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Workman PS35 Review

Yankee

Active Member
Apr 15, 2013
307
22
28
The price was right, from Redman Cb Inc. Shipping was very fast, and the delivery date was revised to 4 days earlier than scheduled, I guess that would be an advertising ploy from UPS. A nice touch with a 3 day holiday coming up.

First impression was, this sucker is heavy, 29 pounds. I got it out of the box and right away looked for any damages. The box was OK, it had an outer box with fiberglass strapping on it, then an inner box for the PS. Both were in good condition. But, by the outerbox, which came from China to some warehouse here, told the story, it had never been opened since leaving the factory. The PS itself was very well protected with big high density foam inserts holding the PS away from any box damage.

So looking around the power supply itself, it is nice and solid, a full metal jacket, good feet on it. The Cons were that the Voltage meter was in the hole but loose. [You can see the glue where I glued it in tight.] I could get a finger nail under one side and pull it out a bit, but not all the way. The Amp meter was nice and tight. The meters are not lighted. The AC cord is cheap plastic covered wires, nothing in the quality neighborhood of say a computer cord and no third prong ground nor wide prong for polarity.

On the front are two posts for + and - connection. I might have preferred they were in the back. These are hollow posts and the screw caps do come off to use either a spade tip or a full circle tip connector. I happened to have a set of jumpers in my electronics drawer with expanding tips that also just happened to fit into the hollow posts, so I cut these in half and soldered and heat shrinked the red and blacks of the amp together for a solid connection.

Also on the front and the main reason I bought this model is a dial to adjust voltage. This is a big plus for me. At present I am using a RM KL 200-P amp, that I wanted to feed with more than the 12.07vdc it was getting from my salvaged computer PS. I could only manage about 60 to 65 watts from it without over driving it from the radio. With the Workman running at 13.97vdc, I am getting a nice steady 98w. A big payoff.

Next, low center, is a small lamp which lights green and shows power I guess. Then to the right is the rocker on-off switch. A nice large and solid switch which also lights up, so that little green lamp is redundant.

What I don't care for is the internal fan. It is loud and it seems it is getting louder. There are big heat fins on the back and I doubt I will ever drive this power supply to the point it gets warm, let alone hot.
 

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If it were me and I didn't care for the noise,I would place it maybe on another location,perhaps a null spot where you it wouldn't be so noise prevalent. That's cool though that you have dial-a-voltage on it. I like to control the voltage as well. I still have my Trip 3 amp ps but with a hole in the case to adjust the voltage output. It comes in handy for use as a vehicle battery charger. A real pain in the butt saver.
 
HAHA, we do think alike. I was just looking around my room. I am limited to space, but I do have a rather tall wood shelf system with a lot of wasted space for things I rarely use. I can't reach it from the desk, but there is enough space between it and my desk to roll my office chair in the slot and look out the window into my yard. I think I will move everything over there today when the skip slows down, but right now, skip is running wild here and I can't waste a good opportunity. LOL

But as far as the fan goes, I might wire in a switch on the front to just turn it off or on. As I said, I am not likely to ever use the PS enough to heat it up. I will know soon enough though. :)
 
Yankee, I'm sure that power supply will do the job for you but they aren't known for their quality. If the price was right than hopefully it should serve you well for a while.

You might want to consider a small switching supply next time as they are less than 5 pounds, 1/8 the size of the workman, and half the cost.

After making the switch to the smaller switching supplies I wouldn't go back.
 
I believe the PC powersupply I was using is a switching power supply. It did fine, it was very stable, but only had about half the amps, no meters and no adjustment. For that price and output, The one I got was the only power supply I could find of any kind.
 
LOL, probably. With any luck, it will be the same size as the 5 or 6 new computer fans I have laying around here.
 
I'm surprised it even has or needs a fan. My Tripp-Lite PR-40 has no fan and gets quite a workout running at a minimum of 25 amps all the time when i am on the air. Maybe Workman thought a fan was cheaper than a bigger heatsink for the pass transistors. As for the redundant green power indicator' it may not be redundant. Check when you turn it off and see if it fades slowly. If it does it indicates the presence of DC voltage. The lighted power switch simply indicates that the AC power is turned on and not that the supply is functioning properly and producing DC output.
 
So far, I have run it a couple hours, just loafing along. I smelled hot paint, like a new engine being run for the first time, but that is gone now. The heat sink is quite extensive, going across the whole width and height of the rear side with 4 transistors mounted in it. So far, nothing was even warm to the touch. The top and two sides are filled with louvers, not even warm air coming out of them. I can't see it ever really needing a fan, but then again, can't hurt. :)

Yes, the green light does fade, slowly, after turned off.
 
Yes, the green light does fade, slowly, after turned off.

Then it is not redundant. The supply can be turned on and not produce DC output in something in it should fail. The green light lets you know that DC voltage is indeed present. Mt tripp Lite has a red LED that takes almost a half minute to go completely out after turning the supply off. It has a 100,000 uF filter capacitor and the LED takes a while to discharge it.
 
I have an old Crusader 125 amp that is like that. It takes forever to go out. Much longer than this.
 
Well, that's good, then, 50% is about what I usually run and that's cause I don't drive anymore. But give them time, eventually even the meter and powersupply will be outlawed.
 

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