Stiffening capacitors in a wall outlet

[Raven 10+ year member]

Just a random thought, but if I were to wire two ~700uF stiffening caps in series between a piece of equipment and the wall socket it is plugged into (One on + line, on one - line), what kind of effect would it have?

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[thylantyr 10+ year member]

120VAC -> 700uF capacitor -> load

According to this calculator;

http://www.kusashi.com/reactance-c.php

60hz is the AC wall socket frequency.

700uF is your capacitor

Capacitive Reactance [Xc] = 3.78 Ohms

Equivalent to placing a 3.78 ohm resistor in series with the AC line.

If this is wrong let me know //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/banghead.gif.8606515f668c74f6de0281deb475b6fd.gif

Two 740uF in series would net 370uF and Xc = 7.1 Ohms

If placed across the AC, seems like a 17A draw? /hehe

 

[Alpineinstaller 10+ year member]

fun times //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

That would be wiring the cap directly to the outlet. I'm planning on running it between the wall and a tube amp that doesn't draw anywhere near 17 amps.

 

[thylantyr 10+ year member]

That would be wiring the cap directly to the outlet. I'm planning on running it between the wall and a tube amp that doesn't draw anywhere near 17 amps.

It won't be a 'stiffening capacitor' in that application //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif It's a 'waste of time capacitor'. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

Also, capacitors have polarity, some don't. Placing polarized capacitors in AC can be bad news.

If you want stiffening capacitors you need to examine the tube amplifier power supply.

You don't think 120VAC x 20A for a typical house circuit is a 'stiff' 2400VA power source for a little tube amp ?

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what the point of this exercise is...//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

I am looking for an inexpensive way of conditioning the power from a standard 110 outlet to combat brownouts and spikes.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Sounds like the power ****** and/or buffer cap aren't doing their job if you're getting lots of inducted noise...

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

If by "Power ******" you mean the giant transformer that changes the 110AC input to whatever voltage the rectifier takes in, it's very feasable.

If by "Buffer Cap" you mean the giant stiffening capacitors that this thing seems to have one or two too many of, they've already been replaced. Sprague Atoms in their place via tubesandmore.com. =)

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

You have a EL84 single ended pentode amp, right? Post a picture of it, I have basically the same amp I'm restoring as well...

 

[Raven 10+ year member]

Pics are easier said than done when you don't have a camera. =(