Posted: 1/12/2012 7:27:50 AM EDT
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I have a confession to make. I'm a wuss. I bought a power supply just because it doesn't have a fan, so I don't have to listen to it run. That is all.
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Quoted:
So instead you can listen to transformer hum  It would be a welcome change. You have no idea how loud my old power supply is, it's amazing. Even after it quiets down I can still hear it outside of the room. When it starts up it sounds like a rack mounted server. |
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[quote Love that KABONGGGG when I turn it on.[/quote]
I have had a RS-50M for about a hundred years. The KABONGGGG is great isn't it? Of course the inrush current is enough that, if I have any extra load on the circuit, it will snap the breaker. It could use a soft start, never have gotten around to figuring out how to implement one for it though. Then there is the thing about it weighing a ton. It is 30 years old, really. It does buzz some if any hardware is allowed to come loose, the meters are shot (stuck on 13.8V and 2A) and the neon pilot light barely flickers, but the unit has never failed to deliver clean power. It is in semi retirement now because I'm in supposedly temporary quarters with limited space, and for the last couple years I have been using the little Alinco switcher I bought for the occasion. I like it too, actually a lot. I haven't run any AM or data modes and if the fan has ever come on I haven't heard it. But the body of the unit is pretty solid and the fan is tiny, It couldn't be very loud. On the other hand, the FT-450 fan comes on the moment the rig is keyed, and it escalates from there. |
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Quoted:
I have a confession to make. I'm a wuss. I bought a power supply just because it doesn't have a fan, so I don't have to listen to it run. That is all. I don't blame you. That's why I put resistors in series with the fans in equipment and cut the red wire when I can get away w/ it not over heating. 
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Quoted:
Got a linear Astron myself. Love that KABONGGGG when I turn it on. Here is a fix for the inrush current issue. I've implemented it on my VM-35 and it works great. No more Kabongggg! |
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Here is a fix for the inrush current issue. I've implemented it on my VM-35 and it works great. No more Kabongggg!
Thanks for the link! |
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Linear supplies are heavier, larger, due to the necessarily large transformer and filter capacitors. But they are also RF quiet and relatively trouble-free. They will run hotter than a switching supply.
Switching supplies are much smaller, amazingly so for the amperage they can produce, run cool. But some may produce noise in the HF range. I've had no noise problem with the Samlex switching supplies, though with an Alinco DM-330MV supply (rated 32 Amps!) I could hear a whine. But that whine was easily tuned out using a knob on the front panel of the supply provided for that purpose. |