[Milsurplus] Re: [ARC5] More Vodka-Scented Ether (long)

[Hue Miller]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "J Forster" <jfor at quik.com>

> It's not only DC/DC converters that are a hazzard.
> 
> I've used 9 Volt transistor radio batteries connected in series to
> supply +90 V and +180 V for a WS 58. Those are NOT like the old carbon
> pile B batteries of WW II because they are series connected AAAs and
> capable of serious currents. 

A minor point, but the innards are really AAAA not AAA, is this not correct?
Someone over on the G B list was saying that he found the AAAA rare to
find locally, so he disassembled 9 volt batts for them.  ( another minor point,
odd thing i find, is sometimes when the 9 volts has gone down to discard,
and i have disassembled them, i find ONE bad cell and the rest still usable.

In the wired-line phone company in which i work, we have "burn boxes" which
suppy high voltage to burn a short into a copper pair that has leakage.  This 
machine uses a stack of 45 volt batts to supply an output of 625 volts. These
45 batts are composed of soldered together AAA cells. The instructions for
testing the unit recommend to discard the batteries when they can no longer
supply 625 volts at 1.5 amps, and a fresh set will send 5 amps at 625 volts.
That is a lot of power. I get the harvest of the discards when the current is 
merely down to mA, not amps.  -Hue Miller