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Discharge and Ground Procedure


Just stick your tongue across the caps. That should work, and it won't kill you. You might feel a slight pinch, to quote the nurse who shoves the horse-needle into your backside.


Joking aside, I would use a simple high-value resistor connected to a couple of insulated leads and some kind of small connecting clips to discharge the various caps that hold a high voltage. This isn't specific to your amp, just a general good rule to follow in any circuit needing to be discharged. Determine the highest volytage you'll see, and use a resistor calculated to #1 keep the current under a lethal value, and #2, not exceed your resistor's power rating.
 
Don't forget to UNPLUG the amp first.As a further safety precaution you can install a clip lead from the chassis to the plate caps or the plate choke before you work on it.Just remember to remove it before you power it back up. :? Also note that you should ALWAYS make the ground connection first then touch the hot object,not the other way around. :shock:
 
I also would like to know about tube saftey.I will be replacing lite bulb along with cleaning contacts and TR relay on my TS-520..........after unpluging unit is there any other saftey precaution that should be taken? TIA
 
Now is this a secondary precaution?.........Isn't this the job of the bleeder resistors .And when discharging caps could i use wire lead with aligator clips.........one to the chasic and one to a screwdriver and just tap each cap? TIA
 
novakor said:
Now is this a secondary precaution?.........Isn't this the job of the bleeder resistors .And when discharging caps could i use wire lead with aligator clips.........one to the chasic and one to a screwdriver and just tap each cap? TIA
Click to expand...

#1 rule when working around high voltage is NEVER trust a bleeder.It may be open.I was working on an AM broadcast TX one time and killed the 2500 volt plate supply.As per usual I got out the "Jesus stick" to ground everything that should have aready been discharged and when I touched the plate capacitor BANG!! :shock: The 100 watt 100K ohm bleeder was open.Lesson learned. :?

Yes you can use the clip lead and screwdriver method.That is just a simple form of the Jesus stick I mentioned above.I think they are called a Jesus stick because if you do not use one Jesus may be the next person you see.Either that or you yell out his name in vain if you can still talk. ;)
 
Had a Master Chief ET on my ship back in the '60s trust a bleeder in an AN/WRT-2 transmitter. We were just two days out of San Diego bound for Pearl Harbor, so it wasn't too difficult to have his body flown back to the mainland.

Guy should have known better.
 
Well the Russian tubes came in the mail today..... I bought a set of five new from Russia off Ebay for $69. plus shipping. It took me a mere 30mins to pull the old whimpy looking OEM tubes and installing the stout looking Russian tubes. I had to run to Rat Shack to get a replacement 4amp fuse. I am currently burning in the new tubes before I start keying the amp. I keyed the amp one time in low setting and it is swinging to 600 watts!!!! whoooo hooooo. I'll let them burn in for a few days, then I will tune the amp good and let her swinggg. Discharging the amp was a breeze too. I used two 100K ohm resistors wired in parallel and alligator clip ends to bleed the static charge from the amp to ground for about 15mins. Then I used screw driver to short from top of the tubes to the chasis. After that I was good to go. :D

Thanks all for the help.
 
was i just lucky not to get zapped?on my jb 2000 base amp i had to switch it over from 110 to 220 inside when i first got it.a cb tech said that when the power is on just dead key the mic and flip off the power while dead keying until the amp was completely off.
well i did it and got the amp changed over so as you can tell i"m still here.question is,was that ok or was it crazy and that i was lucky not to get fried?
 
Just suppose that the relay voltage dropped low enough that the relay dropped out BEFORE the plate supply was fully discharged.What do you think would have happened? I worked for 22 years in the broadcast business and worked routinely with voltages as high as 5000 volts.Safety procedures and leaving nothing to chance are the reasons I am still able to type this post. ;)
 
Hmmmm. Key it and flip off the power while it's keyed....

Yeah, I do that. But like the man said, too many other things will affect how far down it gets discharged. About halfway seems to be the average I've seen. Not enough to provide ANY margin of safety. Does reduce the time it takes the bleeders to do the rest of the job. And reduces the size of the spark when you do discharge what remains.

Just remember, if you don't discharge what's left in the HV filters, you're playing Russian Roullette. But with a difference. More like leaving only one chamber empty, before you spin it.

73
 

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