Mr Carlson's Tube Tester review

lolbou · Post by **lolbou** » 26 Nov 2024, 18:11

Got myself a Metrix 310C last year, i really love it!

Dirk_Hendrik · Post by **Dirk_Hendrik** » 30 Nov 2024, 10:57

Hmmm,
A trip to Bolbec with a trunk full of tubes and beer starts to sound very attractive.

Dirk_Hendrik · Post by **Dirk_Hendrik** » 30 Nov 2024, 11:03

Thanks for the video Modman.
Over the last year I've been on the lookout for a remote programmable high voltage power supply. Easy to obtain but at prices not that attactive for the DIY setup. When having a programmable supply for the B+ voltage and another one for the grid voltage (And yes, one for the heater voltage) it is quite easy to Python-automate the setup, measure and plot the actual curves for the specific tube you are testing. The added value of being able to measure each grid voltage vs B+ voltage is the ability to dump these measurements in a smple database and have a script find the best matching tubes when testing multiple.

lolbou · Post by **lolbou** » 30 Nov 2024, 12:51

Dirk_Hendrik wrote: ↑30 Nov 2024, 10:57 Hmmm,
A trip to Bolbec with a trunk full of tubes and beer starts to sound very attractive.

Sounds like a nice plan!

lolbou · Post by **lolbou** » 30 Nov 2024, 13:04

!

Dirk_Hendrik wrote: ↑30 Nov 2024, 11:03 Thanks for the video Modman.
Over the last year I've been on the lookout for a remote programmable high voltage power supply. Easy to obtain but at prices not that attactive for the DIY setup. When having a programmable supply for the B+ voltage and another one for the grid voltage (And yes, one for the heater voltage) it is quite easy to Python-automate the setup, measure and plot the actual curves for the specific tube you are testing. The added value of being able to measure each grid voltage vs B+ voltage is the ability to dump these measurements in a smple database and have a script find the best matching tubes when testing multiple.

I've salvage a power supply which was used in a biology lab for electrophoresis. It is supplying up to 500V at 800mA. The problem is the output is somehow monitored and programmed to autostop when the current draw doesn't match the assigjned value. It's got some kind of microcontroller driving it (MC68705R5S ), so it's right above my league, but i bet a skilled builder could adapt it pretty easily to achieve a nice power supply or a a curve tracer...

For the record the unit is a Prolabo gen-apex 500/800 for which i can't find any information anyway.

Dirk_Hendrik · Post by **Dirk_Hendrik** » 30 Nov 2024, 17:10

lolbou wrote: ↑30 Nov 2024, 13:04

I've salvage a power supply which was used in a biology lab for electrophoresis.

A few months ago I was looking at something from that lab-world. Came by 2nd hand atquite a decent price. Issue is that it was totally tailored for the specific application it was intended for and gave little insight in how easy it would be to adapt to a different application. Yes it will be doable but my (diy) time is still very limited and often consumed by daily issues. And I still have the luck of not having to drive kids around for tournaments on saturdays/sundays!

Dirk_Hendrik · Post by **Dirk_Hendrik** » 30 Nov 2024, 17:13

lolbou wrote: ↑30 Nov 2024, 12:51
Dirk_Hendrik wrote: ↑30 Nov 2024, 10:57 Hmmm,
A trip to Bolbec with a trunk full of tubes and beer starts to sound very attractive.
Sounds like a nice plan!

it's a close to 6 hr drive. That's not even that bad...