I have often wondered why this list doesn't have a FAQ that the
list-meister could publish once a month or so. All those who have
opinions as to why an amp goes BANG could submit their standard answer
and it would be included in the FAQ. Then when a newbie asks "why",
instead of getting the same old argument going again, the newbie would
be told to RTFF. Hopefully other useful topics might be covered as
well.
FWIW, I have built amps where the culprit was indeed a parasitic and
others where it was simply a case of bad insulation for HV. I have
NEVER mistuned an amp, however. :-)
There is absolutely nothing like a high voltage arc in an otherwise
quiet shack to wake you up...and maybe send you running for the
bathroom! I used to save the destroyed strings of 1 amp 1kv piv diodes,
pieces of fractured blocking caps, melted blades off of bread-slicers,
exploded Millen HV connectors and other victims of WHATEVER it was that
was working against me. When I filled a couple of shoeboxes, I stopped
saving the scrap. I had sufficient proof that Murphy rules.
73,
--
Ken K4XL
grimm@lynchburg.net
Boatanchor Manual Archive - ftp://198.28.36.115/pub
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