PSU Question

[PsyKotyk]

I lucked out and found a nice linear PSU from the local computer surplus place. It came in 3 modules. A) power connector; fuse; switch and filter B) transformer, and C) 3 rectifiers and 5 large caps

My question is, can you combine two sub coils to get more amperage? The xformer is thus:

in (3 wires hot, 3 wires return) 115VAC

out 20VAC, center tap, 20VAC (or 40.5 across)
out 19.5VAC, center tap, 19.5VAC (or 38.9 across)
out 9.8VAC

It's a pretty sweet xformer, and I'm quite sure each coil is good for 5-10 amps, but I'm curious if I can take the two halves of the output, rectify them, and the run them in parallel, or if they will negate each other, because they're out of phase.

Second question, can I combine the 20VAC and 19VAC coils in parallel to get more current, or will the voltage difference create problems?

I think if I can rummage up enough caps and rectifiers, I'll just run each axis on it's own coil; rectifier and cap, but it would be nice to know what my options are.

Shanks!

[Al_The_Man]

You can run the secondaries as centre tap full wave which will give you ~28vdc or full wave bridge which will give you ~56vdc.
I would imagine that the secondaries were both intended to be 40v CT.
The small difference should allow you to parallel the resulting DC's.
If you parallel the DC you will not need to phase anything.
If you need the info on different rectifier configurations, see the tech site at Plitron.com
Al.