[Findm-Keepm]

Starting with a higher resistance is exactly as I described. B+ low? Add the third resistor in parallel. Too bulky? Replace with one resistor, valued at the final resistance obtained by paralleling.

I've never used any B+ dropping resistor greater than 10 watts. We aren't powering filaments - just the B+, and you want the resistors to be sized right, as you can easily make the power tranny the weakest link with high wattage resistors and beefier silicon diodes. Resistors are cheap, and power transformers are not. Hence my request for fusing info - make sure all is fused, as it gives you an added safety margin.

Unless Ohms Law has changed, and Kirchoff's rescinded, I see no need to up the wattages when all variables are known. If you've recapped the set, and have faith in the B+ filter caps, go with the lesser/calculated wattage, with some wiggle, but sizing the resistor to almost 20X the wattage is not needed nor recommended. Remember, the original seleniums were rated at 320mA max, and that is the worst case/largest surge the originals could handle.

I've done selenium replacements in all types of equipment - the only gotcha is some sequential equipment, where relays time out and add loads. I had that with an industrial stitching machine (German made, for mattress manufacturing) - the thing had seleniums about the size of a lunch box, and supplied about 3 and a half amps in the first stage of the equipment start-up, and added about 2 amps at full run. Common bridge rectifier rated at 8 amps, a 1.2 ohm, 10 watt resistor, and they were back in business, and the machine worked fine until it was replaced in the 1990s.

Cheers,