Re: PSU Ripple Update

On Sun, 17 Mar 2024 11:33:12 -0700, John Larkin <jl@997PotHill.com>
wrote:

On Sun, 17 Mar 2024 17:48:07 +0000, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
wrote:
>

Gentlemen (and others)
>
I only get a few spare minutes a week to look into this, hence this
update. Hopefully my latest finding might ring a bell for some of you
and assist in pinpointing the fault with this (linear) PSU.
So, I've carried out a few more tests and discovered that there is a
total absence of ripple on the storage caps when all the downstream
circuitry has been disconnected. So it's totally fine with no load.
However, as I re-connect all those downstream circuits, the ripple
commences and the more connectors I re-attach, the worse it gets. This
is a screen shot showing over a volt of ripple at only about 66% of
the full supply voltage applied:
>
https://disk.yandex.com/i/vgxfpXgNp-F4Yg
>
Now I did check to see if there was anything downstream which had
shorted or gone low-resistance which could possibly account for this,
but found nothing amiss. So the question is:
What could cause ripple to arise when even very light loads are
applied to the output of a pretty substantial linear PSU?
>
BTW, the bridge rectifiers were fine and have been exonerated from any
culpability in this fault.

>
Is there actually a fault? Transformer-rectifier supplies have ripple.

Yes, it's a fault alright. The ripple is superimposed on the output of
the RF generator; it's impossible to ignore.