Old Trannies..

[petemoore]

From all my scavenging I have some large and small size transformers.
 Are any of them of use for a tube amp?
 See I think I could find the primary and secondary resistances of a transformer with a DMM? ...and compare those to various schematics...is that all there is to matching a primary?
 The secondary called for in a schem I just looked at said: 125-and 6.3v secondary windings, this part I don't understand, how would I go about finding these values in a transformer?
 Are there any transformer pages that break down how to make sense of the transformer 'codes' [lack words here].

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I don't like recycling transformers myself (at least, I don't like connecting them to the mains) unless you are CERTAIN that is what they were for. A mystery transformer could be trouble, because you might have something that has insulation resistance below 110 or 230 or whatever your mains are.
But if you have a power tranny & know the 6.3 v winding (that is the one with the thickest wires going to it, usually) then you wire another 6.3 supply to it (from a known good tranny) & see what is coming out the other end, BE CAREFUL, it might be 700v AC or more, easy to kill yourself.

[petemoore]

Paul, I'll probably stick with  new or known trannies.
 At least till I'm a little bit familiar with wiring trannies, and tranny wiring terminology.
 Thank You !!

[Lonestarjohnny]

Pete, Do a google search on Transformer formula's, E.T.E. has a lot of calculator's for figureing out tranny impedance's and Such, some good reading anyway if you wanna learn more about the High Voltage stuff,
It's alot safer to read up on it and know more about what your sticking your hands into.
JD

[Ge_Whiz]

Best (and safest) way to test unknown transformers is using a signal generator to supply a few volts at 50/60 Hz and an oscilloscope to look at the output - scope inputs can usually take a couple of hundred volts - then scale up arithmetically. DON'T hold bare wires from a power source across transformer windings, as you can get quite a belt from the windings when the field collapses.