Define voltage dumbed down

Answer 1

E dumbed down is a reference for slight degradation of a normal line voltage. It will vary for the "standard" set by your local electric company and guaranteed to vary as much as 10 volts...i.e Nominal line voltage may be anything from 115 volts to 127 volts as in my rural service territory.. In order to save those old rigs from frying to death, U need wire a 6 volt filament transformer in series opposing, so the 6 volts is reducing the normal power supplied. 126 volts becomes 120 volts and the secondaries in transformer begin to love you for not providing them with more input voltage than they are designed to work with. I endured lighting storm with line voltage surges and an old linear amp was cooking -slowly- the original 8 amp slo-blow fuses. I wired a ten ampere 6.3 volt filament transformer to reduce the line input voltage and the fuse failure became very much reduced, until the storm. I rewound the power transformer and when I did, added to the primary winding to accommodate the increased line voltage. Rig now works nicely on 5 amp fuses and doesn't blow them, even though they are normal fast-blow types. I still get 600 watts output and can work most anyone I hear...So, dumbing down your house voltage should not be taken lightly and if you have any older Ham Radio gear, U might seriously elect to add the six volt bucking transformer arrangement. The thing to remember is the ampere rating of the 6 volt winding has to be able to carry the current needed to run the equipment you operate. Good luck and Happy Hamming with those oldies-but-goodies still on the market!