[AMRadio] Old Iron or new Iron

[rbethman]

Even new iron gets subjected to such soaking or drenching.

We got a new 1.5MW generator shipped to us by "Bluestreak".  That's 
military designation for top priority.  At least it was then.

Some wonder of the world at Hickam AFB, Honolulu, HI, left it outside 
the shipping hangar during rainy season.

When it finally got to us in the South Pacific, we knew it wasn't ready 
for prime time.

We got it into place inside the generator enclosure, and rigged up over 
a dozen flood lamps.  We baked it 24/7 for over a month.  It got 
meggered several times.  Finally we had enough data to begin performing 
a few Hi-Pot tests.

Finally it passed.

It is always a crap shoot.  Time and TLC can work.  There are those 
instances where no matter what you do, there is no bringing a particular 
piece back.

Take all the advice, try what you can out of everything said, and see if 
it will work.

Obviously, YMMV, and it isn't always possible to get hold of a Hi-Pot.  
Nor are they for the use of the faint of heart, nor without adequate 
expertise.

Bob - N0DGN

On 2/2/2012 9:56 PM, Ka9p at aol.com wrote:
> Seems the best place to ask, I hope.
>
> I've got an old 32v that is a wreck, and clearly had been stored someplace
> where there was lots of humidty.
>
> I figure the poor old girl had something seriously wrong to have been left
> the way she was, and she's clearly not restorable.
>
> But the question is about the old iron.  Other than what may have been  her
> original demise are the odds reasonable that if I go to the hassle of
> recovering the transformers that they will be ok, or is protracted unfortunate,
> storage more likely than not to render that stuff unuseable?
>
> And is there any process you go through under these circumstances to
> condition the hardware before you start to test it under load?
>
> Thanks for your thoughts.
>
> Scott