[Heathkit] SB-610 Selenium Diodes - caps across silicon diodes.

[Garey Barrell]

Pre 80's (roughly) diodes were not as consistent from unit to unit as 
they are today.  Parallel resistors and capacitors were used in an 
attempt to "force" equal distribution of static and dynamic voltages 
across series connected devices even though one might have considerably 
lower reverse current leakage, etc.

Improvements in manufacturing techniques and materials have resulted in 
devices that are near clones of each other and so have very closely 
matched forward and reverse characteristics.

73, Garey - K4OAH
Atlanta

Drake C-Line Service Manual
<http://www.k4oah.com> 



Tom NØJMY - AAR7FV wrote:

> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Garey Barrell" <k4oah at mindspring.com>
>
>> None of my design references for power supplies recommends bypassing 
>> of individual diodes
>
>
> <snip>
>
> I remember it was the recommended practice in the ARRL handbook at 
> least until the mid-80's.  Things have changed since then, of course, 
> and I haven't checked any of the more recent editions. I would be 
> interested to see when and if (and, of course,  if so, then *why*) 
> they dropped this recommendation.
>
> 73,
> Tom
>