Help with Mullard E7600 Valve Tester

[mendipviews]

Hi Everybody,
I have been given a Mullard E7600 Valve Tester and two boxes of cards.
Having never used one of these valve testers are there any hard and fast rules for checking correct operation and also on servicing these units.
Also how many cards should there be???

Many Thanks
Luke

[AlanBeckett]

Luke,
I think that will be entirely beyond you.
The best bet would be to give it to me
Alan

[Yorkie]

Hi Everybody,
I have been given a Mullard E7600 Valve Tester and two boxes of cards. Having never used one of these valve testers are there any hard and fast rules for checking correct operation and also on servicing these units. Also how many cards should there be???

Many Thanks
Luke

The links below might help.

First is the 'Card Project' run by a guy who is trying to collate all of the cards. You'll find a lot of info there as to the number of cards. A tester without the cards is just an obsolete curio - not a working intrument. You must have the right card for which ever valve it is desired to test:

http://home.btconnect.com/gmb/mullard.htm

At this link you will find a manual at a 'buy it now' price if you don't have a manual:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=mullard+e7600

At this link, you'll see cards on offer, which will give you an idea of what they cost, which isn't actually a lot, but it mounts up if you need lots of cards to replace missing ones:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sis.html?_nkw=...brimar+avo

These testers were designed to be used by non-technical counter staff in radio shops, so that when - as often happened in the 1950s - customers came in and said 'can you test these valves for me?' a quick test often resulted in a quick sale and didn't hold up other customers. It literally took just a couple of minutes. When I lived in Grimsby in the late 1960s - early 70s, there was a shop that charged sixpenece to test a valve (2.5p in today's coinage).

Best of luck with it Luke - hope the links hep a bit.

[Steve_P]

Weren't there some 'test' cards for setting it up and alignment?

As far as things going wrong, there are the usual capacitor problems and the cards go into a slot and the big lever on the front is pulled. The ones where the holes are make contact, but the springs go faulty and slack.

I think I've got one, stored away for the past 30 years.

Cheers,

Steve p.

[Mark R]

I have one of these, a lot of the caps go leaky and the resistors go out of tolerance.
They take some fixing! Still have not done mine yet.
There are 3 set up cards, but for the life of me can't remember what they are!

cheers Mark

[Yorkie]

Sounds like a nice winter project Mark!!

[mendipviews]

Thanks for links Yorkie, indeed they have helped a lot with information and circuit diagrams for the tester.
I opened the boxes I got with the tester last night and indeed theres a lot of cards in there but didn't have time to look right through them.
As Steve P says there are some test cards in there and I will have a read of the manuals as to there use.
First job is to look at the components this weekend.

Many Thanks
Luke

[Ed_Dinning]

Hi Gents, 3 setup cards are Mains, HT, and reject.
The mains card should be used at each switch on so that the internal voltages are about right; switch position 1, spot should be at the dotted line, adjust "Mains" control until it is.
HT and reject cards are set using the controls under the front flap and are accompanied by dire warnings. The GMB site gives the lowdown on setting up.
I've used one of these for many years as a quick check and find it very good.
It is also due a re-cap and resistor check when I'm sure it will be more accurate.

Ed