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Tuesday, August 25, 2026

Solid State Transformers -- Are the small DC supplies from Amazon small versions of what we need?


The algorithm seems to KNOW what I have been reading.  This week the New York Times Sunday magazine had a really frightening story about the vulnerabilities of the U.S. electrical grid.  The big vulnerability is the large transformers.  They are very very hard to replace.  Replacement takes years.  If something were to happen to only a few of these transformers, the U.S. could be plunged into an apocalyptic power outage.  This is not theoretical stuff.  People in the U.S. have been taking out transformers with high powered rifles.  What is that old saying about people who live glass houses?   Well it appears we live in one. 

The NYT article ended with one optimistic note:  Solid State Transformers.  These are being used in the AI Data Centers.  Asianometry took a look at these devices -- I really like his YouTube channel, but I think he missed the big down-side of old clunky tranformers: their extreme vulnerability.  

One additional ham radio note:  Pete N6QW, Grayson KJ7UM and Helge LA6NCA have recently been using very small high voltage power supplies.  Back in the day,  thermatron rigs required much larger transformers.  Are these tiny DC supplies small versions of the Solid State Transformers discussed in the NYT article and the Asianometry video?   

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