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Reviews For: Astron RS-35M

Category: Power Supplies

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Review Summary For : Astron RS-35M
Reviews: 174MSRP: 169.95
Description:
Astron 35 amp (ICS), 25 amp (continuous) linear regulated power supply.
Product is in production
More Info: https://www.astroncorp.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001744.6
N3TU Rating: 2010-03-05
Works Great Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had mine for about three weeks. Nice and quiet, no hum and the meters are easy to read. There is a very slight dim of the lights when talking but at this time, I wouldn't call it a problem. This power supply is drawing less amps than my old Daiwa P305 which I got back in the early 90's. They don't make a continuous power supply today, so I decided to get this Astron. I really like it so far.
K4TCW Rating: 2010-01-31
Good Power Supply Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had mine for about 3 years. Works first time, every time. No hum in mine. Lights went out in one of the meters. Online now looking for replacement lamps. Otherwise, not one complaint.
N9CAR Rating: 2010-01-05
Great and No Noise! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Like WA4VBC in the previous review, I have also had several Astrons over the years, from 20 to 50 amps, with no problems at all...except the buzz.
But unlike him I did find a simple solution to my particular supply.
I moved the supply one day and as I lifted up on the front lip the buzz went away!
So I simply put a plastic tie under the lip and the problem went away and never returned.
Hope this works for others out there because it was very annoying!
WA4VBC Rating: 2010-01-05
Good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have several of the Astron supplies and never had a problem with any of them. Also a good number were used at work and they were very reliable. My only complaint is the "buzz" that comes from the case of the unit vibrating. I have never found a good way to stop this noise.
K1FPV Rating: 2009-12-23
Solid Performer! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've owned my RS-35M supply now for a little over a year. I also have 2 RS-35's without the meter. All 3 work non-stop! Like a Energizer Bunny, they just keep working, working and working.

Astron has a dynamite supply! You can't go wrong. If I needed more power, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another.
N8KZH Rating: 2009-12-23
Not Happy Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I purchased the Astron RS35m new in 2008.It quit working in less than a year of very light duty use,powering my IC 746 used for casual cw. The amp meter started jumping all over scale with keydown and very noticable AC hum on my transmitted cw signal. I replaced it with a new Anlinco DM340mv ,and all is well in ham radio world once again.
N4LQ Rating: 2009-12-20
Robust but Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Fed up with fan noise from switchers (Samlex and MFJ), I decided to go back to the old faithful Linear supply. I found a good deal at Gigaparts.
I received the RS35m yesterday, plugged it in and immediately noticed that the voltmeter was pegged at 15v however a quick check showed the voltage was really 13.8v. When Keying the transmitter, the meter lights would blink wildly. I decided to check inside and be sure the solder connections were good.
I discovered that the meter lights were directly wired to the unregulated side of the supply which obviously caused the blinking. I simply moved the + meter light wire directly to the 13.8v output. The meter is a bit dimmer but no longer blinks and the bulbs will no doubt last much longer. The bulbs are inside each meter and I see no way of changing them!
Some sloppy construction is evident. The meter adjust pots hand on the backs of the meters by a solder joint and the feed wire dangles it's way over to the power out connectors. I adjusted the V pot for correct voltage.
The regulated voltage cables terminate with crimp lugs with worry me so I soldered them to the wire.
While I had it open, I checked all the transistor solder joints and they looked ok but not exactly professional.
Astron makes one of the last linear supplies. it's a shame they aren't built a bit better inside but it's about all you can get that DOES NOT HAVE A FAN.
Now I have a nice QUIET supply!
N5GAM Rating: 2009-12-12
Meter Illumination Problem Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Mine works fine (disregarding the loud "clunk" on power-up) except the lamp in the ammeter burned out shortly after the warranty expired. It is not servicable thus the meter has to be replaced. Astron is waay too proud of the replacement part.
K0UA Rating: 2009-12-12
check solder joints Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had the exact same problem with the meter current going up and down. and finally noticed my rig had a lot of transmit distortion due to low voltage on current peaks.. it was also a bad solder joint on one of the pass transistors. I resoldered a lot of questionable looking joints and the thing works perfectly now. Contruction of the product is poor inside. When repaired, the product works very well. I went ahead and put some 18volt muffing fans on top of the heatsink anyway to keep it a little cooler during RTTY transmissions. Good product, just needs some work.
73
Jim
K0UA
AA0N Rating: 2009-12-12
Poor solder connection Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Wrote an earlier review on the Astron 35m
meter accuracy. Volt meter was off but may have
to correct my accessment of the ammeter..
After calibrateing the meter against one of known
accuracy , noticed it would still vary from time to time.. sometimes showing 12 amps, other times, 25 amps for the same power level..
Took the cover off again...seemed to be fine for a while and then started to get intermittent current readings again..
To make a long story short , it was a poor solder connection on one of the pass transistor base inputs, thus the current variation.. when the meter read high amperage, the transistor was "out of the circuit" and ran very cool compared to the other 3 pass transistors.. hate to think what would have happened had i just ignored it and just passed it off as a bad meter... might have eventually smoked the thing as the 3 "good" transistors were takeing up the slack for the bad one..
Over all the soldering looks good except for the pass transistor soccets.. if this is the latest trend with them, it might be a good idea to check the new ones out and resolder the connections.