Rectifying bridge.

I agree with everything that Herman had to say other than bridges ( which are four diodes in a specific arrangement ) ARE rated for various voltage and current levels. Like anything else, one should always allow a reasonable amount of headroom if you want the parts to last.

I would think that you would gain more from going to a fast recovery type diode than you would by staying with the same type and simply increasing the voltage rating. If you are going to poke around in there, BE CAREFUL. Sean
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Going from a half-wave to full-wave rectifier you will get a better wave form. Less ripple. You still only get half the voltage of the secondary winding. The negative part of the AC current is just blocked by the diodes and not used. You use a center tap on the T. This is a waste and means you generally need to wind the transformer for twice the voltage you need. More copper more core materials more inductance scattering around.

Going to a bridge full-wave you will get more efficiency. 2 Pairs of diodes alternate into and out of conduction. This uses the neg current too. Because you have pairs of diodes working together you get a voltage equal to the transformers peek to peek voltage.= effeciency

You don't want to just make this change alone as an upgrade if that's what you meant. It would through your voltage/current off right down the line. Sometimes you can swap out the caps used for filteres following the rectifier, with good results, as a stand alone modification.

Too much to say in to little space maybe.

For a little theoretical background on-line lookhere

If someone has a better site on-line please let me know.

Cheers,

Ok, my point was that the bridge itself does not determine the amplitude of the DC voltage so they are not rated in this respect. Diodes do have a voltage rating, the PRV (Peak Reverse Voltage). This is the maximum that they can handle when reversed biased. An important rating for sure when designing a power supply. But it does not affect the output so I didn't bring it up.

Thanks for keeping me on my toes Sean.

No problem Herman. Feel free to kick me in the seat of the pants ( only as needed though ) : ) Sean
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No one has mentioned Hexfred rectifiers in place of the standard device. This is a mod I did to my Atmasphere and the results were very worthwhile.