Hi All,
I’ve just finished a 5F1 build and am ready to progress through the first-time startup procedure. I’m following Rob Robinette's startup instructions
https://robrobinette.com/Tube_Amp_Startup.htm, taking things slow, trying to be as safe and diligent as I can. I have my chassis plugged into a light bulb current limiter with a 100W bulb that I’ve independently verified is good, and that runs into a GFC interrupter and then into standard house wall voltage (mine measures 120). The PT is a Hammond 290AX. I’m using a CEN-TECH P98674 digital multimeter to make all my measurements.
With power on and no rectifier tube in, there's no dead short (current limiter bulb stays dark) the amp pilot light comes on, there's no arcing or smoke, and I measure 120VAC at the fuse and power switch (red probe on fuse or power switch and black probe to chassis ground). So far so good, I think.
But on the PT secondaries: where I should be getting 5VAC on the rectifier tube heater wires (wire to wire), I measure 5.4VAC. Where I should be getting 6.3VAC on the preamp and power tube heater wires, I measure 6.8VAC. And where I should be getting 325VAC on the HV AC (wire to ground), I instead am measuring 350VAC. Are these differences acceptable or within expected ranges? If not, what – apart from a bad PT could be causing this? I don’t want to proceed any further with the startup until I get a handle on this. Thanks in advance for your input and ideas!