> Fred, are you sure it is a current limiter device? Usually these
blocks just contain a voltage limiter, a big zener so to say. If it is
a current limiter it will run cold on low loads and hot on high loads
however, and that will change my ideas on wiring the system.
>
> Cu,
> Jos Okhuijsen
Oops, sorry, but I was referring to a poor connection acting as a
current limiter. The "heavy lifting" in the regulator is done by a
pair of (assumed; they're house-numbered) SCRs, where one of them
shunts incoming AC to ground when output reaches 14V. Thus, the
lesser the load, the hotter she should get. However, the circuit
design appears such that high loads should also raise the temp of the
SCR not doing the shunting during a half cycle (flip-flop style). But
one nice thing about it is that it looks fail-safe if an SCR commits
hara- kiri. To go into overvoltage, one of several low-current
devices, like its reference Zener diode, would have to fail. In a
more typical design using SCR(s), when one fails, it's automatic high
voltage, but I believe it can run cooler for reduced chances of SCR
failure.
Reg,
Fred F.
|