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Big switching power supplies - what's the forum favorite?

N8YX

Active Member
Mar 7, 2006
259
35
38
Somewhere between DC and Daylight..
Putting my new operating position together. Currently have 3 Astron 50A linear supplies, each driving 8012 Rig Runners (or with their companion transceivers wired directly to the supply terminals).

Need an option for the VHF/UHF bench.

There are a few brick type amplifiers (CPI HF150, Mirage/RF Concepts 6, 2, 222, 432) in my inventory. Power out anywhere from 100 to around 400w PEP- so I'll need at least 80A at 14v. Only one band operated at one time, though. I do not want vented lead-acid batteries in the room where this stuff is going so that narrows it down to a big switcher or gigantic regulated linear unit.

Will also have a couple HF transceivers connected to the DC distribution manifold (along with several HF receivers) so whatever I go with must be RF quiet. Powermax 100/120 or the Samlex 100A rack mount units are several choices. What else has the board had success with, and how are these three regarding generated HF noise?
 

Putting my new operating position together. Currently have 3 Astron 50A linear supplies, each driving 8012 Rig Runners (or with their companion transceivers wired directly to the supply terminals).

Need an option for the VHF/UHF bench.

There are a few brick type amplifiers (CPI HF150, Mirage/RF Concepts 6, 2, 222, 432) in my inventory. Power out anywhere from 100 to around 400w PEP- so I'll need at least 80A at 14v. Only one band operated at one time, though. I do not want vented lead-acid batteries in the room where this stuff is going so that narrows it down to a big switcher or gigantic regulated linear unit.

Will also have a couple HF transceivers connected to the DC distribution manifold (along with several HF receivers) so whatever I go with must be RF quiet. Powermax 100/120 or the Samlex 100A rack mount units are several choices. What else has the board had success with, and how are these three regarding generated HF noise?
Genuine MeanWell, maybe genuine Delta.
 
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Megawatt supplies can be stacked. I use a 35Amp that is RF quiet and has run now for several years 24/7 with no problems. Two of those stacked would give you 70 amps, and three stacked would give you over 100 Amps at 14 volts DC.
 
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I have a couple of the Powermax 100A supplies, really clean and adjustable voltage. Can power your RV, charge your batteries and run your radios/ amps.

 
Has anyone incorporated an AMP and Voltage meter with one of the previously mentioned supplies?
Just curious.
I picked up an analog 300 amp ammeter and analog 15v meter for the stacked server supply I'm building. Looking for a case to cram it all in.
 
Last server supply I saw sounded like a jet airliner running up for takeoff.

73
I have an R810 and am going to be adding an R740 to the main rack at some point.

Roughly 20 years ago I put together a server cluster for security operations at a previous employer in roughly the same size room as my downstairs office/radio shack. Two full size racks. One had several Dell servers, an IP KVM, 3000VA UPS and a switch. The other had a blade chassis with 12 blades, support chassis, another KVM, backup appliance, a big NAS and another big UPS.

Power requirements were 220/3ph at roughly 50A per rack. Bring everything up from a cold start and it wasn't quite jet engine loud - it was more like Starship Heavy loud.

My two Dells plus a few other support pieces are probably going to be loud enough. At least until they settle down from booting.

What I work with now is water cooled. Think the largest, most powerful datacenters being built. I can't even fire up one of their racks (250Kw power draw) at my place - let alone hundreds of them at once.
 
Has anyone incorporated an AMP and Voltage meter with one of the previously mentioned supplies?
Just curious.
I have a mimic panel with metering on my old UPS and 12DC systems. The digital meters are relatively new, MORNING GROUP PZEM-022 for the AC and Bayite PZEM-051 for the DC side. The temperature probes are glued onto the battery cases.
N5ZKK_MIMIC_Panel.png
 

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