• WARNING: Tube/Valve amplifiers use potentially LETHAL HIGH VOLTAGES.
    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
    performed by someone who is thoroughly familiar with
    the safety precautions around high voltages.

Using 2 rectifiers off 1 power supply

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Hey
My geek mate says it shouldnt be done but can I hang 2 gz34 rectifiers off one heater supply? It can supply 5V at 4 amps. I realise the resistance of the heaters will be half of usual and hence the supply Voltage will be greater.. will need dropping resistors etc.
Or do I hang one off the 5v supply I have ,and one off a spare 6.3 V supply I have with the aforementioned dropping resistors
Much Appreciated
Nick
 
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This should work just fine of off the 4A/5V winding since the filamentary load is resistive in nature. (Currents in winding will be sinusoidal and will not cause unusual heating problems.) I used to parallel 5AR4 in order to get higher current capability, particularly towards the top end of their voltage ratings.

In addition I recommend installing diodes such as UF4007 in series with each plate - you will be amazed at how many gremlins this quashes while keeping all of the advantages of tube rectification. (Things like arc over during warm up, hot flashing, etc.)
 
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