Selenium Rectifier Question

[old_coot88]

Bridging a selenium with a Si diode does not mitigate the effect of reverse leakage in the selenium. Heating due to reverse leakage increasing is part of the failure mode (in addition to heating due to increased forward resistance). Always take the selenium out of circuit.

[jr_tech]

Originally Posted by old_coot88

Bridging a selenium with a Si diode does not mitigate the effect of reverse leakage in the selenium. Heating due to reverse leakage increasing is part of the failure mode (in addition to heating due to increased forward resistance). Always take the selenium out of circuit.

Originally Posted by wa2ise

The selenium would see the peak inverse voltage, and after a while it may not take it any longer, and then start to conduct and then fail...

A compelling reason that I had not considered... thanks guys!

jr