Good link on power supplies and repeater builds. http://www.repeater-builder.com/astron/astron-repair/astron-repair.html
Jim W6AIM . -----Original Message----- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Ron D'Eau Claire Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2015 11:17 AM To: 'Mike K2MK'; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Which of these would make the best power supply for the K3(S)? People might run them on the edge, but IMX with commercial repeaters Astrons are conservatively rated. Long ago I came to the conclusion was that at least some people thought a rating such as 20A meant it could deliver 20 amps continuously. Astrons, as their data sheet shows, are rated ICAS (or nowadays, just ICS). ICAS was an acronym for Intermittent Commercial and Amateur service. ICS just drops "Amateur". ICS means the supply delivers full output for a maximum of 5 minutes, followed by a rest period (no current demand) for at least the same period of time. Repeaters tend to operate for hours at much higher duty cycles, even though no one user is hogging it. And in home stations, long winded RTTY/PSK or other high duty cycle applications mean the supply should be operated no more than 5 min on followed by at least 5 min off if the supply is operated at its maximum output. Astron specifications show a continuous commercial service (CCS) rating that the supply can deliver constantly. The 20A for example can deliver 16 amps continuously while the 35 can deliver 25 amps continuously. I maintained a number of commercial repeaters in the S.F. Bay area running off of Astron 20 amp supplies at 15 or 16 amps that had been in service well over 10 years without a failure. Some were in outdoor lockers that reached at least 100F in the summertime. Back in the 1990's I picked up an Astron 20A for my Ham station use which has powered my K2/100 and K3/100 rigs just fine, even though the K3/100 is pushing it over 22 A on some bands at 100W output. It maintains 13.8 volts at that output. But as a brass pounder and occasional SSB operator, I'm also running low duty cycles and I frequently am running far below the full 100 watts. Considering the huge number of Astrons in use, I'm not surprised there are reports of some failures. One thing we've yet to build is a piece of equipment that won't fail, especially when trying to be price-competitive. 73, Ron AC7AC -----Original Message----- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of jim Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2015 10:28 AM To: 'Mike K2MK'; elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Which of these would make the best power supply for the K3(S)? Astron is another power supply that runs on the "edge". People that use them at repeater sites on mountains derate them 50% plus so they do not have to run to the mountain and replace power supplies. A RS-35M in a controlled environment will do the job for a K3. I added a "hard" crowbar circuit to my Astron. The overvoltage scheme they use is not as robost as a hard crowbar. Jim W6AIM -----Original Message----- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Mike K2MK Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2015 6:06 AM To: elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Which of these would make the best power supply for the K3(S)? Hi Peter, I bought the Astron RS-35M for my $4000 K3 in 2008. I've never turned it off and I've never even given it a second thought. No fan, no RF noise, just reliable DC. 73, Mike K2MK Peter Pauly wrote > I'm looking at the Meanwell power supplies because they are cheap and > seem to be well regarded. I've come up with these two choices, feel > free to give more suggestions of other models. I've seen talk on this > reflector of supplying more than 13.8V to the K3S so that's why I'm > looking at the 15V model. > > 12V Model: Meanwell NES-350-12 > Voltage range 10-13.5V > 29A > > > 15V Model: Meanwell NES-350-15 > Voltage range 13.5-18V > 23.2A > > > The 15 volt model would seem to be the obvious choice, except that it > doesn't supply the recommended 25 amps. The K3S manual says 22 amps > typical though. > > Is there another model Meanwell I should be looking at that has better > protection or filtering? > > I've already got an Astron switching power supply, the Meanwell would > be a second alternative. -- View this message in context: http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/Which-of-these-would-make-the-best-powe r-supply-for-the-K3-S-tp7609685p7609688.html Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to jbol...@outlook.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to r...@elecraft.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to jbol...@outlook.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
