[[File:MADDIDA Selen Rectifier.JPG|thumb|right|Selenium rectifiers used in 1950s [[MADDIDA]] computer]]
[[File:Selenium rectifier.agr.jpg|thumb|Selenium rectifier from 1960s. Each plate is 1-inch square.]]
Selenium rectifiers are able to withstand repetitive significant overload without the need of special protective measures. It is commonly used in electroplating rectifier under 200,000A000 A and electrostatic precipitators operating between 30 to 100kV100 kV<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Reeves |first1=E. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KcI99VbjwPwC&pg=PA95 |title=Newnes Electrical Pocket Book |last2=Heathcote |first2=Martin |date=2013-06-17 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-136-37644-3 |pages=95 |language=en}}</ref>
[[Receiver (radio)|Radio]] and television receivers used them from about 1947 to 1975 to provide up to a few hundred volts of plate voltage. Vacuum-tube rectifiers had efficiencies of only 60% compared to the 85% of selenium rectifiers, partially because vacuum-tube rectifiers required heating. Selenium rectifiers have no warm-up time, unlike high-vacuum rectifiers. Selenium rectifiers were also cheaper and simpler to specify and install than vacuum tubes. However, they were later replaced by silicon diodes with high efficiencies (close to 100% at high voltages). Selenium rectifiers had the capability to act as current limiters, which can temporarily protect the rectifier during a short circuit and provide stable current for charging batteries.{{Citation needed |date=January 2022}}
