DC on the mains

Estimated cost: £10 ex case

Be bloody careful!

Why not put a hyperlink to the image instead? Something in the order of "click here to see the circuit" using the hyperlink tool (^ up there in the reply composer). That would put it in another browser tab and be on his website, and it would still be available for all to see.

I know you're well meaning and you put the link in image tags which isn't really uploading but he wouldn't be able to see the HTML.

I wouldn't want anybody to think I was pushing my latter circuit contribution - it's just another idea that does the same number of DC stages.

With 50A bridge rectifiers, I assume that some kind of thermal dissipation should be provisioned?

Obviously, it won’t be pulling anywhere near 50A, but something like that could happily feed my entire system?

(Replying to the post before last)

Not really. There are a few lying about on my R&D bench, and they're overrated for the job, as you say, but they're highly popular for some reason at the moment, so are very inexpensive.

I've been using them in my amplifier experiment's power supplies because they're pretty "bomb proof".

Apart from switch-on inrush, the primary current to your amplifier's transformers will be less than two amps, with amplifier at full output, so the bridge's won't get hot at all. Mine have a metal base for heatsinking, which is really well insulated from the diode junctions, but even so, I'd insulate them when used on the mains.

And the voltage doesn't really matter, as the reverse current flow sees the opposing polarity diodes limit the reverse voltage, and vice versa.

The capacitors can be any voltage above say 6V, but 16V is common, and there's nothing to stop the constructor using a higher voltage rating. I think the combined series-parallel rating of what your building at 102,000 uF is a bit OTT. I too have used a couple of 4700uF, but maybe 10,000uF (giving 5000uF because of the series connection) might rid all worry about phase lag.