[time-nuts] Powering up a long inactive 5061A

[Bill Hawkins]

The first thing you should do is to check the condition of the power
fuse. If it is blown or missing, you have some work to do looking for
the cause of the fuse trouble.

If you are concerned about old electrolytics in the power supply, and
you can't check them for capacitance when off, there is an alternative
to using a Variac.

Cut one wire of an extension cord in order to put a lamp socket in
series with the load. If line power is 120 volts, put a 100 watt bulb in
the socket. Turn on the unit and be ready to turn it off again if the
bulb lights at near or full brilliance. If it does, you have the same
work to do as if the fuse had blown. If it starts bright and dims, you
may be forming electrolytics.

If the bulb maintains the same brightness, try a bigger bulb - or
disconnect the ovens.

You definitely need to read the part about running the ion pump.

Bill Hawkins

Disclaimer: I haven't tried this on an HP5061. You could still damage
the switchers. You can't detect open capacitors this way.


-----Original Message-----
From: time-nuts [mailto:time-nuts-bounces at febo.com] On Behalf Of Hugh
Blemings
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2017 1:02 AM

My intuition is to set it to one side until I can become familiar with
the operating manual and potentially bring power up to it slowly with a
Variac or similar.