use that oft repeated advice and plug in via a mains bulb tester.
Even if you have completely mis-wired the dual primaries and mis-wired the dual secondaries, the worst that will happen is the the bulb indicates fault by lighting brightly. No fuse blown, no damage to your new mains powered project and most importantly no injury to you.
I have a variac as well as a dim bulb I built for tube amps before obtaining the variac.
russellc
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After reading the extensive Hafler DH200 etc thread, I bought a Variac and built a dim bulb(me) power cord. With tubes you can plug and pray but with three legged fuses you better be safe than buying twice the number of Si based lifeforms you want to sacrifice to the gods of HiFi...
That being said I choose #1 for myself and #3 for my better half...
not as good as I once was, but as good once as I ever was...
mE
That being said I choose #1 for myself and #3 for my better half...
not as good as I once was, but as good once as I ever was...
mE
Gees? Only two safeguards? Maybe you ought to try a Ground Fault Interrupt (GFI) receptacle and a whole-house surge arrestor, too.... and maybe a large commercial magnetic circuit breaker on your town's power grid..... LOL
Makes me feel bad, now..... When I first fired up my F5 DIY and I couldn't borrow a large variac, my "safety system" was my wife holding the power cord at the wall outlet, ready to yank it, if Acrid (the ancient Greek god of pungent smoke) appeared....!
seems you're really dumb enough to be member of club ;
you forgot to give bare wires to her
seems you're really dumb enough to be member of club ;
you forgot to give bare wires to her
why, she seems useful
Quote >"safety system" was my wife holding the power cord at the wall outlet, ready to yank it
Never mind the comments by Zen Mod
The real question is how do you train them to do that?
More to the point The more you try to train them (15 years since I got this one)
the less usefull they became.
Maybe one time she would have been willing to Yank it but now no way I am luky if I get a "told you so"
Never mind the comments by Zen Mod
The real question is how do you train them to do that?
More to the point The more you try to train them (15 years since I got this one)
the less usefull they became.
Maybe one time she would have been willing to Yank it but now no way I am luky if I get a "told you so"
Maybe we should start a new tread about how good and willing to help our partners are.
After all very litle would be done if she was not there to clean up the mess I leave after me.
Saw same pictures of girlfriends drilling holes on back pannels, operating a slate saw and we know of one that must have been totaly scared s...les after being told "Hold that and if you see any smoke or I start shaking and foam is comming out of my mouth yank realy hard.
Actualy I am quite suprised that there is not a single member of the other kind that I know off.
Or maybe is time that a few came out in the open?
After all very litle would be done if she was not there to clean up the mess I leave after me.
Saw same pictures of girlfriends drilling holes on back pannels, operating a slate saw and we know of one that must have been totaly scared s...les after being told "Hold that and if you see any smoke or I start shaking and foam is comming out of my mouth yank realy hard.
Actualy I am quite suprised that there is not a single member of the other kind that I know off.
Or maybe is time that a few came out in the open?
On a more serius note?
GFI ground fault interupt ?
In the UK we have RCCB Residual current breakers
they work by detecting if there is more than EG 30 mA going to earth (difference of currents trough Live and neutral causes a trip. ranges from 5 to 300 mA)
Are those the same thing under different name ?
GFI ground fault interupt ?
In the UK we have RCCB Residual current breakers
they work by detecting if there is more than EG 30 mA going to earth (difference of currents trough Live and neutral causes a trip. ranges from 5 to 300 mA)
Are those the same thing under different name ?
Are those the same thing under different name ?
Yes. I'm uncertain of GFI specs, but they serve the same purpose. Actually (kidding aside for a nanosecond), I do have one installed in my basement workshop, and all my test outlets are wired thru it. I don't know if it's another level of "insurance" but it provides a comfort factor.
As for my wife "pulling the plug", she tells me it's good practice, for when I'm in the hospital on intensive care. (Hhhmmmm, let me think about that....!)
Yes. I'm uncertain of GFI specs, but they serve the same purpose. Actually (kidding aside for a nanosecond), I do have one installed in my basement workshop, and all my test outlets are wired thru it. I don't know if it's another level of "insurance" but it provides a comfort factor.
As for my wife "pulling the plug", she tells me it's good practice, for when I'm in the hospital on intensive care. (Hhhmmmm, let me think about that....!)
Tanks Ken
Yes maybe wimpish and so on but got one myself triped maybe 3 times in so many years but well wort it.
I am preaty shure she is only kidding you.
But just to make shure uy her a nice tin of chocolats.
In the UK we have "quality street" that came in very nice tins that fit trafoss up to 1000 Va
Yes maybe wimpish and so on but got one myself triped maybe 3 times in so many years but well wort it.
I am preaty shure she is only kidding you.
But just to make shure uy her a nice tin of chocolats.
In the UK we have "quality street" that came in very nice tins that fit trafoss up to 1000 VaGees? Only two safeguards? Maybe you ought to try a Ground Fault Interrupt (GFI) receptacle and a whole-house surge arrestor, too.... and maybe a large commercial magnetic circuit breaker on your town's power grid..... LOL
Makes me feel bad, now..... When I first fired up my F5 DIY and I couldn't borrow a large variac, my "safety system" was my wife holding the power cord at the wall outlet, ready to yank it, if Acrid (the ancient Greek god of pungent smoke) appeared....!
Ok you whack smarties out there,
I never used both at same time. I use the variac for powering up everything. Before its purchase, of it, I constructed a dim bulb for a 60-70 watt tube amp I built. That bulb went bright, and bias gauges going nuts. Instability was caused from having reversed the output transformer leads....the dim bulb saved the amp from biggest dimbulb, Me!Is someone suggesting you can use both at once? I would think the variac alone would be fine. I think one advantage of the dimbulb is that one, anyone can build one easy and cheap, and you dont have to wait for smoke to back off, if bulb glows brightly with no dimming, there is a problem? i have never used one on a solid state project.
As to suspenders, I like the last "sock" set.....very spiffy!
Russellc
Russellc
See, you use double safety methods as well. Dim bulb is much cheaper than wife!
Russellc
Hi Russellc
Sorry to but in
you quoting me so hope no offence taken.
Personaly yes I use duble protection and if I can get triple protection I would use that
as well and if I could get mr Murphy to change is mind I would also ask him to help out as well and if on top of that it would help to vear a latex suit I would certanly do that as vell.
And if instead of plaiing with the 230 UK mains I was plaiing with the wimpish USA 110.
(same more bit of humor no offence meant) I would still look for all the protection I get.
Not that a latex suit is sometink that you may find in my tool box but I tought that it would be funny to mention it.
I think safety side of things is quite important (Had a mate working 20 yards from me getting a good one. Bit of his botom used to replace the burnt skin on his arm luky realy luky)
but even more important is to have a bit of fun while dooing this.
And if any one like to call me a wimp you welcome to do so and shure we can lough about it togheter.
I have been asked a few time if I was born so anoiing or if I did take lessons for it thing is while writing is difficoult to epress real feelings over here "we take the **** a lot" If you can take it and give it back 10 folds respect to you and welcome in to my gang
On the spirit of this....
Was going to ask How much?
but please only if you got a sense of humor as well.
Sorry to but in
you quoting me so hope no offence taken.
Personaly yes I use duble protection and if I can get triple protection I would use that
as well and if I could get mr Murphy to change is mind I would also ask him to help out as well and if on top of that it would help to vear a latex suit I would certanly do that as vell.
And if instead of plaiing with the 230 UK mains I was plaiing with the wimpish USA 110.
(same more bit of humor no offence meant) I would still look for all the protection I get.
Not that a latex suit is sometink that you may find in my tool box but I tought that it would be funny to mention it.
I think safety side of things is quite important (Had a mate working 20 yards from me getting a good one. Bit of his botom used to replace the burnt skin on his arm luky realy luky)
but even more important is to have a bit of fun while dooing this.
And if any one like to call me a wimp you welcome to do so and shure we can lough about it togheter.
I have been asked a few time if I was born so anoiing or if I did take lessons for it thing is while writing is difficoult to epress real feelings over here "we take the **** a lot" If you can take it and give it back 10 folds respect to you and welcome in to my gangOn the spirit of this....
Was going to ask How much?
but please only if you got a sense of humor as well.