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Reviews For: Astron SS-30/M

Category: Power Supplies

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Review Summary For : Astron SS-30/M
Reviews: 98MSRP: 120 to $160
Description:
30 Amp Switching Power Supply (SS-30M with meters) (SS-30 no meters)
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.astroncorp.com/switching-desktop
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00984
N4APG Rating: 2016-03-30
Excellent performance Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used my Astron SS-30M power supply for years powering my HF radios. The performance in terms of tight voltage regulation, filtering and delivery of current on demand has been excellent.

The SS-30M power supply is small and efficient. I would not hesitate to buy another Astron DC power supply.
K4KRW Rating: 2016-03-25
Added PowerPoles - Now is perfect Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Mine is the version with no meters and was bought in 2005. The supply is great other than the connectors on the back. It really should have something better like binding posts or PowerPoles.

After noticing a 2 Volt drop in my power cabling when transmitting, I decided I'd had enough and modified the supply to have 4 sets of PowerPoles on the back. I followed the instructions detailed here:
http://www.repeater-builder.com/astron/ss30-powerpoles.html.

I gained an entire volt back of that drop just by switching to Powerpoles. Then I rebuilt the power cable for my KXPA100 amp using 10 gauge wire. Now the total drop is about 3 tenths of a volt when running 100 watts.

The power supply itself has been rock solid. I don't hear any noise from it in my receiver. It is extremely well regulated.

Now that I have 4 sets of connections on the back it is perfect. 1 goes to my KX3. 1 goes to my KXPA100, 1 goes to everything else. And 1 is free for whatever. It is a shame they don't come this way from the factory.
ZL3NB Rating: 2016-02-26
Older models better Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The first SS30M I purchased in 2004 is excellent with no noise whatsoever. It is still in daily use with the TS590S. Brought another SS30M in 2012 with size wise was smaller in height and with lighted meters. I then started to notice EMI noise and thought at first it was coming from some other local source till I realize it was the new SS30M producing it. Contacted Astron asking what happen in the design between 2004 and now to cause the problem...Quite honestly they could not be bothered with me. Upon opening up both new and old meters you could see the changes in quality and lack of filtering.
I disconnected the lighted meters for one which helped then added another torroid on the DC output side. Its pretty quiet now.
But the question remains is why Astron denied any changes when it was evident there has been.
Up until the newer one I was really pleased with the 2004 model and highly recommended this model to many other local hams. Maybe Astron has taken heed to complaints and have fixed the problem?
Its a 5 for the 2004 model and 3 for the 2012 model till I made the changes so both now a 5.
AD5HD Rating: 2015-07-07
Noise free Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Needed to replace an aging RS-20M and this supply fit the bill to save some space as well. The original QST review showed it to be the least noisy at the time and online research indicated it once had a problem with radiated noise due to the way the meter lamps were powered. Apparently this problem has been eliminated since the K2 is immediately adjacent and is free of significant birdies. Some very low level ones can be heard here and there but they're at the noise floor and have no effect on hearing signals. Regulation is excellent and the output voltage adjustment on the side is a nice improvement over the older RS-20M. The connectors on the back panel were annoying at first but they're actually vastly better than the studs on the RS-20M. Using 10ga zip cord from Powerwerx to make a short stub to 45A terminals in Power Pole housings allows connection to a Powerwerx PD-4 in my installation. And the 10ga wire fits perfectly in the supply's connectors, no problems, no risk of wrenching them loose and then having to open up the supply and fix it, over and over again. And replacing all the ring terminals and heat shrink to get three feeds on the RS-20M terminals with three sets of Anderson Power Poles suddenly made the wiring harness so much easier to mess with. Now it's cleanly dressed without stress and strain or risks of shorting anything to the terminals. Great solution although at first glance they look like a bad solution. Nicely engineered supply that works perfectly, worth the money and worth the trouble to get over the trouble with the connectors.
W0LD Rating: 2015-05-31
Good Power Supply BAD Connectors Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The power supply work fine, the connectors are TERRIBLE! Why couldn't Astron put nut terminals on the back of the supply? I have had nothing but trouble with these cheap connectors.
KR4DA Rating: 2015-04-17
FWIW Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have a SS30 that would not power on. SO I bought a SS30M. I hate the connectors on the back.
I sent the SS30 to Astron for repair. It comes back in a very un professional condition. NO SCREWS holding the cover on. Just floating in the
box on top of the main chassis. A screw missing that holds the fan to the body. In bottom of box was a nut but no screw or lock washer. Note from Astron no parts used. Yes stuff happens...but geeees. I have screws I can fix all this. BUT the lousy back connector on the SS30M who thought of
that.Must be some California safety requirement..stupid for most users.
N7JPF Rating: 2014-04-01
nice unit Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Like others before me, I don't care much for the connectors on the back, but they work. My unit is quiet. I have not had any issues with noise of hash. I bout the PS new last month, and am very happy with it, driving my Icom-IC-746.
WB8VLC Rating: 2014-02-20
too much noise, looses regulation Time Owned: more than 12 months.

Too much noise across the upper HF and VHF low range, 6 meters CW and SSB between 50.0 to ~ 50.5 is useless as is 10 meters especially around 29.580 to 29.615 where the supply has a wandering spur that the squelch will not quiet.


Also when operating at any power level between QRP up to 100 watts, with 3 different radios, the supply starts to sag from 13.8 to 12.95 volts volts and this is in a dummy load.

I tried a Filter on the Dc output, tried some larger gage and shorter length 10 gage wire, new fuses, Temporarily bypassed the fuses, but nothing would fix the voltage sag nor the noise issues.

The screw terminals on the back are total junk and stripped out. The supply is now sitting on my work bench where I'm looking at the voltage sag and noise issues as it is out of the warranty period.

I recently replaced the junk Astron switcher with a 30 year old, Freebee, 24 volt GE supply and freebee 24 volt to 13 volt 50 amp inverter which is excellent.

I now have no noise with the GE/Inverter setup and the new system, minus the Astron, powers a 100 watt radio with a 700 watt home brew amplifier.

If your into weak signal DX work don't buy this piece of junk.

I'm happy now without the Astron on the radio bench.
K7NSW Rating: 2013-12-24
Reluctant Endorsement Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Been a ham on CW for 52 years and always used transformer based power supplies. No problems - reliable. My three stand alone supplies are Astron. I object to switching supplies. I read an article in QST quite a while back comparing different brands. The article happily reported that the noise generated by these supplies typically falls in the hf bands and has been a problem in the past.But now the designers have fixed it so that noise falls outside the ham bands, so no problem. Therein is my issue. The FCC rules say we are to pursue high engineering practices in the development of the radio art. How can using these kind of supplies be justified? Simply because we can dump our noise on some other radio service? The explanations seems to be that the noise we are causing is many db down so no problem. But we re still making noise. IMHO that is not living up to the FCC rules, even if the Commission allows it.

Anyway, I decided to try one on a trip where I heavy supply would not be a good idea. So I bought this one. Great product! Does exactly what I want it to do and as advertised.

Like I said, I still object to these things. But if you are going to get one, this is a good one.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by K7NSW on 2013-11-24

Bought it new at HRO Phoenix. Their staff knows ham radio and the stuff they sell. Paid $150 plus state sales tax. Hanging around the HRO store for a while was worth the tax I paid. Mint condition out of the box. Shook it - no loose parts. I bought the SS- 30 MM. The two analog meters are big and easy to read. The entire unit is good looking. Fired it up and put my Fluke multimeter on it: 14.07 vdc. No smoke or odors when I turned it on. On side of unit is a voltage adjustment pot. Took me less than 30 seconds to set the voltage at 13.8 vdc. Attached it to my TenTec Omni 7. Worked fine. No birdies or other noise so far. Astron does not supply a schematic diagram with this power supply. They do with their analog supplies. The absence of a schematic is a big deal with me but not a show stopper. So far I am satisfied with the unit. The purchasing experience at HRO was a good one.
W7WET Rating: 2012-10-06
Perfect Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have been using this power supply for about 6 months now. It has preformed flawlessly. It is quiet and I have not noticed any noise induced into my radio at all. I rarely hear the fan come on and when it does it is not objectionable. It is a great power supply for my ICOM 7410.