Roger D. Johnson wrote:
> I, frankly, get a little nervous whenever I disconnect the Millen
> high voltage connector on the back of my Drake L7. The wire to it
> looks like the center of RG-8 so there's plenty of insulation. Or
> is there? Doesn't insulation fail sometimes? I'd feel much better
> having the HV inside a shielded cable where an arc to ground only
> goes to the shield....not through my body. There is a type of HV
> connector available called the MHV. It looks like a BNC but will
> not mate with a BNC. It's available for all common cables and is
> rated for 5kv. It's reasonably priced too. Maybe more than a Millen
> setup but not much more and the security is worth it to me. They
> are available through any large distributor such as Pasternak.
>
> 73, Roger
I've been reading this thread with interest, and so far, nobody has mentioned
the type of connectors used in laser work.
My Hughes HeNe laser uses a screw-on connector with three terminals on it's
cable. It seems to be all plastic [of some kind], and
is made by AMP, the number written on the side of the socket is: AMP 859528-1
8226
They may have some kind of circuitry potted into them, but I'm sure the
connectors can be had plain. This particular power supply
is for 1900V at a max of 6.5 mA, but I'm sure the connector can take more. I
really like the connectors, as they only go in one
direction, there are three connection points in the shell, and it screws on
nicely, and the socket is bulkhead mountable.
Bottom line, the AMP HV connectors seem to be multi-conductor, and
safety-oriented. I don't see any reason these would be for
lasers only, should work fine as long as the amperage rating is suitable. I'm
sure they make these in a suitable amperage rating.
As for using coax, I'd be very concerned about insulation breakdown, especially
if the cable is bent or pinched at any point. I
think the basic rules should apply to power connectors: Unplug the damned P/S
and wait for the caps to bleed before touching
anything, then you don't have to worry about it.
jim
--
ET has one helluva sense of humor!
He's always anal-probing right-wing schizos!
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