[Amps] filament tube life, turn on's and time on target

[Fuqua, Bill L]

I have not seen the complete first posting but most power tubes loose emission before their filaments fail.
If you leave the filaments on continuously they will certainly lose their emission early on.
I think that Myth Busters had busted the myth having to do with light bulbs and their filaments are much hotter than
power tube filaments.

73
Bill wa4lav

________________________________________
From: amps-bounces at contesting.com [amps-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Steve Thompson [g8gsq at eltac.co.uk]
Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 2:43 AM
To: amps at contesting.com
Subject: Re: [Amps] filament tube life, turn on's and time on target

> To amplify what Carl said technically and Colin's statement, I would just add
> that life is too short. Go ahead and use the amplifier as you need to and want
> to.

My main fear would be for the on/off switch. The repeat inrush
current could see it off - I'd suggest leaving it on and adding an
external boxed switch which could be generously rated and would be
easier to replace if the need arose. In that box I also added step
start and wiring to allow the fan to run for a while after the amp
was shut down.

Steve
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