Hello all, I have a new to me Galaxy 1000 amp. I purchased it untested. For a good deal I thought. When I plug the amp in and turn it on. It lights up as it should, fan comes on , and tubes warm up. After letting it warm up for about 5 minutes. I keyed the mike. Started hearing clicking, lights in radio room dimmed, and seen blue arching inside case. Released mike turned down antenna output and turned down plate voltage. Keyed mike again same thing happened then the fuse on rear blew and I lost all power. I opened the case and looked where arching was coming from. Nothing appears burnt, but arching was definitely coming from inside the relay near rear of amp. Any help would be appreciated as my local tech only works on solid state equipment. And I've heard horror stories when it comes to shipping tube equipment. Thanks in advance.
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Galaxy 1000 amp arching
- Thread starter WHEELS
- Start date
BJ radionut
Supporting Member and 6m addict
Well first that comes to mind,,,Driver tube?... is blown...white flaky stuff inside glass is a dead give away to bad tube(might be others...you need to clean the crud off) and get dirt and junk out of compartment...Also something just does not look right near that Big Blue cap...need better picture that area and pics from underside of chassis...First thoughts
All the Best
Gary
All the Best
Gary
BJ radionut
Supporting Member and 6m addict
Driver tube is shot. I would bet that the dust mighta caused the arcing. Or a taller tube jumping to the hood
BJ radionut
Supporting Member and 6m addict
No doubt in my mind that driver tube is toast (tube with the white junk inside)...and while your waiting for a replacement get those spider webs cleaned up on the bottom side of the chassis...looks like that was a living quarters for quite a spell.
Make sure you replace that fuse with the correct one(most likely a 15 amp/250v...I would think.
And hope for the best...I see a couple things I would change wiring wise but that is another issue.
All the Best
Gary
Make sure you replace that fuse with the correct one(most likely a 15 amp/250v...I would think.
And hope for the best...I see a couple things I would change wiring wise but that is another issue.
All the Best
Gary
Time to find someone with a decent-quality tube tester.
The tube with the milky-white appearance to the glass has lost its vacuum. You'll probably see a shiny spot on the other tubes. This is layer of metal that has a chemical affinity for gas molecules that may remain in the tube after the air is pumped out when the tube is built. Its purpose is to chemically grab any gas molecules that bump against it and remove them from the vacuum. The shiny appearance turns white when air leaks into a tube. You'll probably find a visible crack in the glass of that tube.
The Galaxy amplifiers are hot rods. Meant to squeeze all the wattage possible out of the tubes. This tends to make them wear out or break down rapidly.
It's possible that the one visibly-bad tube is the whole problem.
Could be that it has other faults in it as well. There is the risk of damaging power supply components from the fault current caused by a shorted tube. If any of the other tubes have broken down, using a tester to identify them could be cheaper than using the amplifier to see if they are any good.
73
The tube with the milky-white appearance to the glass has lost its vacuum. You'll probably see a shiny spot on the other tubes. This is layer of metal that has a chemical affinity for gas molecules that may remain in the tube after the air is pumped out when the tube is built. Its purpose is to chemically grab any gas molecules that bump against it and remove them from the vacuum. The shiny appearance turns white when air leaks into a tube. You'll probably find a visible crack in the glass of that tube.
The Galaxy amplifiers are hot rods. Meant to squeeze all the wattage possible out of the tubes. This tends to make them wear out or break down rapidly.
It's possible that the one visibly-bad tube is the whole problem.
Could be that it has other faults in it as well. There is the risk of damaging power supply components from the fault current caused by a shorted tube. If any of the other tubes have broken down, using a tester to identify them could be cheaper than using the amplifier to see if they are any good.
73
Rodger that nomadradio! Never heard of affinity gas before. Guess I should have paid more attention in chemistry class. Lol I am going to check with my local tv repair person. If there is still any around. And also look into checking with the music instrument shops around. A lot of the amps those guys use contain tubes. So I would think they would have a tube tester. Found that out last night trying to find out info for removing tubes. I am also possibly looking into just buying all new tubes. That way hopefully starting fresh will result in less issues. I haven't a clue how long this was sitting in his garage. Thanks a bunch nomad! You can't put a price tag on knowledge bud. 73
BJ radionut
Supporting Member and 6m addict
