Update - Voltage recording program - record your amp voltages here

[EL34]

Check out the voltage recording program

Update 08/20/2011 - You can now edit existing valve data files
Update 08/22/2011 - You can now copy valve data from one tube to another
Update 08/25/2011 - You can now send a request for a valve data file to be deleted.

Here's the link to the Valve Data program
http://www.el34world.com/charts/valve/ValveData.php

Here's the link to the Valve data index page
http://www.el34world.com/charts/valve/ValveDataIndex.php

Here's a link to the program overview page with screen shots.
http://www.el34world.com/charts/valve/ValveDataPage.htm

Note that you cannot click on any of the screen shot images below.

Here's the basics of how the program works.
It starts off by asking how many valves in your amp.
Then you enter the valve types.
Then you enter the voltages for one or several of the valves.


The program then saves your data file and it can be called up to view any time.

Here's a screen shot of the valve data index page
You can click on the View File links to view a Valve data file.

You can click on the cell headers and sort the columns in ascending and descending order.
In the screen shot below, the table is sorted by file name.

[rafe]

Seems a lot easier to digest. Thumbs up !

[Fresh_Start]

When entering data, it would be great to be able to name the project and specify the date.  Especially helpful for troubleshooting one of those nightmare builds that takes a few iterations to straighten out or when you are experimenting with the power rail.

I love the graphic presentation.

Thanks,

Chip

[plexi50]

Much better. Less strain on keeping your eyes

[kagliostro]

Hi EL34

VERY INTRIGUING IDEA !

USEFUL PLAN

When entering data, it would be great to be able to name the project and specify the date.  Especially helpful for troubleshooting one of those nightmare builds that takes a few iterations to straighten out or when you are experimenting with the power rail.

As Fresh_Start say it will be nice to Enter data - project name - date

and from my part I think it will be nice to have a space to add notes (as to remember modifies done to the circuit before each measurement)

what about to add a rectangular surface were is possible to move (and fix) the icon (of the tube with stored voltages) as to see it disposed as in the real layout of the amp (as a further help)

Kagliostro

[EL34]

When entering data, it would be great to be able to name the project and specify the date

You can enter amp type and notes, so that should take care of all the extra goodies you might want.
The date is noted on the files also.

[Fresh_Start]

This may indicate OCD but using "standard" color coding might help some of us:

plate - blue
grid - orange or brown
cathode - yellow

You've already got the heaters green

Thanks for the effort - especially asking for our input.

Cheers,

Chip

[EL34]

I did not know there was standard color codes ?

Light colors like yellow don't show up very well on graphics and web pages unless they are against a dark background.

[HotBluePlates]

This may indicate OCD but using "standard" color coding might help some of us:

plate - blue
grid - orange or brown
cathode - yellow

As Doug said, what is standard depends on what country you're in, or whose products you're familiar with.

So far, I like Doug's plan of green heaters, red high voltage (plate, screen), blue mid-voltage (G1) and black low voltage (cathode).

[EL34]

I like those colors too.

Red always means high voltage to me.

Black or green is commonly used for grounds, but green is used in tube amp heaters and so black became cathode.

grids can be any color, but blue looks good.
I always used white wire for grids when wiring amps, but white does not show up against a white drawing.

[loogie]

Very nice idea.  

I am thinking that the valve data you fill in is stored in a CSV, file and then it can be fetched and reassembled at any time.

If you feel enterprising you might want to check out XML or JSON.  There are small advantages that could make your life easier going forward.

* EL34 - csv is way easier - it's built into php in such a way that it's real simple to open and parse csv files

[kagliostro]

anyone want to deal with amps that have more than 10 tubes?

Ahem ............ yes ......  

In my drawer is waiting my plan derived from Vox AC30

with original 6 pre tubes and 4 final tubes + 2 tubes for reverb

EDIT and I forgot + 1 rectifier GZ34

as from a schematic I downloaded from the Vox UK forum

http://www.voxamps.com/downloads/circuits/ac301978.jpg

Kagliostro

[TIMBO]

My Little Booga has 10 tubes. So 10 would be good.

EL34 Edit: I set it at 12 max

[LooseChange]

Comment about power tubes.  Many times all the values are the same. Anyway to provide a check mark or something to fill in a single tube and say all the same?

EL34 edit: you can now copy data from one tube to another

[kagliostro]

Hi EL34

take our participations like ideas, cues, not like a list of things to do,  

many thanks for your effort that we appreciate much

Kagliostro

[sluckey]

Ok, so the old voltage recording/chart system sucked.

Says who? I like the simplicity of a chart. Graphics looks nice, but it's a lot of work just to get the same info that the charts contain. And with graphics, you'll have to contend with unimportant issues like wire color. BTW, I like blue, green, yellow (plate, grid, cathode).    

Color schemes work well on a layout or actual chassis. But on a voltage chart? Hmm...  


EL34 Edit: I added a data table to the graphics screen for those that like the old style data chart

[BarryW]

I think it's great - and the ability to name the project would be good.  I think 11-12 tubes would be good, I am about to try an amp with 6 12ax7s, 4 6v6s and rectifier, so it came up as an issue for me

EL34 Edit: I set it at 12 max

[plexi50]

Man that is cool. I always had a hard time staying on the same line using the old chart

I would get the vertical and horizontal position of the chart all mixed up sometimes

[Fresh_Start]

I just remembered something that I always add to my notes when measuring voltages in a new amp:

Voltage at each node along the power rail

Any chance you could add a place to record the voltages at power rail nodes labelled "A", "B", "C", etc.?  

I don't care what color they are  Having 10 might be overkill, but it's a nice round number.

Thanks Doug!  

Chip

EL34 Edit: Recording voltage somewhere else in the amp can be done using the notes area.

[Willabe]

Hi Doug,

How about maybe, a 7 pin pre and, 5879, EF86, maybe 6BM8, 7 pin O.P. like 6AQ5? Might not be a lot of people using them but they are being used.

Just a thought.

       Thanks,    Brad      

EL34 edit: Other tube types to come later if I see enough people actually using the program

[John]

Great idea. Thanks for making it work!

[EL34]

How about maybe, a 7 pin pre and, 5879, EF86, maybe 6BM8,

yes, all the common tubes will get added after the program is running properly.
I only need a few tubes now for testing.

[Willabe]

Doug,

Once agine, your one step ahead of the game, I should have known. Me otoh, I'm one more day late and $10 short.       

    Thanks,    Brad

[Boots Deville]

I added a set for a Trainwreck Rocket I built with 6V6's and Reverb.
http://www.el34world.com/charts/valve/ValveDataTable.php?f=10103.csv

Some notes on my experience:
I noticed a tube option for 5879 was missing.  considering the number of TOS's built in these parts, that might be missed.

EL34 edit: I will be adding more tube types as soon as the main program is all working


After entering the tube count, I wanted to go back and change that.  There was no option to go back.  I used the browser's back button, and that worked fine.

EL34 edit: Yes, that is how it is done, but it will reset any voltages you have already entered because it has to construct a new data file.

I normally record my 12X_7 cathode voltages to two decimal places.  I wasn't watching the text box when I typed "0.89" and it just recorded "0.8".  At first I thought it was as rounding error, but later discovered it was limiting the input to one decimal place.  I'm not recommending a change here, just relaying my experience.

EL34 edit: You can now enter voltages with 2 places l;ike this 1.89


The LTPI voltages I had recorded didn't have values for grids, pins 2 and 7.  (my mistake when I recorded them)  I couldn't leave them blank, it didn't like "?", so I settled for "-" which met the requirements for the field.
Similar to my 12X_7 cathode entry, for my cathode biased 6V6's, I tried to enter "28.9", but was limited to zero decimal places.

Other thoughts:
I normally record all my voltages in spreadsheets in Google Docs. As I make tweaks and take a new set of readings, I add a tab to the spreadsheet for that amp.
Here is the spreadsheet for the same voltage readings I took here:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Aiu8LASY7E9YdGV6WllpWURPaFAzRFA1Z3ZzeVlHRGc&hl=en&authkey=CMKC_cIM

It shows some other thinks I like to record, that I would miss using the application here, specifically:
AC Mains Voltage
Notes
B+ Supply voltages
Plate Dissipation

I mention Plate Dissipation - for cathode biased amps, the user would have to enter the value of the cathode resistor, but everything else is  there.  I do this in my spreadsheets.  For screen current, I take the same approach that the Weber bias calculator uses - allowing 5% for screen current, therefore multiplying the plate-only dissipation by 0.95 to get the value I populate the field with.

Hope this helps.

EL34 edit: You can use the notes for all other things like rails voltage, notes, whatever

[EL34]

I upped the tube pin characters max length to 4
You can now enter 1.52

This also meant that you could enter 9999 as a voltage and so I added a check for high values.
If you enter anything higher than 999 as a voltage, you will get a warning.
I could set the max voltage at any value, any ideas on that?

I am just not familiar enough with hacking to know what can or can't be done with these type of characters.
You can get into a lot of trouble letting people enter data into textboxes that then gets saved on the server as a file.
This is the new list of illegal characters for User Name and Amp Type

I don't see the need to use any of these in a User name or Amp type, do you guys??
? ~ ` ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) + = [ ]  '  :  ; , .  /  \ { } | " < >

PRR, that seems like a lot of extra stuff to go through to just copy a url.
I would have to create another form (after the user thinks he is done)  and that form would have to be submitted.

Maybe I am missing something.
Do people find it hard to copy and paste?

I combined the graphic and table displays onto the same page = much nicer IMO

Haaaa, the notes field is now working
You can click on this link and see one of my data file with notes
http://www.el34world.com/charts/valve/ValveData.php?e=view&f=saved

[DummyLoad]

user definable pins? i like to use off-track tubes. but then again, i'm a minority. just a thought...

--pete

[EL34]

The image files used are fixed, so there no way to define a valve image on the fly.

Not only that but every valve type has a boatload of code secific to each valve type.

There's just no way I can have people inventing tube types on the fly.

[EL34]

See post #1
You can now edit your exitsing valve data files.

So there is no need to create a new file every time you want to re-post voltages on an amp.

You can also copy valve data from one tube to another tube
So now, you can enter voltages for one power tube and copy that to all the others.

Anyone even interested in this at all?

Not getting any feedback. 

[shortfuse]

Tried to enter voltages last night and it kept telling me i had to add 1-400 characters for notes even though I had the box where it asks you for notes set at no.  I have used this before with no problems but I am sure it is user error.  So what am I doing wrong to post voltages?

[EL34]

I figured it out and fixed it, try it again
 

[shortfuse]

So it wasn't
 user error 
Thanks Doug I will try when I get back home Friday.

[EL34]

I am not sure how no one reported that before
Thanks for reporting it

[shortfuse]

How do you add notes to the tube data.  I click add notes and tells max characters but I cant figure out where to put notes.  There does not seem to be a pop up box?

[EL34]

You click yes to add notes and then a white box open below
Add your notes in the white box

It looks like this, I just tested it and took this screen shot

[shortfuse]

I have never seen the white box when i have clicked add notes that's why I asked.

[EL34]

You have to have javascript enabled in your browser.

What browser and what version do you use?

[shortfuse]

Firefox 9.0.1

[EL34]

Ah, ok, I was testing with IE9 and it worked fine
I just loaded the page with firefox 9.0.1 and I don't get the white box either

I'll have to figure out why with firebug
Thanks for the heads up
I'll see what I can figure out

[EL34]

Ok, test it again
Apparently IE is much more tolerant of missing javascript bits

Firebug showed me right where the problem was

[archaos]

Impossible to enter more than 3 digits for the preamp plates either with IE or Firefox
11 VDC for a 12AY7, well that's quite low 

[EL34]

Not sure I understand

3 digits means you could enter up to 999 volts for a plate voltage

[archaos]

Not sure I understand

Sure, I meant 2 digits actually and not 3, all my apologies.

[EL34]

I am able to enter 999 for both plates and 9999 for cathodes and grids in IE9 and Firefox 11

cathodes and grids are expexted to need a decimal point and so the one extra digit

Here's a screen shot of a 12ax7 I just edited

[archaos]

Well, you can consider I suck : I actually didn't remove the asterisk, hence the ability to enter only 2 digits for the plates, & 3 both for the cathodes & grids. 

[EL34]

That's a good one