What size Power Supply ?

[222DBFL]

918, both type supplies seem to work fine for cb (11 meter) use, it mainly comes down to how much room you have. I don't have much room and went with a small switching supply, the megawatt s-400 12. It's 30 amps cont., and will work fine with any radio for 100watts just fine. Haven't been on a bunch of different bands with it, but for 11 meters it's fine, no hash, very small and voltage adjustable. There are several versions of this same type supply on Amazon for 20-30 dollars shipped. For the everyday user they work fine. JMO.

 

[918Oklahoma]

918, both type supplies seem to work fine for cb (11 meter) use, it mainly comes down to how much room you have. I don't have much room and went with a small switching supply, the megawatt s-400 12. It's 30 amps cont., and will work fine with any radio for 100watts just fine. Haven't been on a bunch of different bands with it, but for 11 meters it's fine, no hash, very small and voltage adjustable. There are several versions of this same type supply on Amazon for 20-30 dollars shipped. For the everyday user they work fine. JMO.

I shopped around for about 2 hours last night looking at Power supplies and reading reviews and i ended up going with the Jetstream JTPS31MB, i paid $99 shipped. Hopefully its a good one, i read a lot of good things. Its way overkill for my stock SSB radio, but the idea was to get one big enough to grow into, leaving plenty of room for upgrades later on when I get my Ham ticket and a more powerful radio.

 

[222DBFL]

Good deal there 918. Yeah I went larger than needed, but now am glad I did. Wouldn't think twice about buying another If I ever do need one though, the megawatt that is.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Power supplies are an area where it is hard to go too big. Well that is unless you need to reinforce the floor to hold it. Most people tend to buy something to suit their needs NOW but invariably for a few dollars more you can get something much larger that will suit your needs now AND later. I used to have an Icom IC-735 with dedicated and match Icom PS-55 power supply. Later I picked up a Tripp-Lite PR40a "just because" . Well actually it was used and I got a great deal on it. It was not needed at the time. A while later I sold the Icom and bought a Yaesu FT-857 and the PR40a was put to use. It has 32 amp continous/40 amp peak ratings and is still running my rig and a few accessories. I later got a super deal on a NOS still in box Motorola 25 amp power supply to use as a back up. Either PSU will supply all my needs at the moment. I also have a 50 volt 60 amp supply for another project and it will be used to about 85% of capacity so I may get another one just to make life more complicated. I wish I could get a single power supply that had 12v @ 50 amps, 50v @ 75 amps, and 24v @ 8-10 amps or so all in one nice neat CHEAP package.

 

[Tripple Nickel]

UPDATE, thank's for all the suggestions, I went with a Gold Series Pyramid 26 Amp/Volt & Amp gauge and the quitest fan I've ever heard running. This is one sweet unit, found on Ebay $49.00, just what I wanted. This unit is just like NEW and I really like it, no more relay chatter in my box and works @ 65 watts with ease @ 8-10 Volts, kinda just idling. Again thank's to all. Good evening to you/yours again and hope all of you have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS. As Paul Harvey would say...........
Good Day.
555

 

[918Oklahoma]

You got a good deal then, i dropped 100 on my new power supply, almost the same size. They all do the same thing too hahaha. Ill still enjoy it though, im sure ill be getting my moneys worth.

 

[jazzsinger]

Only way to go is a linear psu for low receiver noise with at the very least twice the capability as current to be drawn. That way it only ever runs at 50 % duty cycle and will last indefinately just about.

Very lowest for a 100w radio as others have pointed out due to efficiency is about 20-25 amps constant. Giving about 4-9 amp headroom. The more headroom the better as you may want to add accessories later.

I suggest the biggest current supplying linear supply you can afford. The less strain you put on it the longer it lasts. You may get away with a 20 amp for years but will eventually blow, 25 will take longer and a 30 or 40 amper will probably last a very long time and give scope for adding amps etc. Most other accesories are low current in the 100-500 ma range.

I'd also ensure cables are twice at least what is necessary too to avoid voltage drop and kept as short as possible. First thing i do to most comercial cb amps is remove supplied dc cable and put one twice or more in its place. It's a common corner cut on cb amps.

I use 6 amp constant psu on am/fm 4w radios. About 3 times required. I use 15 amp constant psu on standard up to 20w exports at least double most dual final exports draw, triple to 4 times on 12w ones.

On linears i plan to use 25 amp constant 30 amp surge as mine kl203p draw 8-9amps. Again 2-3 times necessary.

All are linear.

Even the best switchmode I had put constant s2 noise in receiver, worst switchmode I had radiated so much rf noise it put s9 on radios powered by best switchmode i had even when it was just turned on and connected to nothing.

I'll never buy another switchmode again. The two small 6-8 amps are crt superstar. The ps15 and 2 ps30m's i have on order are palstar (same as manson eps925). All are very reliable and stood the test of time.

The finer you cut it the shorter it lives. Its that simple. Better to buy a big one to start with and save the inevitable cash loss when you upgrade your gear put too much strain on psu and blow the arse out it.

Its the third biggest most common cb mistake behind buying shit antennas and crap coax/plugs.

If you want reliability and success extra shelled out at the begining saves selling losses and upgrading costs later. Think ahead and buy the best you can afford.

The radio is least important part of setup behind antenna,coax,psu and plugs.

Get them all right and just about any radio will do the job and last as long as you keep idiots out it and don't go doing daft mods.

Jazz 73