I generally turn mine off if I'm not going to use it for a few hours or
more. I let it cool down for about 20 minutes before turning it off. I
may not have to do that but I feel better if I do. I know it is instant-on
(i.e. no heater warm-up) but I usually let it idle for a minute or two
anyway before transmitting with it.
I bought my Centurion right after 9/11 (President Bush said spend money; buy
stuff; keep the economy chugging and I took that ball and ran with it hi
hi). I went through two plate transformers that were made by Ten Tec, or
made for them by "a guy in Canada." The fault was described as a "High res.
short." I was told later by Ten Tec that meant, high resistance short.
The last time this happened was Memorial Day 2004. A friend of mine had
the same thing happen to his Centurion. He bought the Dahl plate
transformer for the Centurion. After the second Ten Tec transformer died, I
did the same. Ten Tec put up a big resistance to this. They insisted that
their transformer was just as good as Dahl's. I told them after trying
theirs twice I wanted the Dahl. I ordered it, had it shipped to Sevierville
and they put it in. The Dahl is a bit bigger, puts 100 to 200 more v. on
the plate but most important, has not yet departed from this world. My
advice to anyone who has the stock plate xformer fail, get the Dahl and
don't let Ten Tec try to talk you out of it. Frankly, I think Ten Tec
should follow Ameritron, Alpha, and Command to name three, and make Dahl
their stock plate transformer. I would not mind paying another 100 or 200
dollars for a quality power supply which I consider more important than qsk
or a led watt bar, two things I could live without if Ten Tec wanted to cut
costs somewhere.
73,
rob / k5uj
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