To learn electronics in a very different and effective way, and gain access to Mr Carlson's personal designs and inventions, visit the Mr Carlson's Lab Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/MrCarlsonsLab
WHAT A SHOW!!!! I have a toroid transformer setting on my kitchen table I hand wound about the size of your variac Mine may be a little bigger its hooked up to a home made pure sine inverter Low freq DOSE NOT mean it has to have high idle current The last inverter I built had 60 or 70 pound toroid transformer and the idle FULLY POWERED up ALL power from battery bank was around 20 watts If you don't know the secret of low idle and silent zero hum with ear on tranny it would surprise me But I don't mind sharing this info My name is Ben this is my wife's youtube A EE friend of mine after a year of using a tranny wound like I speak of told me he cant find any loses Even though it definitely has them he says it powers his whole zero grid home He has redesigned almost EVERY thing at his place to run off batteries Yes even the pcb and screen of his microwave LOL He also designed and wrote the programing for some of my inverters I tell you truth 4 or 5 years ago he had a new update for me to try He made my inverter have a built in oscilloscope He did it form a wifi update He lives few hours from me I am like forrest gump self taught nothing like you or him I very old EE from the land down under would NOT give me the answers about winding transformers I wanted I think he knew exactly what is was doing but never has said so I like forest gump fingered out how to get such low idle when winding trannys Sorry so long wish you was my neighbor I am SURE you know and have many cool stuff you have built to tinker with lol
I once maintained a military radar system that used a traveling wave tube the size of my leg to drive a Klystron tube final amplifier that was bigger than me. The Klystron was in an enclosure the size of a small car that provided magnetic shielding and allowed liquid cooling. Voltage levels in the enclosure were so high that the conductivity of the ethylene glycol based coolant had to be monitored to prevent shorts through the cooling circuit. When the transmitter was tested into a dummy load (itself an impressive device), it sounded like a metal garbage can full of angry steel hornets. Fun times!
There are even much bigger VARIACs 🙂 They run on all three phases here in Europe an are capable of 10+ kVA. They are very useful as universal AC variable power supplies.
@robertchristiano7671 oh yeah, I THOUGHT I had a big variac...nah. (Mine is max 40 Amp @220vac Input) and thanks again Paul ! You said what I was thinking Robert !
Back in the early 70s I worked at a 50kw AM radio station that had an RCA Ampliphase 50G transmitter. The output tubes were a pair of 5671s. They required 15KVDC plate voltage and 11VAC @285 amps for the filament. They needed 1800 cfm of airflow for cooling, were 25" high X 17" wide and weighed in at 228 pounds. I never had to change one, but there was a special lifting device in the storage room in the event that became necessary. The power supply cabinet had huge mercury vapor rectifier tubes that had a purple glow and changed in intensity with modulation. One time a tube in the oscillator section of the exciter went bad and we were putting out spurious signals across the AM band. I was on duty and started getting calls from other stations that something was wrong. I put the backup transmitter online and eventually found the problem in the oscillator section.
I probably never would have known a tube like this existed much less witnessed the filament light up if not for you Paul. I really enjoyed watching the process. Thank you.
@OldWrench59 Search for pictures of the Eimac 8974. It's a big tetrode that takes over 20kW just to light up the filaments. It's surprisingly small for a tube that can put out over 2MW of RF.
At work we used a radio frequency dryer for sewing thread. It developed 30KW of RF at around 27.125MHz in the CB/ISM band. It was water cooled with the anode strapped to ground and the heater cand grid circuiits 'floating' negative with respect to ground. .A BIG triode that had a heater rated at 10V@240Amps. It was a BIG metal cased triode. I can't remember the anode voltage bit it was many KVs. One day, one of the hoses supplying cooling water came adrift spraying the RF deck with water (demineralised!) . The results were quite spectacular and the valve was destroyed pretty much instantly. The oscillator was a simple free-running type. Amazingly for me at least, I couldn't detect any RF leakage at all using my Kenwood R2000 HF receiver placed near the metal cabinet when the machine was running. The internal RF screening was superb with a lot of finger-stock and brass brush seals.. It was a carousel type dryer with the RF fed into a chamber at the rear of the machine to dry the thread which was wound onto 'cheeses' and stacked vertically in threes, with teflon spacers between them and a teflon top cap.. Vacuum was applied as the drum carrying the 'cheeses' entered the drying chamber which helped to force water out. 30KW of RF did a great job of drying the thread! When it failed, replacing the dead triode was interesting. The new triode arrived in a large wooden crate packed in straw. Ww used a forfkift truck to lift the crate over to the machine where we unpacked the valve and shoehorned it into the machine using the forklift truck.. These big transmitting valves are designed to be repairable. Thay can be taken apart and refurbished. I never did find out how much the new triode cost, but was glad the company was paying for it.
A long time ago I was a tech looking after a critical computer system using hundreds of valves. (tubes). We understood that the thermal shock of powering on and off the heaters is what reduces the MTBF of tubes. Best practice was to leave the heaters on all the time, but if we had to power off the heaters then slowly reducing the power was as important as slowly ramping up power. Nice to see Mr Carlson following this.
I was once putting a Cellphone transmitter in service in the station building of a 25Kw AM station. The transmitter was next door. After lunch break, the door was open, but no one was inside. I took a look, and the modulator cabinet and transmitter cabinet was open. The same big glass tubes in both( 25cm diameter and about 40cm high) The modulator run on 6kV and the tx final on 10kV. Then the station technician came in, got pale when he saw me . ( he came from a toilet break). Thank God, you are alive! After questioning him a bit ,i showed him the cellphone station next door, which ran only on 48V. Less dangerous! Great videos, Mr C. 73, F1VEL ex DB3YZ
12 kv!! Mr Carlson, I'm a NERC certified transmission operator for a Midwest power company. I started in distribution. Most of our distribution lines are 12kv phase to phase, 7.2 phase to ground. The thought of you putting 12 kv on that tube in your shop gives me the willies!! I love your videos. When I was a teenager, I wanted to have your knowledge of electronics. Keep up the good work and be careful!!!!!!
@@stargazer7644 - there is a HUGE difference in the output power of the CRT anode supply and the voltage needed to drive that transmitter tube. Yes, in both cases the voltages can be lethal, but the power that will be supplying that transmitter tube is higher risk.
@@stargazer7644 I have made mistakes fixing old TV's and felt the eht (25Kv) off the cap of a CRT. Makes you hop and probably not good for a weak heart, but no real current capability via the tripler and eht rectifier. A little more painful than a car ignition jolt. If Mr C puts 12Kv on the anode of that tube it can pass 1.5A. You won't say ouch if you get across that. You will pass a killer current in no time at all. Only the really old TV's which derived the eht 10kv or less directly from a transformer winding could pass enough current to be potentially lethal. Those tests if they involve high anode voltage and current capability should be setup behind a faraday cage in what we called a rubber room.
Yeah I thought I had a decent beast over there in the corner... that thing is absolutely massive. But when you need it you need it... And "warming up" 🤣
We have 'one' of these at work, but in 3-phase configuration for 3x230V, the sections are 115V each, that means a tower with SIX of these on top of each other with a common shaft, driven by a motor. Now *that* is a beast. IIRC it can do 3x230V, about 100A per phase maybe. I don't remember the brand, but it's US made, some time in the '60s or '70s.
I like how You never treat People condescendingly You are a Fantastic Teacher and We all enjoy Your Projects which I could have been an assistant with You, Great projects and learning experiences. Thanks Mr. Carlson
When I watched this the first time there was something I didn't like about this guy that I couldn't explain. But after watching 2 episodes I really like it and I'm hungry for more. Right on Mr Carlson. I need more. I'm retired after 29 years in broadcasting and I still want to learn more because guys like this make it fun to learn. Two thumbs up and bravo.
That's really good practice to start the tube filament off from 0v and build the voltage up slowly, especially if the tube hasn't been used in a long time or is of an unknown status, great vid.
Great video! I see a Marconi 2955! I was gifted one of those but with a bad flyback. Instead of hunting down a flyback, I did the LCD conversion. I just used it today actually. Re-aligned the front-end of a Tait T835-20 receiver module converted from VHF high to 136-148. I broke my first couple RF slugs. Lesson learned! Fortunately I found some replacements! 73 from VE9 land!
My wife is on me all the time for the electric bill being high when I run a few 3d printers and my big screen from time to time. I can’t imagine what your power bill could be. Definitely gonna do my part on Patreon though I doubt I’ll put a dent. I wouldn’t be surprised if you had your own hydroelectric system or geothermal operation. Thanks for all you do for those of us still learning, it’s more helpful than you know.
Felicitations for a fabulously fulfilling filament fire up. The suspense was palpable as you slowly turned the big vice grip handle. Now I can't wait to see what amazing things you will do. I commend you for wearing personal protective gear.
My favorite channel on RUclips! With the best teacher on RUclips! Thank you Mr. Carlson for your sharing of knowledge and excellent way of teaching. You inspired me to read and read and read even more about electronics. I now repair audio amplifiers and any home/ car audio equipment. I also work at a board repair shop during the day repairing oilfield automation equipment. Thank you for making electronics addictive. You’re a great and entertaining teacher. Have a blessed day, sir.
Fascinating departure from your normal videos! It was very interesting to see you outside your normal box\bench out in the garage with a cobbled together experiment. Thank you. I enjoyed this video.
@@MrCarlsonsLab For one awesome year, I was gifted the job of teaching middle school kids basic electronics. The art of teaching as you do is not easy, but if you love it like you and I its very fun. I can see your enthusiasm as I had too. I taught my students the basics and we built things not on any list or required instruction. I got to see these kids open their minds to possibilities and ideas, where in the beginning of the class there were none. I hope you keep the joy of electronics going for all to experience.
A few lifetimes ago, like in the mid 70's, I was able to take a tour of the transmitter building from our local 50,000 watt AM station (WPTF). These final amp tubes were HUGE, I seem to remember them being almost as tall as I am. It was cool seeing this big old tube fired up and what all goes into it... that's a LOT of power for just the tube heaters! Great stuff!
So much fun to watch, that had an element of suspense! I maintained AN/URT-23D HF transmitters while serving in the U.S. Navy and remember working with the high voltage Eimac vacuum tubes. I am also a ham~KA1WHT. Looking forward to seeing more!
I had a wood products company in the 90’s. I was able to find an old high frequency gluing machine and it had a huge tube similar to the one you have. I could cure 4 inch thick butcher blocks in a couple of minutes!
I seem to recall a video with a high power AM transmitter using this same tube. They emphasized the importance of cooling, ramping up filament current slowly, and most importantly, never applying plate voltage until after the tube was fully warmed up. They also mentioned the very high cost of these tubes.
Totally awesome, that this actually survived all these years is amazing. I guess it didn't go through many hands then, likely being in a Mr. Carlson's look-a-like lab before. :)
That is just amazing. Holy moly the power output 14,000 watts. I must admit I would prefer you to be operating that variac behind a 3/8 inch piece of Lexan. You make my heart beat a little faster when you're that close that glass MONSTER!
I love the way this channel is heading. Thanks and that makes a great room heater. In winter you're heating the room anyway so no power is "wasted". Take care!
Very nice. You saved me from the temptation to light up my Eimac 527A, which draws 135 amps at 5.5 volts. I am content to light it up with an UV flashlight, which makes its seals glow a nice greenish yellow (Uranium glass)
It's really interesting to see how they accomplished the thermal management here. You can certainly see the roots of modern day electronics cooling and thermal solutions.
Yeah I was thinking of that guy too. Just need some capacitors like paint cans and a mercury rectifier or two. Oh and just set it up on the carpet in your living room. He hasn't posted in a few years, I hope he is well.
That's a very impressive tube Mr Carlson. I can't wait to see what you do with it in the future. I've got an old transmitter tube in my collection. It's an STC 4279-Z triode from 1955, made in Australia. 10V filament at 21 Amps. 2500V anode. The GI7B triodes in my rebuilt Yaesu FL-2100Z amplifier are tiny compared to this monster, 21.25" from tip to tip.
I have watched a many a videos , and I will say this was a very Interesting one to this day. I don't recall anything like this before. Thanks for the time invested. And I hope to see many more. Great Weekend, and I will check out more from you my friend. 73
What a cute, little transmitter tube! In the 1980s, I did the maintenance & repairs for a Harris MW-50A 50 KW AM broadcast transmitter. The PA final was an Eimac 4CX35,000, and the plate P.S. was 24 KV. The xmttr came with a screw operated jack, for putting the tube into, or removing from, its socket. Of course, engineers who have worked on 500 KW shortwave transmitters would consider that 4CX35,000 to be puny.
@@stevehodder1 At the time I was responsible for the care & feeding of that xmttr, they sent me back to Illinois, to attend the Harris "Transmitter Training Course," for that model. While there, I learned that they had built a SW transmitter for Saudi Arabia, which had a power output of 1 MEGAWATT. I don't know what kind of PA tubes it used....probably a bank of them, in parallel.
Very interesting. I maintained an Harris MW-5A for a station in Kokomo. Same basic transmitter, but, a lot smaller, used a 4CX3000A as a switch tube and a 3CX2500F7 for RF final. Plate efficiency was an astounding 92%! Made beautiful audio.
I had the good fortune to tour the KDKA (AM radio) broadcast transmitter site back in the 80's. The tube finals that powered the 50kW Westinghouse broadcast transmitter are works of art. That site is it's own distribution substation with multiple transmission feeds to keep it alive too.
Wow. I was sweating WITH you. Quite fun ! I've been told "you know you have arrived when you screw around with MASSIVE power and don't make any mistakes" peepeer's phrase...
892R has a pure tungsten filament - that's why it uses 1200+ watts and glows so brightly. Slowly bringing up the voltage and current is necessary because the tube specifications say the filament current must never exceed 120 amperes (!). The 1964 Newark catalog shows the 892R priced at $425 US - about $4300 in today's money. They were so valuable that burned-out ones would be sent back to the manufacturer and rebuilt. Tube data on the 892R and its water-cooled version 892 from several manufacturers is on the internet in several locations. Take a look - they're impressive.
It appears that four of these tubes could operate a 50kw AM station! WBZ 1030 is a clear channel out of Boston that reaches half way across the USA. It is now all talk and info, but in the sixties a top 40 AM power house. Thanks for the exhibit, Paul!
Mr. Carlson. When you are done experimenting with that vacuum tube, I'd like to buy it from you and build the ultimate Binford 2000 Tube Guitar Amp .... With Turbo Option of course. 👍😂
I really enjoy the demos of lesser-known industrial electronics and components. After experimenting with kv plate voltage and current, perhaps you could demo the other definition of ‘grounding’ when Mrs. Carlson sees the power bill!
Nice job firing this baby up! Dwarves my Tesla ZD1000F transmitter triode, the biggest one in my collection, with 1kW plate dissipation and 250W on the heater. "You call that a vacuum tube? THIS... is a vacuum tube." That variac is by far the biggest one I've ever seen. You could try adding a motor with worm drive to it for remote control.
Makes me want to break out my 4CX5000A and build a resonating cabinet for it. I remember maintaining a transmitter that used a set, with individual filament transformers rated at 150 amps. Mains power was stepped down to 5 volts, and the tube took whatever current it needed. They center-tapped the secondary and tied it to ground for the valve circuit. Running that thing was a blast! 25,000 visual watts
oh man, that thing look mean and dangerous, this was a super exciting episod, like from an old Frankesnstain movie (its alive!). This episode really needed the "...you are doing so at your own risk..." and I'm sure you had the fire extinguisher near by. Thanks a lot Paul!
I am building a 160 - 10 Meter amplifier with a pair of grid-driven 4-1000A's in class A, push-pull. It won't be super efficient; but I make my own electricity, and I absolutely love the glow of glass bottles with cherry-red plates!
To learn electronics in a very different and effective way, and gain access to Mr Carlson's personal designs and inventions, visit the Mr Carlson's Lab Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/MrCarlsonsLab
Big-eyed thumbnnails are really not your style. I'll unsub if it continues. Just saying.
WHAT A SHOW!!!! I have a toroid transformer setting on my kitchen table I hand wound about the size of your variac Mine may be a little bigger its hooked up to a home made pure sine inverter Low freq DOSE NOT mean it has to have high idle current The last inverter I built had 60 or 70 pound toroid transformer and the idle FULLY POWERED up ALL power from battery bank was around 20 watts If you don't know the secret of low idle and silent zero hum with ear on tranny it would surprise me But I don't mind sharing this info My name is Ben this is my wife's youtube A EE friend of mine after a year of using a tranny wound like I speak of told me he cant find any loses Even though it definitely has them he says it powers his whole zero grid home He has redesigned almost EVERY thing at his place to run off batteries Yes even the pcb and screen of his microwave LOL He also designed and wrote the programing for some of my inverters I tell you truth 4 or 5 years ago he had a new update for me to try He made my inverter have a built in oscilloscope He did it form a wifi update He lives few hours from me I am like forrest gump self taught nothing like you or him I very old EE from the land down under would NOT give me the answers about winding transformers I wanted I think he knew exactly what is was doing but never has said so I like forest gump fingered out how to get such low idle when winding trannys Sorry so long wish you was my neighbor I am SURE you know and have many cool stuff you have built to tinker with lol
Patreon is taking my $ but I cannot see your videos
интересно а где использовались такие лампы ? :)
I thought the Tube would light up as bright as the sun I guess you would need to boost the power some?
Who needs The Voice of America, we can now have The Voice of Mr Carlson.
Well said, and he speaks so eloquently in layman's terms, he doesn't need to speak in "Special English!" Lol!
He's Canadian.
It looks like a scene from the movie Back To The Future. 😁
We'll see him on 15m SSB with this PA tube soon 😂. He'll be able to compete with the Cubans and their old Soviet transmitters.
@@orbitingeyes2540 Unfortunately that is highly illegal. The most legal thing he could do with it is using it in an RF heating system.
I once maintained a military radar system that used a traveling wave tube the size of my leg to drive a Klystron tube final amplifier that was bigger than me. The Klystron was in an enclosure the size of a small car that provided magnetic shielding and allowed liquid cooling. Voltage levels in the enclosure were so high that the conductivity of the ethylene glycol based coolant had to be monitored to prevent shorts through the cooling circuit. When the transmitter was tested into a dummy load (itself an impressive device), it sounded like a metal garbage can full of angry steel hornets. Fun times!
Angry steel hornets.....quite the image evoking metaphor. Kudos !
Sounds like the P.A.R. system which has that setup. The Patriot system uses a TWT as well
AN/SPN 3x ?
@@imfloridano5448 Understandable if you want a fair amount of power that can frequency hop...
*This channel is a National Treasure and this video should go viral.*
This channel never disappoints. "Thats not a Variac.... THIS IS A VARIAC"...
I wonder if it used to be a dimmer for a theater.
There are even much bigger VARIACs 🙂 They run on all three phases here in Europe an are capable of 10+ kVA. They are very useful as universal AC variable power supplies.
....and then some !!
Lol :)
@robertchristiano7671 oh yeah, I THOUGHT I had a big variac...nah.
(Mine is max 40 Amp @220vac
Input) and thanks again Paul !
You said what I was thinking Robert !
I patiently await the unveiling of this tube- mounted in a Delorean!
He will be going to be having had done that in no time
Collaboration with Applied Science? Between the two, and the DeLorean, they could make it work.
Time travel 😮
1.21 Gigawatts... well, that's about the total input power in roundly exaggerated numbers. 😂
@@orbitingeyes2540 I think Mr. Carlson's safety goggles were a tribute to Dr. Emmitt Brown.
Back in the early 70s I worked at a 50kw AM radio station that had an RCA Ampliphase 50G transmitter. The output tubes were a pair of 5671s. They required 15KVDC plate voltage and 11VAC @285 amps for the filament. They needed 1800 cfm of airflow for cooling, were 25" high X 17" wide and weighed in at 228 pounds. I never had to change one, but there was a special lifting device in the storage room in the event that became necessary. The power supply cabinet had huge mercury vapor rectifier tubes that had a purple glow and changed in intensity with modulation. One time a tube in the oscillator section of the exciter went bad and we were putting out spurious signals across the AM band. I was on duty and started getting calls from other stations that something was wrong. I put the backup transmitter online and eventually found the problem in the oscillator section.
Thanks for sharing that! Interesting story.
I probably never would have known a tube like this existed much less witnessed the filament light up if not for you Paul. I really enjoyed watching the process. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it Michael!
That's still a little tiny tube. The big tubes were used in shortwave transmitters that put out 1MW or more.
@OldWrench59 Search for pictures of the Eimac 8974. It's a big tetrode that takes over 20kW just to light up the filaments. It's surprisingly small for a tube that can put out over 2MW of RF.
At work we used a radio frequency dryer for sewing thread. It developed 30KW of RF at around 27.125MHz in the CB/ISM band. It was water cooled with the anode strapped to ground and the heater cand grid circuiits 'floating' negative with respect to ground. .A BIG triode that had a heater rated at 10V@240Amps. It was a BIG metal cased triode. I can't remember the anode voltage bit it was many KVs. One day, one of the hoses supplying cooling water came adrift spraying the RF deck with water (demineralised!) . The results were quite spectacular and the valve was destroyed pretty much instantly. The oscillator was a simple free-running type. Amazingly for me at least, I couldn't detect any RF leakage at all using my Kenwood R2000 HF receiver placed near the metal cabinet when the machine was running. The internal RF screening was superb with a lot of finger-stock and brass brush seals.. It was a carousel type dryer with the RF fed into a chamber at the rear of the machine to dry the thread which was wound onto 'cheeses' and stacked vertically in threes, with teflon spacers between them and a teflon top cap.. Vacuum was applied as the drum carrying the 'cheeses' entered the drying chamber which helped to force water out. 30KW of RF did a great job of drying the thread! When it failed, replacing the dead triode was interesting. The new triode arrived in a large wooden crate packed in straw. Ww used a forfkift truck to lift the crate over to the machine where we unpacked the valve and shoehorned it into the machine using the forklift truck.. These big transmitting valves are designed to be repairable. Thay can be taken apart and refurbished. I never did find out how much the new triode cost, but was glad the company was paying for it.
A long time ago I was a tech looking after a critical computer system using hundreds of valves. (tubes). We understood that the thermal shock of powering on and off the heaters is what reduces the MTBF of tubes. Best practice was to leave the heaters on all the time, but if we had to power off the heaters then slowly reducing the power was as important as slowly ramping up power. Nice to see Mr Carlson following this.
I was once putting a Cellphone transmitter in service in the station building of a 25Kw AM station. The transmitter was next door. After lunch break, the door was open, but no one was inside. I took a look, and the modulator cabinet and transmitter cabinet was open. The same big glass tubes in both( 25cm diameter and about 40cm high) The modulator run on 6kV and the tx final on 10kV. Then the station technician came in, got pale when he saw me . ( he came from a toilet break). Thank God, you are alive! After questioning him a bit ,i showed him the cellphone station next door, which ran only on 48V. Less dangerous! Great videos, Mr C. 73, F1VEL ex DB3YZ
Thanks for sharing your story!
This will be great around Christmas time with friends and family all snuggled around the tube to stay warm this Winter.
12 kv!! Mr Carlson, I'm a NERC certified transmission operator for a Midwest power company. I started in distribution. Most of our distribution lines are 12kv phase to phase, 7.2 phase to ground. The thought of you putting 12 kv on that tube in your shop gives me the willies!! I love your videos. When I was a teenager, I wanted to have your knowledge of electronics. Keep up the good work and be careful!!!!!!
I guess you had absolute heart attacks back when we all had TV sets in our living rooms with 20-40,000 volt power supplies in them.
12kV DC
I used to make tube amplifiers - I stopped when I gave myself a 485V DC shock. I figured ADHD and high voltage just dont mix well
@@stargazer7644 - there is a HUGE difference in the output power of the CRT anode supply and the voltage needed to drive that transmitter tube. Yes, in both cases the voltages can be lethal, but the power that will be supplying that transmitter tube is higher risk.
@@stargazer7644 I have made mistakes fixing old TV's and felt the eht (25Kv) off the cap of a CRT. Makes you hop and probably not good for a weak heart, but no real current capability via the tripler and eht rectifier. A little more painful than a car ignition jolt. If Mr C puts 12Kv on the anode of that tube it can pass 1.5A. You won't say ouch if you get across that. You will pass a killer current in no time at all. Only the really old TV's which derived the eht 10kv or less directly from a transformer winding could pass enough current to be potentially lethal. Those tests if they involve high anode voltage and current capability should be setup behind a faraday cage in what we called a rubber room.
This is one of the the BEST channels on all of You Tube.
Thank You Raymond!
What did Mr Carlson do for a living before producing RUclips videos.This guy seems to have a vast amount of electronics knowledge. Thanks Mr. C.
And $$$$ 🤪
Fantastic. Biggest Variac that I have ever seen. Very unique Video !
Yeah I thought I had a decent beast over there in the corner... that thing is absolutely massive. But when you need it you need it... And "warming up" 🤣
We have 'one' of these at work, but in 3-phase configuration for 3x230V, the sections are 115V each, that means a tower with SIX of these on top of each other with a common shaft, driven by a motor. Now *that* is a beast. IIRC it can do 3x230V, about 100A per phase maybe. I don't remember the brand, but it's US made, some time in the '60s or '70s.
I like how You never treat People condescendingly You are a Fantastic Teacher and We all enjoy Your Projects which I could have been an assistant with You, Great projects and learning experiences.
Thanks Mr. Carlson
You are so welcome!
Wait. My lights dimmed when he lit that off. This is awesome thank you very much. I can't wait for the next electronics class
When I watched this the first time there was something I didn't like about this guy that I couldn't explain. But after watching 2 episodes I really like it and I'm hungry for more. Right on Mr Carlson. I need more. I'm retired after 29 years in broadcasting and I still want to learn more because guys like this make it fun to learn. Two thumbs up and bravo.
Thank you for the kind words!
That's really good practice to start the tube filament off from 0v and build the voltage up slowly, especially if the tube hasn't been used in a long time or is of an unknown status, great vid.
Great video!
I see a Marconi 2955! I was gifted one of those but with a bad flyback. Instead of hunting down a flyback, I did the LCD conversion.
I just used it today actually. Re-aligned the front-end of a Tait T835-20 receiver module converted from VHF high to 136-148. I broke my first couple RF slugs. Lesson learned! Fortunately I found some replacements!
73 from VE9 land!
Dr. Frankenstein would be proud!
Thank you for your videos, and for having the absolute best tech channel on the net.
My wife is on me all the time for the electric bill being high when I run a few 3d printers and my big screen from time to time.
I can’t imagine what your power bill could be. Definitely gonna do my part on Patreon though I doubt I’ll put a dent.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you had your own hydroelectric system or geothermal operation.
Thanks for all you do for those of us still learning, it’s more helpful than you know.
Felicitations for a fabulously fulfilling filament fire up. The suspense was palpable as you slowly turned the big vice grip handle. Now I can't wait to see what amazing things you will do. I commend you for wearing personal protective gear.
Great video, I'm happy to see the tube is working, no magic smoke. Great projects are coming. 👍👍👍👍👍
Thanks 👍
My favorite channel on RUclips! With the best teacher on RUclips!
Thank you Mr. Carlson for your sharing of knowledge and excellent way of teaching. You inspired me to read and read and read even more about electronics. I now repair audio amplifiers and any home/ car audio equipment. I also work at a board repair shop during the day repairing oilfield automation equipment. Thank you for making electronics addictive. You’re a great and entertaining teacher. Have a blessed day, sir.
Very interesting to see that tube 'come to life', very neatly done👍🏽
Studied electronics in high school wound up being a carpenter still have a facilitation with electronics thanks for the great videos
Experimentation with 14000 Watts of pure fury ! Paul, you have outdone yourself 👍
Fascinating departure from your normal videos! It was very interesting to see you outside your normal box\bench out in the garage with a cobbled together experiment. Thank you. I enjoyed this video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@MrCarlsonsLab For one awesome year, I was gifted the job of teaching middle school kids basic electronics. The art of teaching as you do is not easy, but if you love it like you and I its very fun. I can see your enthusiasm as I had too. I taught my students the basics and we built things not on any list or required instruction. I got to see these kids open their minds to possibilities and ideas, where in the beginning of the class there were none. I hope you keep the joy of electronics going for all to experience.
A few lifetimes ago, like in the mid 70's, I was able to take a tour of the transmitter building from our local 50,000 watt AM station (WPTF). These final amp tubes were HUGE, I seem to remember them being almost as tall as I am.
It was cool seeing this big old tube fired up and what all goes into it... that's a LOT of power for just the tube heaters! Great stuff!
So very interesting, thank you so much for sharing this Larry Owens
So much fun to watch, that had an element of suspense! I maintained AN/URT-23D HF transmitters while serving in the U.S. Navy and remember working with the high voltage Eimac vacuum tubes. I am also a ham~KA1WHT. Looking forward to seeing more!
I had a wood products company in the 90’s. I was able to find an old high frequency gluing machine and it had a huge tube similar to the one you have. I could cure 4 inch thick butcher blocks in a couple of minutes!
I remember those machines.
Great video Mr Carlson sir you are awesome ❤😊thanks for sharing this video sir
Glad you enjoyed it!
That was amazing well done Paul. Never seen this big a tube ever.
Mr. Carlson you are a unique individual
This is the best channel, great mix of education, cool old electronics and pure mad scientist! Love it!
Glad you enjoy it!
Thank you so much.
You're welcome!
I seem to recall a video with a high power AM transmitter using this same tube. They emphasized the importance of cooling, ramping up filament current slowly, and most importantly, never applying plate voltage until after the tube was fully warmed up. They also mentioned the very high cost of these tubes.
Wow, what a monster, but a beautiful one. Thank you sir for this video!
My pleasure
A standard linear valve for a Italian QRP CB Operator lol
beautiful signal my friend
@@toruscore 58-59 TY 73
Or just a fraction of the power the guys on 3950 run....
HAHA! Amen! If i had one id try. Had to settle for quad GU-81Ms instead. They are just barely manageable and that’s being optimistic lol.
@@neonhomer: Or Channel 6 on 11 Meters. 10-4/s
1200W for filament, 600W drive... 14kW output. The highly efficient vacuum tube is not to be underestimated 🤣
It is more efficient than an op-amp.
Source?@@samuellourenco1050
Don't forget about the 18,000W plate power. 1.5A at 12,000V.
@@stargazer7644that's only 6 microwave transformers in series. 😂
Un tubo de vacío nunca es altamente eficiente, como maximo llegará a un 30-40% de eficiencia, lo demás se pierde en calor.
by far the best electronics teacher on youtube fascinating stuff 🌠
If Mr. Carlson is wearing PPE, you know it's about to get REAL!
This is so cool! I love stuff like this. Glad it worked out.
WOW that's some tube, Paul. Thanks for sharing.
On the edge of my seat waiting for the smoke and flash! Glad it works. Can't wait to see the experiments.
Vacuum tube, such a SIMPLE yet GENIOUS invention. A lot of R&D went into it for sure.
This is so interesting to watch, as all of Me Carlsons’ videos are.
Are you related to Emmett Brown? Definite shades of the mad scientist here. It'll be a flux capacitor next. 🤣
Now that had some suspense. That was fun. Also, _wow_ that variac. Looking forward to the experiments! :D
I admire your courage, you are a superhero!!!
Totally awesome, that this actually survived all these years is amazing. I guess it didn't go through many hands then, likely being in a Mr. Carlson's look-a-like lab before. :)
somewhere in the world, there's likely some of these still in daily service!
That is just amazing. Holy moly the power output 14,000 watts. I must admit I would prefer you to be operating that variac behind a 3/8 inch piece of Lexan. You make my heart beat a little faster when you're that close that glass MONSTER!
That has got to be the spiciest piece of glass I've ever seen. I'm excited to see what experiments you have in store for it!
Man, that is awesome. Reminds me of the channel Photonicinduction
Mr. C goes sport fishing. Awesome video!
I love the way this channel is heading. Thanks and that makes a great room heater. In winter you're heating the room anyway so no power is "wasted". Take care!
Very nice. You saved me from the temptation to light up my Eimac 527A, which draws 135 amps at 5.5 volts. I am content to light it up with an UV flashlight, which makes its seals glow a nice greenish yellow (Uranium glass)
It's really interesting to see how they accomplished the thermal management here. You can certainly see the roots of modern day electronics cooling and thermal solutions.
This was great Professor Carlson. I even felt like a mad scientist just watching this, lol. Thank you for sharing this gem of a tube!!!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
The biggest tube I worked with was a 4CX250B uhf amp. It needed a screaming fan to keep it cool.
The design engineers for high power vacuum tubes in the early days "20s-30s" are amazing people. ✨😎 Thank you Mr. Carson for a great video.
This test reminds me of Photonicinduction experiences! Crazy cool stuff the guy did! Keep on the good work! Thank you!
Yeah I was thinking of that guy too. Just need some capacitors like paint cans and a mercury rectifier or two. Oh and just set it up on the carpet in your living room. He hasn't posted in a few years, I hope he is well.
@@onesandzeroshe is ok. He appeared recently on another channel swapping some parts.
This is really cool. The biggest tube I have seen not in commercial service.
I can understand powering the filament and will be eagerly awaiting to see how you're going to test the rest of the tube. Great video!
@MrCarlsonsLab thank you for teaching me something new today. You are awesome! Keep up the great work.
My pleasure!
Great project Mr Carlson.
Thanks Dave!
As a former Gates Radio employee these types of tubes (vapor and forced air) were fairly common. They were impressive !
I still love my old BC-250GY!
That's a very impressive tube Mr Carlson. I can't wait to see what you do with it in the future.
I've got an old transmitter tube in my collection. It's an STC 4279-Z triode from 1955, made in Australia. 10V filament at 21 Amps. 2500V anode. The GI7B triodes in my rebuilt Yaesu FL-2100Z amplifier are tiny compared to this monster, 21.25" from tip to tip.
Mr. Carlson wins the biggest Tube on RUclips award!
Wow - that was absolutely amazing! Looking forward seeing the experiments with it.
If you are following along at home you are doing so at your own risk. (causing a power outage)
Very true or breaking the Bank with your Power Bill
Not at this stage. 22V * 56A = 1.176kW, that's less than half what my kettle pulls (2.5-3kW)
Well now, in the 70's, I worked in a radio station that still used tubes so, this is fun for me...Thanks
Glad you enjoyed it
Glad the tube is still good, because now comes the experiments.👍👍
That's awesome! I cant wait to see what you build with that!
I have watched a many a videos , and I will say this was a very Interesting one to this day. I don't recall anything like this before. Thanks for the time invested. And I hope to see many more. Great Weekend, and I will check out more from you my friend. 73
What a cute, little transmitter tube! In the 1980s, I did the maintenance & repairs for a Harris MW-50A 50 KW AM broadcast transmitter. The PA final was an Eimac 4CX35,000, and the plate P.S. was 24 KV. The xmttr came with a screw operated jack, for putting the tube into, or removing from, its socket. Of course, engineers who have worked on 500 KW shortwave transmitters would consider that 4CX35,000 to be puny.
Damn, I thought the 4CX15,000 tubes we used at our naval radio station were big!
@@stevehodder1 At the time I was responsible for the care & feeding of that xmttr, they sent me back to Illinois, to attend the Harris "Transmitter Training Course," for that model. While there, I learned that they had built a SW transmitter for Saudi Arabia, which had a power output of 1 MEGAWATT. I don't know what kind of PA tubes it used....probably a bank of them, in parallel.
Very interesting. I maintained an Harris MW-5A for a station in Kokomo. Same basic transmitter, but, a lot smaller, used a 4CX3000A as a switch tube and a 3CX2500F7 for RF final. Plate efficiency was an astounding 92%! Made beautiful audio.
I had the good fortune to tour the KDKA (AM radio) broadcast transmitter site back in the 80's. The tube finals that powered the 50kW Westinghouse broadcast transmitter are works of art. That site is it's own distribution substation with multiple transmission feeds to keep it alive too.
I desperately need to see experiments with that giant tube. Huge tubes and huge power supplies are where it is for me
Big explosion get a lot of attention but I prefer big power being controlled, there is not much challenge in just releasing it
Well, you have the coolest shop heater in North America !!!!
Wow. I was sweating WITH you. Quite fun ! I've been told "you know you have arrived when you screw around with MASSIVE power and don't make any mistakes" peepeer's phrase...
892R has a pure tungsten filament - that's why it uses 1200+ watts and glows so brightly. Slowly bringing up the voltage and current is necessary because the tube specifications say the filament current must never exceed 120 amperes (!).
The 1964 Newark catalog shows the 892R priced at $425 US - about $4300 in today's money. They were so valuable that burned-out ones would be sent back to the manufacturer and rebuilt.
Tube data on the 892R and its water-cooled version 892 from several manufacturers is on the internet in several locations. Take a look - they're impressive.
It appears that four of these tubes could operate a 50kw AM station! WBZ 1030 is a clear channel out of Boston that reaches half way across the USA. It is now all talk and info, but in the sixties a top 40 AM power house. Thanks for the exhibit, Paul!
Mr. Carlson. When you are done experimenting with that vacuum tube, I'd like to buy it from you and build the ultimate Binford 2000 Tube Guitar Amp .... With Turbo Option of course. 👍😂
I really enjoy the demos of lesser-known industrial electronics and components. After experimenting with kv plate voltage and current, perhaps you could demo the other definition of ‘grounding’ when Mrs. Carlson sees the power bill!
Last time I saw a tube like that was at a tour of a local 50 KW clear channel AM station when I was in technical college.
Nice job firing this baby up! Dwarves my Tesla ZD1000F transmitter triode, the biggest one in my collection, with 1kW plate dissipation and 250W on the heater.
"You call that a vacuum tube? THIS... is a vacuum tube."
That variac is by far the biggest one I've ever seen. You could try adding a motor with worm drive to it for remote control.
Excellent video and test. Thank you, Mr. Carlson.
Makes me want to break out my 4CX5000A and build a resonating cabinet for it.
I remember maintaining a transmitter that used a set, with individual filament transformers rated at 150 amps. Mains power was stepped down to 5 volts, and the tube took whatever current it needed. They center-tapped the secondary and tied it to ground for the valve circuit. Running that thing was a blast! 25,000 visual watts
Congratulations, you're going to have a lot of fun with that monster tube and I look forward to seeing what you build,
Wouldn’t it be fantastic to interview Paul’s mom!
oh man, that thing look mean and dangerous, this was a super exciting episod, like from an old Frankesnstain movie (its alive!). This episode really needed the "...you are doing so at your own risk..." and I'm sure you had the fire extinguisher near by. Thanks a lot Paul!
Thanks!
Thank You!
That is very cool! I look forward to seeing experiments with this tube if time permits with your schedule Mr. Carlson. Keep It "ReeL", Evan
Mrister Carlsons lab 73s to you and your wife my friend
Very interesting. Most impressive. Vacuum tubes are so interesting !
I am building a 160 - 10 Meter amplifier with a pair of grid-driven 4-1000A's in class A, push-pull. It won't be super efficient; but I make my own electricity, and I absolutely love the glow of glass bottles with cherry-red plates!
Push pull is not class A. It's probably class AB. Neither tube conducts over the entire cycle.
Just Awesome! The filament alone consumes as much power as a portable electric heater or a hair dryer does!