I picked up a 0Z4 FW rectifier while grabbing a handful of throwaways
.... but the datasheet shows no heater pins. Do I just put the AC in at
the anode and get DC from the two cathode pins? Is that how these
things work?

You don't really want to use an 0Z4! They are very electrically noisy
beasties. They found use on old car radios that had tubes and vibrator
power supplies. Their claim to fame was a lack of the brutally high
filament power used by most rectifiers.

The 0Z4 is a full wave rectifier. It needs a center tapped secondary.
The circuit is in most respects the same as it would be for a 5U4.

-Chuck Harris

Chris Grier wrote:
I picked up a 0Z4 FW rectifier while grabbing a handful of throwaways
... but the datasheet shows no heater pins. Do I just put the AC in at
the anode and get DC from the two cathode pins? Is that how these
things work?

In article , Chuck Harris
wrote:

You don't really want to use an 0Z4! They are very electrically noisy
beasties. They found use on old car radios that had tubes and vibrator
power supplies. Their claim to fame was a lack of the brutally high
filament power used by most rectifiers.

Keeping that in mind, I wonder why you never see selenium rectifiers in
40s and 50s auto radios?


Regards,

John Byrns


Surf my web pages at, http://users.rcn.com/jbyrns/

Hi John,

If I had to guess, I would think size would be the biggest
concern with Selenium. I also recall that selenium rectifiers
are not really fond of moist environments.

-Chuck

John Byrns wrote:
In article , Chuck Harris
wrote:


You don't really want to use an 0Z4! They are very electrically noisy
beasties. They found use on old car radios that had tubes and vibrator
power supplies. Their claim to fame was a lack of the brutally high
filament power used by most rectifiers.


Keeping that in mind, I wonder why you never see selenium rectifiers in
40s and 50s auto radios?


Regards,

John Byrns


Surf my web pages at, http://users.rcn.com/jbyrns/

"John Byrns" wrote in message
...
In article , Chuck Harris
wrote:

Keeping that in mind, I wonder why you never see selenium rectifiers in
40s and 50s auto radios?

My guess is Selenium vapors are very toxic when
the rectifier they are installed in overheat. Even in
all my old radios, when I see one, I toss it into the
trash and/or replace it with a modern silicon diodes.

In article s.com, "Ole
Bridge-Gums" wrote:

"John Byrns" wrote in message
...
In article , Chuck Harris
wrote:

Keeping that in mind, I wonder why you never see selenium rectifiers in
40s and 50s auto radios?

My guess is Selenium vapors are very toxic when
the rectifier they are installed in overheat. Even in
all my old radios, when I see one, I toss it into the
trash and/or replace it with a modern silicon diodes.

OK, but it isn't responsive to the question.


Regards,

John Byrns


Surf my web pages at, http://users.rcn.com/jbyrns/

Ole Bridge-Gums wrote:

My guess is Selenium vapors are very toxic when
the rectifier they are installed in overheat. Even in
all my old radios, when I see one, I toss it into the
trash and/or replace it with a modern silicon diodes.


If you do that, and don't add a series resistor to make
the silicon diode drop as much voltage as the selenium
rectifier, your high voltage will be too high... About
50 V too high.

-Chuck Harris

In the early days of TV, RCA and Zenith marketing departments got in a
"we have the most tubes in our set game." The OZ4 became the goat
tube to use since it required no filament power. I viewed a new set
design at Zenith one day and saw eight oz4's in a row on the chassis.
This set never saw the light of day but my friend from Zenith still
has the set stowed away at home.




On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 15:50:41 -0600, (John Byrns) wrote:

In article , Chuck Harris
wrote:

You don't really want to use an 0Z4! They are very electrically noisy
beasties. They found use on old car radios that had tubes and vibrator
power supplies. Their claim to fame was a lack of the brutally high
filament power used by most rectifiers.

Keeping that in mind, I wonder why you never see selenium rectifiers in
40s and 50s auto radios?


Regards,

John Byrns


Surf my web pages at, http://users.rcn.com/jbyrns/

Hi,

In the early days of TV, RCA and Zenith marketing departments got in a
"we have the most tubes in our set game." The OZ4 became the goat
tube to use since it required no filament power. I viewed a new set
design at Zenith one day and saw eight oz4's in a row on the chassis.
This set never saw the light of day but my friend from Zenith still
has the set stowed away at home.

Even knowing how much Sarnoff and McDonald disliked each other,
this sounds rather improbable. Are you sure it wasn't a gag cooked up
by a couple of Zenith engineers? Is there any chance of seeing this
chassis, or of knowing the year it was made?

73, Alan

John Byrns wrote:

In article , Chuck Harris
wrote:

You don't really want to use an 0Z4! They are very electrically noisy
beasties. They found use on old car radios that had tubes and vibrator
power supplies. Their claim to fame was a lack of the brutally high
filament power used by most rectifiers.

Keeping that in mind, I wonder why you never see selenium rectifiers in
40s and 50s auto radios?

Regards,

John Byrns

Surf my web pages at, http://users.rcn.com/jbyrns/

My guess is that in extreme circumstances such as Death Valley
(or the Oz Outback) in the summer would create ambient temp
inside the receiver to high for long term dependable operation.

Multiply that by many thousand on the road at any time
& could be a problem, even in ordinary climes.

Cheers, John Stewart

John Byrns wrote:

Keeping that in mind, I wonder why you never see selenium rectifiers in
40s and 50s auto radios?

The size? The half-wave rectifiers I have seen (in Unica TVs for
instance) are huge - much bigger than a tube rectifier. Perhaps they
were also more expensive?

Best regards,

Mikkel C. Simonsen