Looking for power supply recommendations

Kevin N9JKP

George, I have an Astron RS-50M. It's hum is inaudible unless you put your face right next to it.  The loudest thing in my shack is the Flex 6700. My PC tower is dead quiet but I built it myself and put the highest quality fans in it that I could find.
When my warranty is up on my Flex I will replace the cheap fans with good ones

WK2Y

I have two Alincos, a DM330MV and DM330FX.  I hear no noise and barely see any on my station monitor unless I look very closely. Both have been in operation many years andbBoth have noise offsets but I have never adjusted them. I do find the additional front connections very handy, cigarette plug, wire clips, and USB. The fan has never come on in either or if it has I have never heard it.   
73, Bob
WK2Y

Ria

I have had no issues with 13.8v switching supplies. They also take up less room and are lightweight to travel with. Some are also auto voltage.  I operate low bands a lot and have no problems. I hear a lot of stuff other people in NNJ simply do not hear. DXCC 9 bands (160-10), 1700+ DXCC challenge confirmed, closing in on 2000 worked. Also contest with several top 10 finishes in CQWW, ARRL DX, IARU, WAE and WPX, a few USA and NA wins, and plenty of regional ones. I even have Bouvet confirmed from 2008.

Ria
N2RJ

N2TU

Ria,

I agree regarding the switching power supplies. They are not, as one described, simply wall warts. For the masses, they perform just fine and take up little space. Just do the research. ARRL had a review of various switching supplies. I would, however, tend to doubt they will produce the wall paper you have mentioned. That takes a bit more than a power supply! Hi Hi

Gary Johnson

Astron rm-35 boat anchor.  I have 3.  Big heavy suckers but reliable.

James Whiteway

Walt Williams 70amp supply here. Built like a tank and weighs nearly as much as one! Completely quiet on the bands and no fan noise. Hard to find unless you live in Texas. James WD5GWY

Tom Porada

As recommended a year or so ago, I use a switcher, IOTA DLS-55. I haven't experienced noise but then I haven't compared it to running my 6500 off pure battery which is a future project. The DLS-55 is rated at 55 amps and has features (add-on) to use it as a battery charger. I believe it may have been designed as a charging system supply with external on/off switching as it does NOT have a power switch (I use a small power switch, external). Very happy with this unit. I use it as the front end to my powerpole dist box.

David Salomon

I have an AGM battery, powergate, and N8XJK controller/charger for my EMCOMM box.  I don't use that setup for my home station because batteries have a limited number of discharge / charge cycles.  Using the battery every day for regular operation would shorten the calendar life of the batteries (vs using occasionally).  Also, car batteries are designed for a lot of current for a short time.  A marine or other deep cycle battery is designed for less current over a longer time period and will be usable for longer periods with less charging (again, a benefit to longer battery life).  Finally, you might want to consider something like the N8XJK or other booster device if using a battery full time.  That will ensure that you always have 13.8VDC even when the battery voltage starts to drop.

73 - David, AG4F

Ria

I had bought a couple of those and brought it to a friend in 9Y. He uses that to power his entire station. 

Michael Coslo

Hi John, I think that you believe there is always noise present, and you always have to mess with the switching frequency. Other than my experiments in the video I made, I've never had to touch that knob. In fact, I had to use it in the experiments to even find the noise. moving it changed the switcher frequency so I could tell what was what at the low and already noisy frequencies it shows up at.

Now if I was experimenting at the new low frequencies we can operate on, I wouldn't use the Alinco. Wouldn't use the Astron either - I'd use batteries. 

Michael Coslo

The Linear versus Switcher wars are pretty much over.  Technically there is very little difference. What remains is weight and size. For home use, my Astron works FB It is huge though. I built a portable station with my Flex 6300, autotuner and Alinco switcher, and it also works great. Zero difference in performance. And with not having to add another 40 pounds or tripling the size, it is a no brainer.  We have two excellent choices, not one.

Gary Johnson

4 of the 6 volt Deep Cycle Golf Cart Batteries properly wired and charges with a couple of sets of Harbor Freight solar panels should keep one operational.  Now if I could figure out how to get enough juice to run a Acom 1000 amp I'd be set.

David Livingston

I use two (2) Ashtron RS-70M in my shack.  Very quiet. I have never worked either one to the point that the fan came on.  K4CAE

Jerry Gardner

I run my Flex-6000 rigs on the Powerwerx SS-30DV. This is a 25/30A switching power supply about the size of a brick and about 3 pounds. It's around $110 at HRO. It's well-filtered--I have not seen any switching noise on the PDSR waterfall and it looks clean on my scope too.

KC2QMA_John

This is what you need if you don't like Liner power supplies

David Salomon

Holy battery acid Batman!

N8FNR

Are there any power supplies that posters here would NOT recommend due to them emitting high noise levels?

Gary Johnson

Yup that will about do it.

ka7gzr

I really like my 5 Powerwerks DC supplies...

Richard Line

Very nice power supply !!! Solar charged ?

Christian von Wechmar

My Alinco DM-330MVE is very noisy on 80m and 160m. Shifting the noise with the control works for 20 minutes or less, and reoccurs. I use mine in ZS with 240VAC.

(My RS-35M was dead quiet on the bands, except for occasional transformer hum. Tightening screws did not help.)

KF3F

I'm using a Samlex-1235 and it's quiet.

Scott Russell - N1SER

Yep, I have two Samlex-1235's in the shack and a Yaesu FP-1030A. The Samlex are quiet unless the fan kicks in which is not that often.

K5ROX

If you use a high amp power supply it becomes more important that you fuse each device separately. This isn't a bad idea anyway.

Wayne

I have always used mfj4225's advertised as hash free rf never had any problems have 5 use 1 for each rig. ymmv ... mighty fine junk seems to work very well for the price .. :-)

Don Stefanik

My Astron 35m just quit. Was starting to hum really loud then nothing. Fuse burned out. Tried another fuse and **** burned it out as well.
So looking into an Astron 20M ..30 amps 25 continuous. Any issues?. 
Flex 6300, Yaesu FT-2900, MFJ Intellituner, and a string of LED lights. 

Don Stefanik

Just ordered a new 35M. The old one will get repaired at a later date.

Justin W4JTD

FWIW I have the new LED lights in the meters on my RS-70M and they died.... but I leave it on 24/7-365. The meters still work just fine, and if the room is pitch black you can see a dim glow from them hi hi 

The PS is a beast as has been mentioned, otherwise no issues here. 

73
Justin
KL2D

Jeff Saly

I have been using a Astron RS-35A for years, without any issues.  Powered the Flex 3000 and now the 6400 perfectly.  However, I did re-grease all of the the pass transistors with ARCTIC MX-4 - Thermal Carbon Micro-Particle Compound Paste (via Amazon); runs cooler than ever!!  In contrast, I tried using the Astron SS-50M; lasted 2 weeks before the SS-50M output failed to 5.6 volts (max)

David Decoons, wo2x