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Reviews For: Astron RS-20A

Category: Power Supplies

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Review Summary For : Astron RS-20A
Reviews: 57MSRP: 99.99
Description:
20A 13.8 volts power supply
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.astroncorp.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00574.6
RADIO_RANDY Rating: 2010-09-18
Possibly the Best power supply in the world! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned this model of supply since I was first licensed in 1981. I've used a number of Astron units, RS-35s, 12s, 7s, and even an RS-50M. Every one of them has been 99.8% reliable in my opinion.

The reason I only gave a 99.8% reliability number is due to the very infrequent habit an Astron has of killing its output after a brief power surge. This problem is easily corrected by powering down the supply for 60 seconds, then turning it back on.

Here are a couple hints when using these supplies. First, don't EVER replace the output transistors with 2N3055s. They will NOT work correctly and your regulation will suffer severely because of it. The circuit is simply not designed to drive these transistors. Second, NEVER replace a blown fuse with a much larger one. I repaired a supply that had blown the fuse following a thunderstorm. The owner replaced the 5 amp fuse with a 20 amp item. In doing so, he fried the crowbar circuit which was trying to protect his radio when the pass transistors shorted. Instead of spending $10 on parts, he spent $30 all because he didn't have a 75 cent fuse.

Finally, the Astron is the easiest power supply I have ever had to repair. You can keep your Pyramids and such. Hopefully yours won't catch fire as did one belonging to a fellow ham I knew. After that, she bought an Astron.
WA8MEA Rating: 2009-04-21
Sent it back.... Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hummed worse than an apple tree full of hummingbirds! Irritating as heck. Sent it back to AES. They graciously replaced it with one that hummed TWICE AS BAD!

Two strikes and your out in my book. Never again. Pyramids and Tripp-Lites have been my staple for DECADES. No problems....

WB7TXG Rating: 2009-01-24
Still Works FB Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this new back in 1981 or so.. I think. It has been turned on pretty much non stop for almost 30 years. I have never had an issue with this power supply and it just keeps ticking adn ticking.

I did finally buy a powper supply break out strip with multiple points of connection and also has a meter and a red LED light so that I can see that the power supply is working.

I have ran sever HF rigs that needed 12vdc with no issues. Last rig ran on it was an Icom 706 and the rig ran fine, full power and no drop in supplied power to all the other 12vdc acessories I have in the shack.

Would I buy it again? Yes, without question. I figure over 30 + years is proof enough.
AB4ZT Rating: 2009-01-18
A Real Workhorse Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Nearly 20 years of service and never a single problem. A very solid piece of equipment.
K8DK Rating: 2008-05-18
Excellent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Purchased 35M in 1981 and it has been on almost continuous. Great power suppply.
WB2FTX Rating: 2008-05-18
Not very impressed Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am going to go against most of the reviews for this power supply... I have had it three months (purchased new from HRO) in continous operation powering my Kenwood TS-450S which is running 24/7 as a Pactor MBO... It ran fine until last week when I came into the shack and found both the radio and the power supply off. First thing I did was to check the fuse... Where is it? Had to open it up to find it.. Fuse blown. Put in another fuse, blew again.. Disconnected the transformer secondaries from the bridge rectifier. Fuse held.... Diodes in the two bridges shorted out..They are using 2 25 amp bridges wired in parallel with no equalization between them... Unless they are evenly matched one is going to handle most of the load while the other one just loafs along..Found that this is a very common failure mode in Astron power supplies and could be easily cured with a component rated for this service rather than putting two together.. I have ordered a grossly overrated 1000 v PIV bridge rated at 50 amp to replace these and hope that is the end of the problem... No warning of failure and only after 3 months of service... The only reason I will keep it is that it is probably better than most of the power power supplies available and that switching supplies introduced a lot of RF hash all across the HF spectrum
W4RIG Rating: 2007-08-13
Excellent Service for over 9 years Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My Astron RS-20A has been a reliable source of 13.5 V DC power for over 9 years in intermittant (not constant) service. I would recommend this power supply for any base operation for mobile rigs of various types. It is a heavyweight item and probably not highly desirable for back packing or portable use unless you don't have far to lug your equipment and have a reliable source of 110 V AC power.
KE7DZS Rating: 2007-08-06
Will it ever die? Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Mine has been on since 1985 and It works as expected. It is well made and dependable. You can't go wrong with the Astron RS-20A.
PU2TYB Rating: 2007-07-17
EXCELLENT! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this power supply since 1996 and besides the front led not working which I don't care it still works great.
N6NKN Rating: 2007-04-06
I Forget Its There. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I guess that my forgetfullness stems from the fact that I have had it for 10 years, and it has never caused me any problems. I am currently using it to power one automatic tuner, two automatic coax switches, an SWR/Power meter, two scanners, an Icom CT-17 and an Icom IC-28A. Recently the Icom switching power supply for my venerable IC-735 developed a terminal regulation failure. My 735 is now running proudly again thanks to a shiny new Astron RS-35M.

If I ever need another power supply, you can bet it will be an Astron.