[Kenwood] Kenwood TS 520- Fuse blown

[Walt Breining]

Before starting please read the following:
Place a 100 watt light bulb in series with the AC mains (120V line) going
into the rig.  The bulb
will glow bright if there is a short but get dimmer if it is cleared.  This
keeps you from frying a good transformer while troubleshooting or going
through 30,000 fuses.

I usually purchase a short orange extension cord and one of those rubber
Edison base (light bulb)
sockets that are rubber coated and have a white and black wire coming from
it. These are used as temporary wiring at construction sites. Ace Hardware
and most building supply stores have these.  The cost of these two parts
won't total more than $5.00. with some creative shopping.

Open the orange jacket at a point a few feet from the female plug to expose
the White, Green, and black wire.  Cut the black wire only.

Connect the black wire from the Edison socket to the black wire that leads
to the male end.
Connect the white wire from the Edison socket to the black wire that leads
to the female end.
I usually use a 100 watt bulb. This limits the AC current to below 1.2 amps.

Use this for testing or burning in a rig that has been in storage. Do not
operate with this.  With a rig that has a short  across the transformer
secondary, a possible shorted diode or capacitor or shorted tube, the
potential for frying the transformer while troubleshooting is great. I have
seen many rigs
damaged needlessly this way.  If the bulb glows bright, there is a short. If
it is dim, there is no short. The bulb will limit the current and keep from
frying the transformer.

Vy 73, Walt N9WB


Sadly, I have seen many good rigs that originally only had minor problems
such as a shorted tube, capacitor or rectifier, turned into parts because
the transformer was damaged during troubleshooting.

Please protect your rigs transformer.

Vy 73, Walt N9WB