[time-nuts] Powering up a long inactive 5061A

[paul swed]

Do not use a variac to bring the unit up. Very bad idea.
You should read the operations documents they say what to do for a unit
thats been off.
Essentially the tube needs to be pumped down electronically. The beam
current will peg and until it drops down on the meter to about 20 or 30 the
rest of the system does not turn on.
Pump down can take weeks and longer or never if its been off a long time as
in years. There are even ways to attempt to recover the tube involving nice
3000 volt supplies.

Last comment for me at least option 004 tubes are bad luck. Thats because
they run hotter then a normal tube. Usually there are no C's left in an 004.
Regards
Paul
WB8TSL


On Thu, Jun 15, 2017 at 11:22 AM, Pete Lancashire <pete at petelancashire.com>
wrote:

> scan the archives for 5061, there's a lot there specially recently
>
> -pete
>
> On Wed, Jun 14, 2017 at 11:02 PM, Hugh Blemings <hugh at blemings.org> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > I've been assisting with the cataloguing and, where possible, testing of
> a
> > bunch of test equipment from a deceased estate.
> >
> > One of the items is a 5061A which best I can tell has not been powered on
> > for over a decade.  The High Performance tube has a warranty expiration
> > date of 1988.  Serial number is 1936A01567 and has Option 01 and 04 and
> has
> > the digital rather than analogue clock.  Minor but it's missing the
> bottom
> > cover.
> >
> > My intuition is to set it to one side until I can become familiar with
> the
> > operating manual and potentially bring power up to it slowly with a
> Variac
> > or similar.
> >
> > I'd be curious as to the time-nuts view on whether this degree of caution
> > warranted ?
> >
> > I suspect the Cs tube is long dead, but maybe I'll be pleasantly
> surprised
> > ?
> >
> > Would welcome feedback on sensible/cautious first steps with the unit -
> > initial need, if possible, is a "simple" go/no go/does it power on ?
> >
> > Cheers/73
> > Hugh
> > VK3YYZ/AD5RV
> >
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