IOTA Power Supply

http://www.solar-electric.com/dls-30.html

Has anyone on the Island heard of or have any experience with this brand? I'm looking at power supplies and this one looks right for the price. I don't really need any fancy gauges or whatnot for starters. I see the power output is a bit below the 13.9v usually used for mobile HF/V/UHF ear. Don't think that would be much of a huge matter for me. I plan on using it to power an ICOM IC-706mkiig directly and eventually using it to power and maintain a battery backup system. I've been looking at other supplys like Astron MFJ(oke) and Pyramid. They are a bit more pricey but not by much. Anyone ever use this or can you give a recommendation for a 30A power supply?

Thanks

Brian/N2NKW

I've tried all kinds and brands, and keep going back to my Astrons. They may be a bit more for a new one than the one you posted, but it's well worth the difference, in my estimation. If you can hold out a bit, check the ham sites for a used Astron, or hamfests, or even Craigslist. The analog units a quite easy to repair should you have some kind of failure, or accidently short or overload it. There are a boatload floating around and are, in my opinion, the gold standard of power supplies for ham radio. If you are somewhat handy, one that is not function that you can fix should be very inexpensive. Try Google-ing Astron and you will find a wealth of info on care, feeding, and repair of them.

I had one of these but not this brand. They are designed to keep the "Back-up" battery on RVs topped up when connected to "Shore Power". I used mine for a couple of years and it worked great. No RF hash. They are a switcher. Mine ran my station and kept 2 deep cycle marine batteries topped up.

This one is tiny, for $50 more you can get 75A.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by K7SGJ

I've tried all kinds and brands, and keep going back to my Astrons.

---

Yep. You can bet your Astron.

Just bought the 30A version from Solar-Electric. Have never purchased from them before either so I'll let u know how it went. (recieved a PDF invoice from them as I type this. Quick service!) Shipping via UPS ground is $18. USPS was $21...lol never thought id see UPS cheaper then the postal service.

I figured I would go with the 30a version as I dont have a huge rig or any other stuff to run. It should power my 706 nicely. Plus im not too confident in my homes electrical service. Most of the plugs in the house are only 2 prong outlets. Not 3 prong which makes me a but nervous sometimes. I have 3 prong in the kitchen and garage but not in the living room or master bedroom, one of which is where the shack will be. Not sure yet.

As I stated before, it will also be keeping a charge on my batteries once I purchase some and set up a backup service.

Next thing I have to do is hook the rig up to see if it even works. Last time it was powered up was in '07 or '08 during field day. Its been sitting in a box in the garage since then along with my old High Sierra 1800 pro. That needs fixing as well...lol. That hasnt been used since '04. I need to get the maintenance kit from high sierra and get it up and running.

Sooo much to do and so little $$$... frustrating!