audio authority power supplies ?????

[BOOTY MONSTER]

i got a dude in the area with a couple of 50 amp and 60 amp audio authority power supplies used from circuit city for their car stereo display . are these good power supplies ? im thinking they should be but at the same time they are probaly at least several years old and may have been on constantly for that time . ill check the manufactures date on the info on the back to check though .

i can only find info on the 100 amp version .
Audio Authority® - Product Details: 978
but apparently its pdf manual applies to the 60 and 80 amp versions as well .
http://www.audioauthority.com/techdocs/978manual752417.pdf

apparently it uses 20 amp modules for upgrading and if one fails the others still work minus the power from the failed module .
im supposed to call him back tonite when hes home to get more info on the model number and designations on the P/S's he has .

what do you folks think ???????

 

[W5LZ]

No idea about if they are any good or not. The manufacturer's claims seem reasonable though. For some reason, I think I'd be a bit 'leery' about a deal like this. The price isn't completely out of reason, but I'd definitely want to know they were working correctly before I'd give the asking price. Offer $150 for both of them. If he takes you up on it... run like hell! (I mean before paying for them.)
- 'Doc

 

[fnkycoldmedina]

i am selling mine ..stay away from it .great supply but it threw 8 pounds of noise in my radio.i couldnt get rid of it .the noise came right down the power wire to my amp .as soon as i plugged in the hot wire 7-8 pnds of noise.pass on it .

now if he has the 50 amp thats as heavy as bricks that one should be ok.
i bought the light 100 amp supply thinking ok,this will be great and it was ..until i tried to hear somebody.

mines on ebay now .do they work good?yes.....but not for cb.also be sure all the lites are lit and steady green and not flashing .if any are flashing ,theres a problem.

good thing you asked......i found out the hard way.i wont be out any money as they are bringing 200.00 on ebay.

ps ..i even tried a cap bank on the hot wire and still got the noise .....you have been warned.

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

so jump on it if its a heavy ass 50 amp but pass on the others ?
ill be sure to check the noise level on the 500v while its hooked to the vehicels power befor i swap over to his PS so i can compare befor and after noise .

THANKS VERY MUCH for the heads up !!!

well he has a couple of 50's and 60's . he did ask that i bring something to test it with so i told him since id be running a 500v if i get it ill just bring that . if its noisy or he only has the 60's left then ill pass . ill just get the radio shack 25amp for $80 and run the 2x1446 , less than 1 s-unit in output below the 500v .

i didnt think caps filter noise , just store power for peaks/surge outputs . i have herd caps are useless for cb amps though .

do you think the 50 amp would run a 500v and a 30-40 watt radio ok . if , if , if...........the 50 amp is quiet should it be ok ?

actually , now that i think about it , the 50 amp should have a different layout/construction since it doesnt use the 20 amp modules . that could accoult for the noise in the different models , or there could have been something wrong with the 60 you have . oh well , time will tell .

thanks again

 

[fnkycoldmedina]

if its the white casing audio authority pass on it ...they use switching supplies inside i guess and that must be the noise it throws.

if its the gray case and heavy as a sack of bricks i,d give that one a go.its built like a traditional supply.thats the one i should have bought.but i was thinking more amps the better.found out otherwise...

the gray heavy ones only come in a 50....surge to 300amp with a battery bank hooked up.that one should be good to go.

ps-the supply itself is whisper quite ..its the noise it throws in your receive that i cant live with.now this is on a galaxy 2517 base ...thats been my experience.

pss-caps do filter noise .......thats why there is a big cap inside your radio right inline with the power trace

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

just talked to a guy named mitch at audio authority and he gave me some info on them . he said the 50 amp models were special made for circuit city , said the use a transformer and are very quiet and he WOULD NOT recomend their other models for any type of ham or cb radio use because they a switching types and will add noise . he also said the 50 amp can be used with a battery for higher output , i guess like the iota's .

heres a link to AA's pdf for the 50 amp .
http://www.audioauthority.com/techdocs/277752156.pdf
weighs about 35 lbs . mitch said theres a transformer in it almost as big as a my head .
how did he know i had a big head ????????

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

delete this double post . im an idiot . LOL

 

[fnkycoldmedina]

just talked to a guy named mitch at audio authority and he gave me some info on them . he said the 50 amp models were special made for circuit city , said the use a transformer and are very quiet and he WOULD NOT recomend their other models for any type of ham or cb radio use because they a switching types and will add noise . he also said the 50 amp can be used with a battery for higher output , i guess like the iota's .

heres a link to AA's pdf for the 50 amp .
http://www.audioauthority.com/techdocs/277752156.pdf
weighs about 35 lbs . mitch said theres a transformer in it almost as big as a my head .
how did he know i had a big head ????????

this is what i was saying .i wish i would have thought ahead befor i bought my 100 amp.oh well my 35 amp pyramid still runs my 3 pill in the house so i,m good to go.

and yes the other one is like 35 pounds its heavy.that the one i dshould have bought.

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

im gonna go see the guy this evening when he get home . he only has one 50 amp left and he knows thats what i want . gonna take my 500v and my astatic 700 meter in the house to check it .

 

[W5LZ]

Depending on how they are designed, switching power supplies work just dandy. But, if they aren't designed for 'communications' use they are probably the worst noise makers on earth.
The reason they are noisy is a product of why they work at all and are so light. They use a 'square wave' generator much like an inverter does. It chops the input voltage into a very high frequency 'pulse', which is then recombined to produce a 'pulsing DC' current at whatever voltage the thing was made for. No huge transformer required for that voltage change so it's light weight. (That's a huge simplification of how they work, don't think that it's really that simple.)
The noise reducing part of a transformer type power supply is at the output end, capacitive and inductive filtering, or 'smoothing' of that pulsing DC current. With a switching power supply, that noise reduction thingy has to be spread through out the whole circuit, not just one filter stage/assembly, but a bunch of them. Each of those square wave generators has to be filtered heavily, each 'stage' of the voltage change has to be filtered heavily, etc, etc. Simply adding a filter stage to the output won't even get close to smoothing out the 'edges'/ripple/hash on an unfiltered switching power supply. The typical 'communications' type switching power supply has the filtering already done on each and every 'stage'. The 'other' kind doesn't. It is possible to go back through an 'other' type of switching supply and filter it. But, it is very, very difficult, meaning complicated, and you'd better have a bucket full of the required parts. Much simpler not to have to. An adequately filtered 'communications' switching supply will cost more than one that isn't filtered, and the filtering is the reason, at least most of the time. It's that square wave generator's fault!
- 'Doc

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

well i got it . hooked my 500v up to it at the guys house and it dose its normal 550ish . the PS acted like nothing was happening .

so now ive got my radio , amp and powersupply . guess ill throw up a dipole in the next few days till i can bet a better antenna system setup .

thankyou very much 5 and funky for providing multiple replies so quickly , not to mention the valuable info .

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

theres one on eek-bay if anyone is interested .....
audio authority 50 amp 12v power supply - eBay (item 200318776104 end time Mar-20-09 09:40:05 PDT)

 

[Cityboy]

I think I would stay away from anyting used to power audio equipment. Sometimes you pay for what you get. I love my Astron power supply and has no noise whatsoever and the biggest specification I would look at is its ripple voltage. It should be around 5mv peak to peak and a full load and low line noise. I would look for a bargain also but you can buy a used 50 amp Astron for a good price, but the shipping will kill you. I have had father and some friends run these for over 20 yrs non stop; they are bullet proof.

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

YouTube - POWER SUPPLY

 

[Mr Clean]

I think I would stay away from anyting used to power audio equipment. Sometimes you pay for what you get. I love my Astron power supply and has no noise whatsoever and the biggest specification I would look at is its ripple voltage. It should be around 5mv peak to peak and a full load and low line noise. I would look for a bargain also but you can buy a used 50 amp Astron for a good price, but the shipping will kill you. I have had father and some friends run these for over 20 yrs non stop; they are bullet proof.

Im very happy with my Astrons I have a 35 and a 70 amp.