I'm building an amplifier with a separate power supply. The PS is a unit that sits on the
floor. I wanted a small desktop amp and there's no room for a rack.
In the power supply section, I have a 0.33 ohm 5W resistor in parallel with a 6A10 diode
between the negative output of the power supply and the chassis. The idea is that there
will be 0.5 V across the resistor when the full 1.5 A is drawn from the supply, which will
be read by the plate meter. The diode conducts at about 0.68 V, so it won't interfere with
normal currents, but will protect the meter if the current goes much higher.
Now here is my question: suppose there is an arc to ground in the RF section. It will
instantaneously raise the chassis of the amplifier to a high potential relative to other
grounded things. The interconnection between the power supply and the RF section includes
a no. 16 ground wire, the braid of the RG59/U HV lead, and a no. 16 B- lead. The length of
the cable is 10 feet. The arc current will have to flow through all of this plus
connectors in order to flow through the diode back to the negative side of the supply.
Is this a safe arrangement? I am thinking of adding another diode from B- to chassis in
the RF section. I don't see how this could hurt, but it might help clamp the voltage in
the event of an arc.
Any comments?
--
Vic, K2VCO
Fresno CA
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco/
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