On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 08:11:33 GMT, mike wrote:

John, N9JG wrote:
Your advice is elegant in its simplicity.

And OPTIMISTIC in it's generality.
While one might imagine situations where this technique is
useful, it would be better to define a strategy that takes
into consideration the exact configuration of the PS in
your unspecified amplifier.

If your caps don't need reforming, any technique will work.
If they do, you're gonna have some current flow. It's not
hard to imagine a scenario whereby you have 25W or more
dissipated in your caps. I don't call this safe. A 100W
light bulb will keep you from blowing up the rectifiers while
you're blowing up the caps.

I had this happen with a 3 week old amp. One of the low voltage caps
blew. It sounded like a shotgun being fired in my basement. The
"can" hit the top of the 8877 amp and flattened out like a 38
wadcutter hitting something solid.

It doesn't have to be a boat anchor to have a cap blow.


Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com