Valve testing

[Lordlidder]

Hello there,does anyone local ( devon) have valve testing facilities? Thank you ,ben.

 

[petertub]

Hello there,does anyone local ( devon) have valve testing facilities? Thank you ,ben.

You have !!
Your own device and a decent dvvm. Measure DC , then compare with a known good ( new tube ).


For the cost of a ( close to worthless) tubetester you get a ample supply of new tubes.

 

[JonSnell Electronic]

I have an AVO 160 and live just up the road in Dorset.
Post them to me or pm me and we can discuss your requirements.

 

[316a]

You have !!
Your own device and a decent dvvm. Measure DC , then compare with a known good ( new tube ).


For the cost of a ( close to worthless) tubetester you get a ample supply of new tubes.

A DVM cannot check for inter-electrode shorts . A DVM cannot check for gas . A DVM cannot measure transconductance

All you can do is measure anode current and grid bias...

316a

 

[dhaen]

Back in the 60s most customer-facing service departments had one. These were to test the jingly bags of valves that punters would bring in to try and save themselves the cost of a professional repair.
I cannot recall myself or any other repair staff using one to aid a repair. We always used measurement and substitution.
Once the customers stopped bringing in valves for testing, the testers got abandoned to collect dust.

 

[petertub]

A DVM cannot check for inter-electrode shorts . A DVM cannot check for gas . A DVM cannot measure transconductance

All you can do is measure anode current and grid bias...

316a

All you can do with a dvvm in circuit is see if a tube is working (or not) especially when comparing with a known good tube.

 

[GoatGuy]

Back in the 60s most customer-facing service departments had one. These were to test the jingly bags of valves that punters would bring in to try and save themselves the cost of a professional repair.
I cannot recall myself or any other repair staff using one to aid a repair. We always used measurement and substitution. Once the customers stopped bringing in valves for testing, the testers got abandoned to collect dust.

Well… my Pa was such a 'punter', friend.

He kept the 6 televisions in our neighborhood working from the 1950s thru the early 1970s by carefully removing all the tubes from a set, taking them to the local Wenger's Electric store, dutifully plugging them into the right socket and switching the rotaries to the indicated “for that tube” settings, and watching the meters wiggle.

If the valves were well into “the green”, they were good enough. Yellow or Red valves were then replaced. Our neighbors were only charged for the replacement tubes.

WHY he did this remains something of a mystery; he said it was because he lived in Kansas during both the Dust Bowl years and the whole of the Great Depression. And Kansas. Midwestern-help-thy-neighbor-tirelessly values.

In defense of Pa.
Just saying,
GoatGuy ✓