Questions about first tube PSU!

[luvdunhill]

ok, I think I have finally come to the point where I need to ask the experts. Do you think I can use a 6CA4 (or in general the regulators with 350 VAC plate maximum) with a 350 VAC secondary connected via two diodes in a hybrid Graetz configuration and a capacitor input filtering with C1 < 1uF? at worse case, we can assume that line regulation can be +- 10% as well. Is this pushing the tube too hard? This really leads to my second question of what will change in my PSUD2 simulation when putting the two diodes between the transformer and the rectifier tube?

Thank you so much!

[Tom Bavis]

Depends on current... max 125 mA, if I recall correctly. For PSUD, just runt it twice - FW bridge with solid state, and with tubes, and average the two. PIV is about 1000, but it's split across SS and tube diodes.

[luvdunhill]

Tom:

Thanks for your help. So, you think the voltage is okay? The current will be well under spec. I have read in the archives about running PSUD2 twice and averaging the results, but I guess my question is where is this applicable? perhaps before the first capactitor and output voltage, or all current and voltage measurements? Things I want to check are PIV, voltage across each capacitor, max inductor current, and output voltage given a constant current source.

Also, can I just use a high wattage dropping resistor in series with a potentiometer to load test the actual psu before hooking it up to the rest of my project? Is there a standard way of dealing with these high wattages when testing tube psus?

Thanks again!