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Reviews For: Astron SS-50/M Switching Pwr Supply

Category: Power Supplies

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Review Summary For : Astron SS-50/M Switching Pwr Supply
Reviews: 18MSRP: 199.95 (meters)/189.95
Description:
AC operated (115 to 220VAC (auto selection); 50/60 Hz) switching power supply (+13.8V output; adj +/- 1 Volt). Output current (ICS) 50A peak - 40A continuous. Over-Voltage protected, output current limited, internal fuse, over-temp shutdown. EMI filtered output.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.astroncorp.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00182.9
VE3SU Rating: 2022-01-26
great Power Supply Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
further to my previous review. My SS-50 has the didgital display. Very nice. Absolutely no noise from either the power supply or fan. Great product from Astron. Purchased from DX Engineering. Great service from DX Engineering.
KA4KOE Rating: 2021-09-10
Amazing out of the box. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just acquired this power supply from DX Engineering after my 1985 Astron RS35M went tango united; I will repair this later as I have zero free time right now. The SS50M weighs 5 lbs compared to the 27 pound -35M. Amazed by the compactness and the unit appears to be RF quiet.

Addendum: fan appears to be very quiet.

Fleep
K1IW Rating: 2020-12-30
Solid Design Time Owned: more than 12 months.
We replaced the linear power supplies at a half-dozen of of our club's repeater sites. Electricity bills are now 1/3 what they used to be. Supplies are rock solid. Yes, the fan has no thermal switch, so it runs continuously, and noise is a bit much, but at a repeater site we don't really care. We did have one supply fail due to an external issue. Astron repaired it quickly for $55.
VE7REN Rating: 2020-12-02
solid performer,BUT you have to do the fan replacement Time Owned: more than 12 months.
5 year update-2020. this supply has never failed me, runs almost silent sits ontop my shack shelf. some rfi spikes can be seen on band scope,only on 80 meter.noticable from 3650-3860 using the icom 7300,no other bands effected. still a solid supply. it compares to my samlex 1235 for fan loudness. when the fan comes on the samlex,it is auditable,as many fan cooled supplies are! regardless of the negative reviews this supply has gotten,ide buy again. more energy efficient and less footprint and money then the linear supply.

ive owned this supply since 2015,and have now replaced the original fan with a stealth brand for 8 dollars from amazon.. originally I had added a resistor to the orig fan,as you can read in my previous reviews below.. it worked,but now with the new fan....it is very quiet... I love the output on this unit,and the fan is much better than the stock.. Astron should address the crappy fan they use.. overall I cannot complain for a 8 dollar part!

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Earlier 5-star review posted by VE7REN on 2015-12-27

after runnin this power supply now for a couple weeks,im happy.. I did cut the positive wire under the cover and soldered a resistor in line to run the fan at 60%..this quietened the fan a lot and makes it more appealing.. I use 2 hf rigs,2 mobile 2 meter radios and many lights on tuners,meters,etc.. I suck maybe 25 amps at most and the unit barely feels luke warm...time will tell the longevity of the switcher vs my ol rs35a from 2000..
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Earlier 4-star review posted by VE7REN on 2015-12-16

this supply powers my whole shack and works well doing it.. I haven't found any birdies or anything unusual compared to my rs35 astron.. the only complaint I have is the fan is on all the time,and takes some getting used too.my Jetstream jtps28 switcher was a lot quieter..but you could still hear the fan. ill leave it in the shack for a month or so and see how I feel at that point.. overall a nice supply.
KC2RGW Rating: 2020-09-17
Don't do it, get a linear supply Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
If you are a low band operator, do not buy this supply.

I decided to give it a go due to the small size and light weight. I have an older 20A supply suitable for a small mobile rig that always seemed to work without trouble. It is indeed small and very light weight.

It is LOUD, the fans run all the time. I have it down on the floor and it's still way too loud.

It has RF spurs everywhere and they move around. Turn on another rig, increase the load and they shift again. It is by far one of the worst RFI emitters in my house...the very power supply I use on my rigs. It is an abomination that they sell this supply for use on HF or for any use with such horrible emissions.

It has spurs on 80m the entire band at 150 Hz spacing and then secondary lighter ones 75Hz between each of those. It makes strong AM broadcast signals almost unreadable in my shack as well.

I'm going back to a linear supply, this was a failed experiment. Buyer beware.
KO1C Rating: 2020-08-06
Junk Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this switching power supply because it a:) Was from a WELL known and trusted company; & b:) I had used switchers from another company with no problems; and c:) I really at the time did not have the room for an appropriate linear power supply.

First problem -- the fan is simply ridiculously LOUD and it runs OFTEN, even under a light load.

Second problem -- Birdies all over the place, especially on the low bands with 80 meters being the worst. The birdies make very large portions of the 80 meter band simply unusable, 40 and 160 meters to a lesser extent.

I pulled this excuse for a power supply offline and installed a switching power supply from a company whose brand I never had problems with, the birdies are now all gone.

This thing is too big to be a good paperweight, save yourself the trouble and buy either a linear power supply or another brand.

David KO1C
AC7FD Rating: 2020-05-22
Great powersupply, lousy thermal design ==> noisy Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This power supply is rock solid. I use it for a transistor amplifier. It runs on average with 35A load. I use a 1 Farad capacitor to buffer SSB spikes up to 55A.
The regulation is solid....all star maximum rating.
BUT...the thermal design is not optimized for usage in a ham shack. It is super noisy and annoying. I replaced the horrible stock fan with a premium low noise fan with just slightly lower airflow. This improved it a lot. But it's still very lout, the reason is the thermal design. It's good to keep it cool but not to keep it quiet. It's not the fan that's noisy now, it's the air flowing through the side panels and internal components. You can test it by covering the slots with your hands.
This would be a solid 5 Star review but this little turbine isn't a good choice for a ham shack.
WA1EIG Rating: 2020-03-29
Fan is horribly noisy. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I paired this power supply with my Icom 7300 and the noise from the fan has been driving me crazy. I will probably look for something else which is a shame because it was not inexpensive. By comparison, the fan on my Ameritron AL80B is whisper quiet!
KX2V Rating: 2019-05-13
WAY to noisy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Very simple..
This is the loudest Power supply I have ever heard.
I hooked it up.. Pressed the foot switch.. Heard the roar of the fan & put it back in the box.
VERY disappointed with this thing.
AWFUL!!
S58DX Rating: 2019-04-09
Good power supply needs help Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought power supply from Dxengineering.Excellent customer service...Power supply itself is used with MFJ 1118 distribution DC strip in my shack. Awfull noise was coming from original fan..Replaced the original with Noctua NF-A6x25 Flx..Difference is remarkable..With low noise adapter operation is inaudible..To sum it up, have spend additonal 120,00 Euro to have it to my needs...Do not want to be harsh on Astron, but guys you should do better...
Lack of DC distribution contacts and fan noise is main obstacle..

Nermin S58DX