Digital tube tester

Discussion in 'DIY' started by m17xr2b, Jul 27, 2018.

  1. m17xr2b

    m17xr2b Friend

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    For burn-in do you apply voltage to just the heater pins? No B+?
     
  2. willsw

    willsw Friend

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    No, for effective burn-in you'd want the plate voltage too. I mentioned that you'd only need the heater voltage if you were only using it as a pre-heating setup for testing.

    The Maximatcher burn-in station has a switch for plate voltage and a switch for heater voltage. The ones I made had hard-wired high voltage PSUs and I used external supplies for the heater, as we had to do 12V and 6V tubes.
     
  3. Zampotech

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    Last edited: Dec 22, 2018
  4. m17xr2b

    m17xr2b Friend

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    Trying out ECC40 for the Stellaris. Having a tube tested to confirm there aren't any shorts from ebay valves and that they're above fail is a massive relief.
     
  5. atomicbob

    atomicbob dScope Yoda

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  6. Zampotech

    Zampotech Friend

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    [QUOTE = "atomicbob, post: 248982, member: 100"] Going to give this one a go:
    https://www.maximatcher.com/maxipreamp.html
    They are located about 10 miles from me. [/QUOTE]


    IMHO .I think this device requires modding. Very low currents for low and medium mu tubes.

    With a small current, the tubes with a high probability will be located on the curved part of the characteristic

    PS. Soviet L3-3 devices are sold on eBay. checks almost all the tubes.
     
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2019
  7. ogodei

    ogodei MOT: Austin AudioWorks

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    Chris Chang, the guy who developed the eTracer, is at AXPONA this year demonstrating the product. He'll test up to two tubes for you for free at the show. I brought a couple in with me, he used an attached printer to generate box labels for them. The number of tests this does is impressive.

    Cost of the unit assembled and shipped to the US is about $1200 but you can save $150 if you assemble it yourself. He didn't bring any units to sell with him and is not offering a show discount, unfortunately :(

    My main concern is around upkeep of the software. It runs on Windows, and three years from now who knows what MS will do that breaks it. Without access to the source code and some know how this could become a brick.

    Also, he's showing off a prototype switcher box that automatically configures the mechanical pin-outs, something you have to do manually now with cables and probes each time you change a tube type. With the add-on box, you select a software profile and its done for you. He hopes to have the production version out by mid year, the number he quoted for the new box was $580
     

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