I've made my own solid-state plug-in replacement rectifiers for a variety of tube types. I look up the tube specs and select solid-state diodes that stack up appropriately for current and forward and reverse voltages. I usually end up using either 1N4007s or 1N5408s. From on-lline sources like Digikey or Mouser or All Electronics the diodes are very inexpensive, ten cents to maybe 30 cents each.
I put the diodes on a rectangular piece of perfboard sized to fit upright with its bottom end tucked within the sides of the base of the defunct tube it is replacing. A small L bracket holds it in place. If you use diodes from the same "run" (which is easy if they are sold on the paper tapes used by manufacturers today) then I find no equalizing components are needed. I add a few more diodes than the calculated voltage required for an extra measure of safety and have never had a failure, even in broadcast rigs on the air 24/7 with lots of lightning and power bumps to deal with. You can expect somewhat higher voltage from the new stack than the original tube rectifier - if that is a problem for the rig, then add a series power resistor to simulate the internal voltage drop of the earlier tube. So far I've only needed to do that once when the new higher B+ exceeded the rating of the by-pass caps in the other sections of the rig. Otherwise the rigs seemed to thrive on the higher voltage. Steve WD8DAS [email protected] http://www.wd8das.net/ --------------------------------------------------------- Radio is your best entertainment value. --------------------------------------------------------- ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list Searchable Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Post: [email protected] To unsubscribe, send an email to [email protected] with the word unsubscribe in the message body. This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
