We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "daestrom" saying something like:
Would have been a simple job to put in a normal solid state rectifier, just to keep a historically interesting bit of kit working. Otoh, valve rectifiers are still being made in China, afaik.
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I am trying to recharge a new(less than 2 years old) battery but amfinding that...
G
Grimly Curmudgeon
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "JosephKK" saying something like:
That's a perfectly ordinary home-use 4A charger, of which millions were made. As charging state rose, the current fell and it took ages for the battery to start bubbling, usually a day or so. Still best to have it on a timer, I would agree, but 4 hours per session is nonsense.
G
geoff
In message , Grimly Curmudgeon writes
|Septics, eh ?
A
Archimedes' Lever
They are still being made in a lot of places. Likely just not the one he was wanting.
P
Proteus IIV
EAT EXCREMENT TROLL
I AM PROTEUS
J
James Sweet
I suspect it was something like a Tungar argon rectifier or a mercury vapor rectifier and not a conventional thermionic diode as is still made today for tube (valve) audio and such. You need something low impedance for a battery charger.
C
Chieftain of the Carpet Crawlers
Probably Mercury Vapor. The thing is likely worth more now dead than it was new.
D
Dave Plowman (News)
They're certainly still made for supplying the HT to valve amps etc - but for high current low voltage? Wouldn't have thought there was much demand.
D
daestrom
All I can remember is that it looked remarkably like a large, old-fashioned, light-bulb. Had a screw-in 'Edison' bulb base as well. The only difference was a single heavy wire also ran to a terminal at the top of the bulb, opposite the base. The terminal entered the glass and ended in a simple, flat plate above the bulb filament.
Remember thinking it was just like I had read in a book on Edison about how he first discovered the 'Edison effect'. That a heated filament would give off electrons to a positively charged plate.
daestrom
J
John G.
See this link
formatting link
John G.
A
Archimedes' Lever
Solid state is more efficient.
J
John G.
Tungar rectifiers are certainly less efficient but they cannot be directly replaced by semiconductors because the voltage drop is much different, several volts for a Tungar and the charger would then produce too hi an output voltage.
John G.
M
Michael A. Terrell
That is why he is called 'dimbulb' or 'Always Wrong', no matter which ignorant nym he trolls with:
Abbey Somebody AnimalMagic Archimedes' Lever Bart! Bungalow Bill
Capt. Cave Man ChairmanOfTheBored Chieftain of the Carpet Crawlers
Corbomite Carrie DarkMatter
Do I really need to say? Dorothy with the Red Shoes on Dr. Heywood R. Floyd FatBytestard FunkyPunk FieldEffectTrollsistor
TheKraken The Last Mimsy TheQuickBrownFox " snipped-for-privacy@thebarattheendoftheuniverse.org"
UltimatePatriot
UpGrade ValleyGirl
D
daestrom
While the 'bulb' shown looks familar, the charger in question didn't come in a box like that. As I recall it hat a rotary snap switch on the front and a circular tapped switch to adjust the charging current and one rather old-fasioned ammeter. Turned it on and checked the current, adjusting the tap to suit.
But that definitly looks like the 'bulb' :-) Thanks for the memory jogger...
daestrom
A
Archimedes' Lever
Diode stacks have bigger drops.
J
John G.
With a forward drop of something like 0.7 volts how many do you need in a stack to get towards the 6 or 7 volts forward drop of a tungar and why would you need a stack to get a reverse voltge of a mere 20 volts.?
John G.
A
Archimedes' Lever
We were having a conversation, not a pissing match, you retarded twit.
R
Richard Cranium
There is no conversation possible with you Archie; it's always a pissing match because of your foul mouth. And you are always the one being pissed on.
Are you ready to explain your statement of celibacy yet?
A
Archimedes' Lever
You don't "need" a stack, but if you "need" to drop volts, and you are using a diode, you need a stack, no?
Our HV diodes, though not capable of such currents, dropped as much as
20 volts. There are like 60 series elements in an HV diode that drops that much.
M
Michael A. Terrell
isn't it obvious? Nothing on earth is desperate enough to get laid, that they will stoop to dimbulb's level.
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