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50A Power Supply

Unit was NIB as described and came with a factory test sheet. Got one out to power it up just to make sure it would. Took about 4 seconds to come up while the caps charged. Took another 4 seconds to completely shut down after switch-off, so it's got some wiggle room. Fan is a full speed turbine for sure. I haven't load tested it yet.

These are said to draw @10 amps on 120 VAC at full load so I'm going to wire them all up to a 240 VAC 30 amp service. Going to need to scrounge for some mini-connectors to get the current-share data wire rigged between them also.

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I got mine yesterday as well. Along with a bunch of other stuff from Amazon, eBay, and MTC in Plano, TX. I liked the test reports too. Showed it was actually Technically touched before shipping. I'll be busy getting all of this stuff setup and tested. I'm also going to do a Spectrum Analysis of the RF around the power supplies.
 
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I picked one of these 50 amp 12v supplies up off e-bay for $30 bucks and free shipping. The fan is unfortunately very loud, like the others have stated - far too loud to not be heard in your TX audio... I'm going to try to find a quieter replacement.

With the voltage pot turned up all the way I get 13.8v or so and zero voltage drop when I tested it with a class AB 2xmrf455 amplifier.

I haven't taken the case apart yet but it appears that the fan will be easy to remove and replace, just have to find a suitable replacement.
 
FredTx63 said:
I picked one of these 50 amp 12v supplies up off e-bay for $30 bucks and free shipping. The fan is unfortunately very loud, like the others have stated - far too loud to not be heard in your TX audio... I'm going to try to find a quieter replacement.

With the voltage pot turned up all the way I get 13.8v or so and zero voltage drop when I tested it with a class AB 2xmrf455 amplifier.

I haven't taken the case apart yet but it appears that the fan will be easy to remove and replace, just have to find a suitable replacement.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update. I got a bunch of the LHV brand HTK600 units that can be stacked, but I'm still procuring all the stuff I need to do a professional wiring job (welding cable, etc.) ;)

Since my radio room is on the first floor and these units are so loud, I plan on locating them in the basement with the amp. The run will be about 25'. The LVH supplies have a "current monitor" which I believe will allow for the power supply to adjust for any voltage drop due to length of power leads. Usually this involves sending a low voltage/ low current wire pair out to the load, separate from the main power leads. More to follow hopefully.

Did you get the Cosel brand or the LVH? The Cosel's could have had an optional "fan on demand option" but those on eBay didn't come with it when I read the part numbers on the ones offered.

If you got the LVH brand did you notice any increased noise in your transceivers receive?
 
I got the Cosel PLA600F-12.

I've only ever had mine powered on while it was connected to my AB biased 2xMRF455 amplifier. Perhaps the bias draw is constant and not only during TX? I haven't checked the circuit in the amplifier to be sure.

Either way, the fan is LOUD and turning the voltage up from 12ish stock to 13.8 only made it significantly louder.

The model I have supposedly has a built in/automatic "fan on demand" feature that limits the fan speed when a load is NOT applied. My amp could be applying some sort of load to supply the bias voltage even when it's not transmitting, not sure. It doesn't get any louder when I transmit so that may be what's happening.

I have not noticed any noise in my receiver although the only receiver I've had connected was a 40 channel CB radio. I'll have to check it on a broader range of frequencies with the HF rig...
 
I ordered two fans from Newegg that solved the noise problem. These are whisper quiet and move a lot of air. $14.99. You do have to replace the plug with the plug from the original fan. Takes about 2 minutes :)

I also used the rubber pins that come with the new fan to hold it in place. The original fan did have some vibration noise.

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Update - The first supply had the super loud fan and was unusable in the shack due to rf hash it radiated on every hf band. Almost s7 on all my radios with the supply even 10 feet away from the rigs!.

I finally fired up the 2nd identical supply last weekend. Oddly enough the fan noise is about half as bad and this one has zero rf hash anywhere. I did replace the fan with one of the new ones I bought. I can't see any difference internally between the two supplies that would cause one to be an rf nightmare and the other not.
 
I though the same thing so I powered it up when I had the original fan removed and it was the same. I am still going to use the supply for a patio LED lighting project. Above ground and about 40 feet away hopefully won't affect the radios but I'll check it out.
 
RatsoW8 said:
was unusable in the shack due to rf hash it radiated on every hf band.
Click to expand...

That's the problem with these cheap switching power supplies - they generate so much RF hash that they're not useable in most HF shacks. I have the MegaWatt 50 amp supply that sells for a very reasonable price and have no such problems. Does anyone care to send me one of these ebay 50 amp supplies? I'll start a separate thread and compare the two supplies on my panadapter.
 
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