Installing 3 prong cord in GA5

[Rick1114]

I know I have been asking lots of questions and I thank everyone here because I have learned so much. I just picked up Dave Hunters Tube Amp book this weekend and that really filled me in on a lot stuff. That is a really first rate book IMO.

Anyway, I just did a cap job on my GA5 and started installing a 3 prong cord. I soldered the black wire to the fuse and the white to the switch. I was looking for a ground point to hook up the green wire and I noticed there was no noticable grounding point in this amp. In my 66 vibrochamp the there is grounding point attached to one of the transformer bolts, where everything goes.

Can I attach the green wire to the transfomer lug and call it day or do I need to do it a different way? Please note I never received any electrical shocks from this amp, just installing this as a precaution. My Vibrochamp would shock me all the time before the 3 prong was installed!

Rick

[hasserl]

The green wire from the power cord should get its own connection to the chassis. A power transformer bolt is always a good location. If that is not an option you could always solder the wire directly to the chassis, but that takes an iron that can supply enough heat to solder to a chassis, a little 20 watter with a pecil tip won't do it. You need an 80 to 100 watt with a flat tip. If nothing else, you may have to drill a hole in the chassis (I always try to avoid this) and attach it with a screw and an eye termial.

[Rick1114]

The green wire from the power cord should get its own connection to the chassis. A power transformer bolt is always a good location. If that is not an option you could always solder the wire directly to the chassis, but that takes an iron that can supply enough heat to solder to a chassis, a little 20 watter with a pecil tip won't do it. You need an 80 to 100 watt with a flat tip. If nothing else, you may have to drill a hole in the chassis (I always try to avoid this) and attach it with a screw and an eye termial.

The transformer bolt will work fine in this case. Thanks for the head's up...

Rick

[martin manning]

...I soldered the black wire to the fuse and the white to the switch...

This doesn't sound right to me. You should be interrupting the the black wire with the power switch since it is the "hot" side of the AC line. As it is, when the switch is off you still have 125V above ground through the fuse, PT primary and back to the switch. The fuse and the switch should be on the black side so that everything after the switch (or fuse) is disconnected when the switch is off.

MPM

[hasserl]

Good point Martin, I always connect the white wire directly to one side of the power trans primary. The black wire goes to the fuse first, then to the power switch, then to the other side of the power trans primary. When connecting to the fuse holder connect the hot lead to the bottom of the fuse holder, so that when you remove the fuse as soon as it leaves the bottom of the holder it is not hot.