Using half of a center tapped winding

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Excuse me if this is a dumb question, if i have a 320v center tapped secondary winding, i.e. 160v-0-160v is there any reason why i cant use half of it as a 160v winding and ignore the other side? Basically is there any downside, or side effect to having half the secondary floating?
 
This saves 2 diodes but will not give any more available power vs. using a single winding with a bridge rectifier. You will only get roughly half the power rating on the transformer. Since you are only using one winding per half cycle you are still limited to the current rating of a single winding.
 
The total secondary loading is 71.2VA
The 150-0-150Vac winding has a 36VA capability.
The MAXIMUM continuous AC current into a resistive load is 120mAac.

Once you connect a rectifier, the allowable continuous maximum current changes, a lot !!!!!

Look up the manufacturer's datasheet for determining the output with different styles of rectifier and smoothing.
 
The total secondary loading is 71.2VA
The 150-0-150Vac winding has a 36VA capability.
The MAXIMUM continuous AC current into a resistive load is 120mAac.

Once you connect a rectifier, the allowable continuous maximum current changes, a lot !!!!!

Look up the manufacturer's datasheet for determining the output with different styles of rectifier and smoothing.

The manufacturers datasheet, and website don't seem to mention the subject.

If you could shed some light on how to calculate a transformer current requirement from a known DC current load it would be greatly appreciated as i cant seem to find a straight answer. Assume i will be using a center taped full wave rectifier with a CRCRC power supply behind it.

Or to put it another way, if i design an amp that creates a load of 100ma @200v, how do i calculate the size of transformer i will need? i know half the answer is 150v.
 
It depends very much on whether the duty cycle is 100% (i.e. continuous DC current load), or medium duty, say 30% to 60% of maximum continuous DC current),
or low duty cycle say << 30% of maximum duty cycle.

Take the last figure in the table:
full wave centre tapped (bridge rectifier) feeding a capacitor input filter.
They state 1.6 to 1.8times the DC load current.
I use 2times for the maximum continuous DC current.
I recommend that for cool running you use around 50% for continuous DC current.

There is no doubt in my mind, that using the figures from the table will result in VERY hot transformers, if you use 100% duty cycle.
 
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