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Reviews For: MFJ-4230MV

Category: Power Supplies

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Review Summary For : MFJ-4230MV
Reviews: 32MSRP: 89.95
Description:
30 amp switching power supply
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mfjenterprises.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
15323.9
W5YZR Rating: 2016-04-23
Good small Power supply Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is a 25 amp PS with a peak 30 amp. Small compact and works great. Good price for having an amp and voltage meter. Mine is made in TAIWAN.

AD4C2006 Rating: 2016-02-07
Good PS Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have owned one of these with the poles at rear and never had given me any bad isues, no harmonics in any band, no lack of regulation even at maximun load of 30A, been feeding a K3 with 100W, a DMR base radio with 45W and all shack accesories.
I think some guys has had bad luck with this PS, not me, in fact I am going to purchase one more.
I like how light and small it is.
For me its a good product from MFJ.

AD4C
KD0SGX Rating: 2015-12-04
Great,Clean, Very Elegant Product. High CQ on this one!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Love the power-poles on the rear, this is the smallest best looking power supply with 30amp max. After testing for about 1 month running a Mirage B1018G amplifier on it. The fan does not even come on its about 20am draw. Don't hesitate to pick this up, its only 5"x6"x2.5". Also has nice amber led back-light. I know a lot of people just hate MFJ in general so will give poor reviews and its also possible that some may have CQ issues, but all manufactures will have that. For the Value this one can't be beat. Time will also tell, who knows how long it will last, but I could say that about everything.
N6YFM Rating: 2015-09-29
Crap Junk Q/A Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Once again, MFJ represents "great potential, not realized". Good small, light weight, nice feature set, even looks good. But as many others have complained, MFJ does NOT have a quality control department, at least not one that should be paid more than 50 cents a day.

The first year I had this supply, I only used it for accessories, about 2 to 4 amperes. I recently got my general ticket, and this week hooked it to a rig. The moment I hit the transmit button, boom, fault light, voltage sags under 10 volts. Push the meter switch to AMPS instead of VOLTS, and the fault light instantly comes on. Even without increasing the load.

I call MFJ today. 3 weeks past one year. Tough luck. And it will cost more than the $89 I paid for it to fix it; Approx $50 labor, plus $13 return shipping, plus $15 for me to ship it to them, plus any parts (no estimate). Mighty Fine Junk!

I was about to toss it in the trash. Figured maybe I could scrape some parts out of it first. So I tore it down. Amazing how over-complicated this thing is; 1 main board, 4 sub-boards, 5 potentiometers that adjust god knows what, 5 or 6 inductors/transformers. I actually had my wire cutters in my hand (to start salvaging parts) when I noticed an especially odd looking solder connection on the main board (there were actually dozens of what I would consider BAD solder connections, the kind that would have gotten me fired when I worked in the defense industry, but this one was "special/spectacular").

I got out my jewelers loop to inspect, and sure enough it was a full blown solder bridge shorting to an adjacent trace. I cleaned it all up and now it works. Tested the supply under load, and it works OK now. I had to clean up a lot of other solder joints.

In Summary, the solder mess on my unit was causing voltage sag under load and loss of regulation. It just as easily have been what others have reported; shorts or opens that caused extreme over-voltage, with failure of the over-voltage protection circuit, and damage to their radios.

If you feel you really must buy "Mighty Fine Junk", I urge you to fully test, load, short, etc,
the power supply BEFORE you connect any expensive equipment to it.

MFJ management has apparently "Raced to the Bottom
" in cutting costs. I see NO evidence of quality inspection or quality control. Buyer beware.

Shame on you MFJ!
ND4MR Rating: 2015-03-15
a product endorsement Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This small-size '4230 has both my HF rig and 2 meter rigs connected to it. Since there is never an occasion when both are transmitting at the same time there is no possibility that I'll exceed the rated current capacity. The '4230 barely gets warm when transmitting on the 100 watt SSB rig, and although the fan occasionally comes on when I'm transmitting the sound level of the PS fan is very low and hardly noticeable. Unlike a previous posting, I have not detected any RF noise generated by this PS.
W0RUS Rating: 2015-01-14
Nice product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well I just received my MFJ-4230MV today from the major outlet. Sad, I ordered the MVP model with the power poles but received the MV without. Oh well, I'll live with that. Hooked up the Rigrunner 4008 to the new supply and fired up the power supply. I have to laugh, MFJ claims there is a "Fan ON LED" but I have yet to find it. However the meter is lighted which is a nice surprise since that is not mentioned. Dialed around all the HF bands on my 746 and have not heard any hash yet. The supply is sitting a couple of inches beside the 746. I purchased this supply strictly due to another MFJ supply I have that the fan runs constantly and is rather loud, and I was wanting to quiet things down. The 4230MV is doing just that, little fan run-up when you first power up, then goes off till needed. Quality of the cabinet is good, knob and switch feel good and solid. Overall my first impressions are good. Now time will tell.
N8OX Rating: 2014-11-23
Big Surprises Come In Small Packages Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Purchased a new Yaesu FT-857D from GigaParts. They had the MFJ-4230MVP on sale for $89 and since the radio was getting free shipping and based on the reviews here, I had one added to the order. It also prompted me to order some Anderson PowerPole terminals to take advantage of those connections (in the rear). I have been very pleased with the operation of this power supply. Small, quiet, efficient, and was purchased at a good price. My meter indicates very close to the voltage displayed on my digital voltmeter. Having an option to display voltage or amps is nice too. Binding posts on the front is also a plus. I have not observed any hash. You can get a bad apple from any orchard but this one seems to hit the mark for MFJ. I highly recommend this power supply. Lots to offer in a small package and very easy to transport if doing a little/lot of traveling. And those PowerPoles make connecting equipment a snap (yes, a pun was intended). I hope, if you try one of theses, you have the same luck with yours as I have had with mine.
K0FL Rating: 2014-10-28
Good-but... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought a new 4230 and was very disappointed. I had a hash 5kcs wide every 40kcs and constantly moving on 10 meters. I decided to email MFJ and see if they had answers. After two email exchanges I sent my 4230 to them and they replaced it. Was squared away in about 10 days total. The "new" new 4230 is much better. I'm happy with how quiet the supply is both hash on the bands and just sitting operating. This is a quiet supply. The fan blows a few seconds when you first turn it on just to let you know it's there. I have not heard the fan come on yet using it to operate my IC-7600 and other meters-tuners. Seems to be a stout and solid power supply. I give it a 4 due to my bad first supply. MFJ customer service was great.
WD8DBY Rating: 2014-10-26
Excellent Product Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This little power supply is running the new commercial Icom F8101. The fan kicks on when initially powering up the supply but then goes silent. The output adequately handles the F8101's 125W output. There is no hash or other interference. An excellent product, small physical footprint and good power out.
AE5J Rating: 2014-05-31
MFJ got it right Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been one of those who has had consistently good luck with MFJ products over the course of many years, but I must say the 4230MVP is a cut above past products in every respect.

I opted for the Anderson Power Pole option but I have yet to use them. I am using the front connectors. The supply is very quiet. No hash and no big fan noise. Everything I hoped for at a great price. It is indeed extremely small and feels very solid. Exactly what I needed.