mid 300 or so (rought estimates). If no smoke start escaping, you can start working the radio.
1. Have you tested all your tubes.
If not, DO NOT power up unless you know for a fact your radio tubes are at least not shorted, AND your rectifier tube is full good.
Forget dim bulb, it's a dumb thing to do anyway. Not even sure why people use it.
2. Before you populate tubes, without ANY tubes test your transformer. If you do not have a variac, OK, use the hotdammit dim bulb. Make sure the outputs measured at AC are good.
3. Check for the load short across first and second electrolytic cap. (108 and 47A).
4. Now you could power it. Keep your meter on one of the above caps, your hand on the power switch. Your voltage should go up in about 30sec, all the way to almost 500V, and then in a few sec start dropping down to mid 300 or so (rought estimates). If no smoke start escaping, you can start working the radio.
People who do not drink, do not smoke, do not eat red meat will one day feel really stupid lying there and dying from nothing.
![[-]](https://philcoradio.com/phorum/images/bootbb/collapse.png "[-]")
