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For Your Entertainment - Gassy Rectifier

3/28/2015

6 Comments

 
This very gassy 280 is on the tube tester. The filament is set at 6.3 volts, too high for an 80 but required to get this kind of light show from a very gassy tube. Needless to say, this tube would be a disaster if it were installed in a radio.


The purple glow is a good indicator of gas in the tube. Normally this would be contained in the area between the hot cathode and the plate. But in this tube a small aurora is generated as I switch sides, energizing first one plate then instantly switching to the other. Don't ask me why I tried this, and, of course, don't try this at home without proper adult supervision.
Another of my favorites, a very gassy 224.
Picture
Don't confuse the deep BLUE glow clinging to the outside of the plates on your tube-amp's output tubes with these above. It is, in most cases, perfectly normal.
6 Comments
Harry Luginsky
4/3/2015 12:12:28 am

That's how I burnt one of the contact switches on my Hickock, Russ. It still works ok but some of the time I need to jiggle that switch a little.

Reply
Russ
4/4/2015 12:35:04 am

Yes, try to avoid lightning storms inside the tube. Like I said "don't try this a t home" (in your expensive tube tester).

Reply
Harry Luginsky
4/4/2015 03:27:56 am

Exactly! The same thing happens when you put a 83 in your tester and push the P4 button on your Hickok instead of the P2 and P3 buttons. There is a purpose to those two ** on the test chart.

Reply
Russ
4/4/2015 05:13:34 am

Yes, I think that the idea of making the button red was to:
THINK BEFORE YOU PUSH
But in reality, it draws your attention so that you:
PUSH BEFORE YOU THINK

P.S. I actually adjusted my tester/meter sensitivity to minimum prior to performing the magic trick posted above.

Davis Sharp link
6/6/2022 06:02:01 am

Nice blog thanks for pposting

Reply
Ern
12/15/2022 09:16:39 pm

That's kind of neat though. I bet that they would light up real good with one of those cheap Chinese Tesla Coils.

Reply



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CUSTOM DESIGN BY SUE WEBB  06/2013       Redesigned by Russ Webb     Approved by Fuzzy   Updated:  Pretty much all the time, but I forget to change this date
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