[TenTec] Circuit breaker tripping excessively

[Craig Roberts]

Dr.Johnson makes a good point about the possibility of stray RF tripping 
the magnetic circuit breaker in the power supply.  I'll try a couple of 
shielding and bypass techniques.

In answer to Don Kemp's question: the problem occurs even when the SWR 
is flat (on my lab grade dummy load) with a short coax run straight to 
the load.  At any rate, my antennas are resonant to within a 1.7:1 SWR 
at worst (double bazookas).  Since no changes were made in the station 
setup, the sudden appearance of the problem leads me to suspect a 
component failure upon powering up.  I'm hoping it's in the power supply 
-- a Model 225.   Electrolytics are always a reasonable suspect.

Since I'm primarily a tube guy, I have a question about solid state 
finals.  Do they ever "go soft" or invariably fail catastrophically?  
Ten Tec suspects the finals may be bad, I can get full output from them 
if I increase the circuit breaker trip point (but, of course, I don't 
wish to operate the rig in this manner).  The circuit breaker is 
triggered by excessive current draw (10A), but I don't understand how 
the finals themselves could play a role in that.  Would someone please 
explain?

73,

Craig
W3CRR