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FrozenGate by Avery

Argon Ticking

If the catenodes are lit, you don't need to tesla the tube. The catenodes provide more free ions then a tesla coil ever can. On a old tube like this disconnecting the catenodes will just hasten its death once it starts. I don't know who told Sam you can disconnect catenodes for long periods of time. Perhaps he misunderstood me.

Baking the tube wont help you, the only tubes made with a bankable getter have a third lead for the getter. Very few of those were made.

Besides if you bake that one the soft seal at the window will cause the window to crack..

If you light it down the gas return, a moly wire stuffed in each gas return of that tube will vaporize and its done. The wire is there to create a uniform electric field in the gas return.

No one here has told you how to to check the Omnichrome PSU for Anode Voltage, Boost Voltage, Proper turn on or PWM settings. Not to mention the microfuses on the main board or the 110/220 setting jumpers. It could be as simple as a shorted 2n2222 on the light card driving the current logic into cut-off.

Running the cathode for hours wont help you. Increasing the cathode voltage wont help you, nor will the so called car battery trick for overheating the cathode.

I wrote most of the ion chapter of the FAQ. I've talked personally with the designers of that tube. (Both have passed on) I have the masters thesis on its design in my library.
I've reprocessed those tubes.

I just worked a 14 hour day, and I'm 1900 miles from home and my library. I have three more twelve hour days, so don't expect another post for a while. Stop messing with it and I'll post the Omni 150 hardware check out when I get home this weekend.

Those old tubes like that are late 80s. You have about a snowballs chance in hell of starting that unless the Omni Calibration Checklist is followed. Don't bake it, don't cut anything etc. Your Omni has been badly hacked. The fact that both catenodes are not lit in the pic tells me that. Odds are your missing boost, current limited boost, or anode voltages.


The posted schematic above is not the standard X head schematic. Its for a 63P, a gen one gold box that was not in production very long. It has a simplified ignite board designed to work with another manufacturer's power supply. That head in the photo is very different from the above drawings. Don't EVEN think of sparking the cathode lead with the voltage on. It'll kill that PSU design.

Don't cross connect anything you have to another head or psu. Don't Tesla anything again.

The Omni supply has five or six pots that need adjusted if its been messed with. To do so you need a scope, a isolation transformer, and a very detailed instruction sheet. You also need to convince me your over 18 before I send it to you. So if you get killed probing a psu that is mostly directly rectified 110V line, I'm A. Not liable, and B. Wont feel so bad.

Let it go until I can scan you in a 19 page factory document. I never posted it to the FAQ, because 1. Omni asked me not to, and 2., turning the noise gain potentiometer about one half turn in the wrong direction kills the pass FETs in the Buck stage.

Don't stick a lead voltmeter in the head looking for voltages. Right now that is a great way to light yourself up like one of the poor Dogs Edison killed to try to prove that AC power was more hazardous then DC.

Steve
 
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So then the stimulated emission process should be intiating/happening during that split second... does that mean it's just wayyyy high tube pressure? I was getting the purple flashes without the tesla. Should I let it tick with the tesla? There's no cooling though with the cover off...

Nope, not unless a cathode spot forms and some anode current flows.

The FAQ says "Ignite spike can Almost lase the tube". Ask me how I know....

Steve
 
Sounds like you think the PSU is more likely the problem... it also sounds like just flat out buying a new PSU might be easier :p
 
Sounds like you think the PSU is more likely the problem... it also sounds like just flat out buying a new PSU might be easier :p

Me doth thinks you assume too much. Don't buy
another head or psu. You have only ran the simplest of
Diagnostics so far. Buy a whole working system.
In the hands of a technician, 95% of the time
the 150 family of psu is fixable with about 40$
of parts.

Until you run further tests, your just wasting money on the FleaBay lottery.

Steve
 
Ok. So... how do I test this PSU? I can take the cover off easily enough, but I'm no electrician :p and I don't want to be zapped any more so than accidentally touching a HeNe tube xD where should I start? Thanks
 
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Ok. So... how do I test this PSU? I can take the cover off easily enough, but I'm no electrician :p and I don't want to be zapped any more so than accidentally touching a HeNe tube xD where should I start? Thanks

By screwing the cover back on. We appreciate your honesty, but given your age and lack of expertise, it would be really sad if something happened to you following the advice from this forum, don't you think?

LSRFAQ is right. in the hands of a technician, this can be fixed. But this isn't a $10 laser pointer that runs on batteries. The consequences are a great deal larger in this case. You may want to seek another working setup instead of ripping this one apart. Consider selling or trading this system for a working one.

Others may disagree and I don't mean to be negative. But I'm trying to look out for you and the community. I was looking forward to those schematics, too. :shhh:
 
What if I discharge all of the capacitors? Wouldn't that make it relatively safe to work with? A simple wire with a big resistor, placed on the leads of the caps should discharge them pretty easily
 
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The - side of all the caps may not go to ground. Unless you know
the circuit. discharge each cap +to- ...
HMike
 
I forgot to mention that I haven't figured out how to take the mobo off of the bottom of the PSU casing yet, no time to go pry around and look into it, so no discharging caps until I do that :p

EDIT: does anyone here know how to repair a Omni PSU?
 
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EDIT: does anyone here know how to repair a Omni PSU?

That is a very broad question. It's like asking if anybody knows how to fix a car. You have to troubleshoot the PSU to see what is wrong with it first before you can even attempt a repair.
 
Well that's the point, I have no idea what could be going on here. Hence the broad question to answer a potentially complex problem. I meant more of anyone who was familiar with the construction of this type of PSU who could help me figure out what is going on, because this PSU is quite hacked, as far as I can tell
 
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Does anyone have a omni PSU or other compatible PSU for sale or trade for this one? Thanks
 
I have a working Omni 150 that I repaired a couple months ago. Though there's no need in shipping it to prove what you could test on your own.

I am baffled by what your tube is doing.

If the catenodes are always lit, then that means power is in fact getting to the tube.

This is how I determined the PSU on my JDSU was bad, Steve can elaborate wherever I miss something.

BEFORE YOU EVEN READ THE REST OF THIS POST!!! Make SURE you UNPLUG the PSU. All is off, nothing is switched on, the whole 9 yard. Then, unplug the umbilical from the PSU. So now you have the PSU unplugged as one unit, and the head and unplugged umbilical as the other.

As you do the rest of this post, keep one hand in your back pocket, or right up against your cheek. No need to be shy here. Have the other doing whatever it is you are doing. In the off chance that you screw up, it will hurt, but you will live to feel it.

Got it?

Now open up your Ar+ head.

First, I unclipped the ignitor board from the anode end. This removes the spikes of V that are traveling from this, to the anode. Now, if you have alligator/banana clips for your DMM, this will be easier.

Clip the + to the wire you took off the ignitor board. This wire should go from your DMM, to the red (+) probe, to the wire, then straight to the umbilical to the PSU.

The - from your DMM clips onto one of the catenodes. Find a piece of metal, if I recall, there should be some nuts and bolts to clip to. Metal is conductive, these will do just fine.

Now, check, double check, triple check, take a nap, and check again. set your DMM to its highest voltage setting, mine was 600V. If you wired this correctly, then when you power up the tube, you will only read the voltage going to the tube. This should be about a hundred V or two. If you're getting a very small number, like 2.4-2.8V like I was, your PSU is wonked.

Now plug in your tube to the PSU, plug in the PSU, turn the key, step back, and tap the switch to on with your big toe. Stepping back is optional, but you've only got one body. Don't want blown up electronics all over it if you somehow messed all that up.
 
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