[time-nuts] [volt-nuts] Safe power-up. was (Solartron 7075 ...)

[WarrenS]

Peter Gottlieb nerd at verizon.net  wrote:
> 99% of the time I just plug things in and see what happens.
> I do fix a lot of stuff, though,

Hmmm,
I have to wonder if there is more than a casual cause and effect 
relationship between those two statements.

I've seen a strong relationship between the wasted time spent fixing extra 
things that where fried unnecessary, with how careful one is at initial turn 
on.
Monitoring the wattage, using a Kill-A-Watt meter when turning on Old things 
can save 'futzing time' in the long run.

And the most time saving thing I've found besides "apply power and throw it 
out if there is smoke or nothing",
is to do a complete visual inspection inside, to insure things are still the 
way they where designed to be, BEFORE applying any power.

Yes Variac, My spell checker thanks you for teaching it the correct 
spelling.
I find it one of the more useful pieces of test equipipment when 
checking/modifying things to get max Nut-Precision from them.
If changing the line voltage or the temperature a little causes ANY 
measurable effect on performance,
then for me, it's time to change something and made it better, which can 
often be done with just simple changes (and a lot of futzing time).

ws

************

Peter Gottlieb nerd at verizon.net

Hmmm.  99% of the time I just plug things in and see what happens.  That's 
what
they were designed to do.  If something pops I fix it from there.  If a fuse
keeps blowing I use the light bulb in series trick.

On older tube gear I do "softly" bring it up with the variable 
autotransformer
(Variac, Powerstat), but that's only really because of the capacitors.

Just my 2 cents.  I do fix a lot of stuff, though, and don't like to waste 
time
futzing when I don't have to.  Weak parts get replaced.  If they were likely 
to
fail enough to do so when I just plug something in, they need replacing 
anyway.

******************

On 10/11/2011 1:14 AM, David J Taylor wrote:
>> The proper use of the variact's output voltage has a learning curve, 
>> because
>> equipment with switchers behave differently than things with linearly 
>> supplies
>>
>> ws
>
> Warren,
>
> It's likely "Variac" you mean, not "variact"
>  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variac#Variable_autotransformers
>
> Cheers,
> David