Hi all and Happy New Year.
I've been looking at the specs for the 5Y3 and 5Y4 rectifiers and I believe they can be used in place of each other electrically. The difference I'm seeing is the pin-outs for the plates and the filament. Can anyone confirm this? I need a 5Y4 and don't have one. To use the 5Y3 I would have to alter the wire connections a bit. Am I correct on this?
Thanks much,
Johnny

:Hi all and Happy New Year.
:I've been looking at the specs for the 5Y3 and 5Y4 rectifiers and I believe they can be used in place of each other electrically. The difference I'm seeing is the pin-outs for the plates and the filament. Can anyone confirm this? I need a 5Y4 and don't have one. To use the 5Y3 I would have to alter the wire connections a bit. Am I correct on this?
:Thanks much,
:Johnny

You are right.

:Hi all and Happy New Year.
:I've been looking at the specs for the 5Y3 and 5Y4 rectifiers and I believe they can be used in place of each other electrically. The difference I'm seeing is the pin-outs for the plates and the filament. Can anyone confirm this? I need a 5Y4 and don't have one. To use the 5Y3 I would have to alter the wire connections a bit. Am I correct on this?
:Thanks much,
:Johnny

Johnny, if you are going to rewire just put jumopers between pins 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8, then you can use either tube at any time without touching wiring again. PL

::Hi all and Happy New Year.
::I've been looking at the specs for the 5Y3 and 5Y4 rectifiers and I believe they can be used in place of each other electrically. The difference I'm seeing is the pin-outs for the plates and the filament. Can anyone confirm this? I need a 5Y4 and don't have one. To use the 5Y3 I would have to alter the wire connections a bit. Am I correct on this?
::Thanks much,
::Johnny
:
:
:
: Johnny, if you are going to rewire just put jumopers between pins 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8, then you can use either tube at any time without touching wiring again. PL
:
:That's a fantastic idea PL. I must be stuck in stupid for I didn't even think of that one. Thanks very much.
Johnny

::Hi all and Happy New Year.
::I've been looking at the specs for the 5Y3 and 5Y4 rectifiers and I believe they can be used in place of each other electrically. The difference I'm seeing is the pin-outs for the plates and the filament. Can anyone confirm this? I need a 5Y4 and don't have one. To use the 5Y3 I would have to alter the wire connections a bit. Am I correct on this?
::Thanks much,
::Johnny
:
:
:
: Johnny, if you are going to rewire just put jumopers between pins 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8, then you can use either tube at any time without touching wiring again. PL

::Hi all and Happy New Year.
::I've been looking at the specs for the 5Y3 and 5Y4 rectifiers and I believe they can be used in place of each other electrically. The difference I'm seeing is the pin-outs for the plates and the filament. Can anyone confirm this? I need a 5Y4 and don't have one. To use the 5Y3 I would have to alter the wire connections a bit. Am I correct on this?
::Thanks much,
::Johnny
:
:
:
: Johnny, if you are going to rewire just put jumopers between pins 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8, then you can use either tube at any time without touching wiring again. PL

:::Hi all and Happy New Year.
:::I've been looking at the specs for the 5Y3 and 5Y4 rectifiers and I believe they can be used in place of each other electrically. The difference I'm seeing is the pin-outs for the plates and the filament. Can anyone confirm this? I need a 5Y4 and don't have one. To use the 5Y3 I would have to alter the wire connections a bit. Am I correct on this?
:::Thanks much,
:::Johnny

Seems that you would have to jumper pin seven to pin two
::
::
::
:: Johnny, if you are going to rewire just put jumopers between pins 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8, then you can use either tube at any time without touching wiring again. PL

::::Hi all and Happy New Year.
::::I've been looking at the specs for the 5Y3 and 5Y4 rectifiers and I believe they can be used in place of each other electrically. The difference I'm seeing is the pin-outs for the plates and the filament. Can anyone confirm this? I need a 5Y4 and don't have one. To use the 5Y3 I would have to alter the wire connections a bit. Am I correct on this?
::::Thanks much,
::::Johnny
:
: Seems that you would have to jumper pin seven to pin two
:::
:::
:::
::: Johnny, if you are going to rewire just put jumopers between pins 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8, then you can use either tube at any time without touching wiring again. PL
:
:Thanks Dan! I caught that too. You can't jumper pins 7-8 because this would short the filament if using the 5Y4 tube. I believe this is what PL meant. But if you jumper pins 7-2 as you say then you could use either tube. Thanks for the good eye.
Johnny

:::::Hi all and Happy New Year.
:::::I've been looking at the specs for the 5Y3 and 5Y4 rectifiers and I believe they can be used in place of each other electrically. The difference I'm seeing is the pin-outs for the plates and the filament. Can anyone confirm this? I need a 5Y4 and don't have one. To use the 5Y3 I would have to alter the wire connections a bit. Am I correct on this?
:::::Thanks much,
:::::Johnny
::
:: Seems that you would have to jumper pin seven to pin two
::::
::::
::::
:::: Johnny, if you are going to rewire just put jumopers between pins 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8, then you can use either tube at any time without touching wiring again. PL
::
::Thanks Dan! I caught that too. You can't jumper pins 7-8 because this would short the filament if using the 5Y4 tube. I believe this is what PL meant. But if you jumper pins 7-2 as you say then you could use either tube. Thanks for the good eye.
:Johnny

Johnny, sorry about that error, and thank you Dan for pointing it out. That was not my idea, I picked it up from some one else and have used it any time I have a unit that uses the 5Y3/4. 7-8 would definately not work well.PL

Interesting reading. Glad to know now that I can wire a socket to take either tube. Didn't look into that in that much detail.

Anyone have any idea, however, why on earth these two tubes exist? Is there any benefit to one pin-out to another? Why didn't they just stick with one pin-out? Kinda stupid having the same tube with two different base connections. ...Unless it was developed by two different companies. 5Y3 definitely seems to be the more common tube.

Hi Tom,
I have wondered the same thing. From Zeniths I have noticed that 1937 radios had 5Y3G then 1938 radios had 5Y4G.
Octal tubes seem to have a standard pin out for filaments, pins 2 and 7 or pins 7 and 8. 5Y4G may have been an attempt to make these rectifiers meet the standard.
That seems like two fragments, not the whole story, though.

Best Regards,

Bill

Kinda makes sense. It is standard with many octal tubes to have pin 8 as the cathode.

T.