RCA JAN CRC 5V4G Rectifier heater glow bright orange in preamp but work perfect.

[eldad]

hi friends, i bought this rectifier from ebay as nos for my 6SN7 Preamp ,all work and sound damn good, voltages ok,
and temp of the rectifier and power trafo also normal. no noise or hum.
the heater has very strong orange that glows twice brighter in comparison to Russian rectifier. boh work fine in this preamp
both 5 volt rectifiers and trafo sec for the rectifier heater 5volt too.
no red plate or blue/purple glow.

any reason to worry?

 

[eldad]

pics,
in the photos its bright from in eyes.
and i cant see the glare the camera caught.

 

[vinylkid58]

If it tests new and doesn't exibit any strange behavior, it's probably fine. Tough to see anything with the camera flash. If you want a cool looking pic, turn out the lights and turn off the camera flash. You'll want a steady mount thou.

jeff

 

[andyjevans]

I have a 5V4GA which also glows bright orange. I think that's normal.

 

[MarcelvdG]

When a small piece of heater sticks out of the cathode tube, it heats up faster than the rest, its resistance increases and it gets most of the voltage until the rest has heated up as well. It looks scary, but it is fairly normal. I have an ECC81 that behaves like that, it has worked fine for years.

 

[eldad]

Thanks friends, a update after few months the rca 5V4G works great with normal temp and still glows bright. good to know its somehow normal.

 

[grovergardner]

Normal for 5V4. Just more exposure of the cathode than other rectifiers.