Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum
Amp Stuff => Tube Amp Building - Tweaks - Repairs => Topic started by: 92Volts on October 27, 2017, 11:46:36 am
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I'm considering the idea of a power supply, or at least a transformer, separate from an amp's main chassis.
Let's forget for now whether this is "worth it" or even helpful... just a thought experiment, for now.
Are there high-voltage connectors which could allow these 2 chassis to be disconnected for moving/maintenance?
Molex connectors are rated for 250v which is more than I expected, but low for tube amps.
One idea I had was an Octal tube base, which are available for socket-saver or relay/jumper wiring purposes. Tube pins and an octal tube socket are of course appropriate for tube amp voltages. But the pins are very, so one side would need to be "cold" for safety reasons. And you wouldn't want a male-to-male cable, to avoid the "hot" side being exposed. And I'm not sure you could mount the tube pins in the chassis, so one side might need to be hardwired.
Any ideas?
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I use the barrier strips from McMaster Carr.
https://www.mcmaster.com/#barrier-style-terminal-strips/=19zvfrv (https://www.mcmaster.com/#barrier-style-terminal-strips/=19zvfrv)
They have some that are 600vdc and I have even surpassed this for a short time. I had to look around on the website to find exactly what I wanted.
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In my AK47 build I used the black ones in this pic.
When I recently went back to Newark to try to get more they were no longer available.
I only have a female half here and the part # is:
Newark SKU# 25R4664
MFR# LC3-CP 10-1 4.0
Made by Lumberg - maybe they have a replacement
Here's what I got when I put that SKU back in Newark:
http://www.newark.com/search?st=25R4664 (http://www.newark.com/search?st=25R4664)
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Octal plugs work just fine. If you need more than 8 pins get an 11 pin plug that otherwise looks just like an octal plug. Amphenol (probably others too) make nice octals plugs that even have a metal shell. You can get male/female plugs and male/female chassis sockets.
Here's one I did a few years ago. My octal cord handles B+, filaments, and signal to a separate preamp chassis.
http://sluckeyamps.com/vox/vox.htm (http://sluckeyamps.com/vox/vox.htm)
Octals are superior to Molex connectors IMO. I've seen lots of burned Molex due to poor connection, expecially on high current heater wires. But I've never seen a burned Octal connector.
Look on ebay at some of the octal connectors for old organs.
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Thanks everybody! Slucky, that is a fantastic looking amp build. Very similar to what I'd been picturing, glad to see it works!
Silvergun, those look interesting but I'm having a hard time even picturing what the male half of the plug would look like. Looks similar to a speaker "banana plug", but more highly rated?
I definitely use those barrier strips inside my amps for several purposes, but I was looking for something I could quickly connect and disconnect.
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I found these pics of the two halves.
1000V rating caught my eye initially.
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Huh, cool... looks like no exposed conductors on the male or female end, so you could safely have power on both ends. Definitely a good design for actual high-voltage use in terms of durability/safety (if nothing else they're also rated for this use... tube amps sometimes exceed the ratings of their switches, wire insulation, and other hardware).
It's a shame they're only one conductor per-plug, and that they're not easily available of course!
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Steve,
You never cease to amaze me with your creations.
Barry