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Reviews For: Astron RS-35A

Category: Power Supplies

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Review Summary For : Astron RS-35A
Reviews: 103MSRP: 150.00
Description:
13.8 volt 25 amp continuous 35 amp peak rated DC 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
001034.8
W3IRE Rating: 2022-12-01
Works OK but not happy Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Bought this specifically to power my TS-890S. I have separate switching supplies on each of my radios. I wanted a linear supply for the Kenwood because they usually don't have internal noise. Unit work ok, but has a hum and a high pitch sound to it when it's on. It's not affecting the radio, but for the money I paid for this, it shouldn't be making noises. Have had a few astrons in the past and none of them has had a hum to them.
W8GTX Rating: 2022-01-16
28 years later, not one issue Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this new 28 years ago, and it has countless hours on it and just keeps chugging along with no hum. Probably time to change out the primary cap coming up on 30 years
KD0REQ Rating: 2022-01-12
used, cool, dependable Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
bought mine at a hamfest. being a careful sort, opened it up and checked it out. the filter cap maker went BK in 1993, so replaced the filter. put in a LED meter set and shunt, and probably good for the rest of my life.
K7HN Rating: 2022-01-12
Like a tank! Reliable and trouble free for me! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
After owning a few power supplies I finally moved to the Astron 35A. I’ve never had a single problem with it. It’s quiet, reliable and powers every item I need in my ham shack trouble free.

What more would you want out of a power supply?

Highly recommend!

Larry
de K7HN
WT8P Rating: 2020-05-12
Overkill for my needs Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this for a while, but the large footprint and transformer hum made it less desirable considering my KX3 ran well on a much smaller, quieter ProAudio 4A switching supply.

When I acquired a 100W amp, there was a more compelling use for a power supply of this capacity. Unfortunately, the first time I used it with the amp, the fuse blew. Apparently it was equipped with a 5A fuse (for a 35A supply?). It's easy enough to fix, but also a bit of a QA head-scratcher.

I've since acquired a switching supply that is more suitable for my meager power needs.
KT4WO Rating: 2020-02-14
The best! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
29 years running almost 24/7/365. What more can I say.
Will run HF and V/UHF TX(Packet) at same time.



22 years running 24/7/365(except power outages).
Had to replace the 723 VReg. after a near-by lightning
hit one time(under a $1 and is socketed..so easy)

Have one at VFD running 24/7/365 for 7 years now...no issues.

Yes...they are big and heavy...but can't be beat.

Trip - KT4WO
N3IG Rating: 2020-02-09
A Tank of a Supply Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This power supply has been turned off 4 times when moving to a new QTH in the last 10 years. Other than that it has been on 24/7 with no problems.
Two years ago I lost one leg of the 220 coming to the house and did not realize it for a couple of days. I thought maybe the supply was going out since it had started humming. Point is this power supply ran my radios for a week with less than 100 volts supplying it.
Built like a tank, hard to kill.
N4UE Rating: 2019-11-12
"HUM" Time Owned: more than 12 months.
As Bob Seger used to say..."Like a Rock...". I bought this jewel at a yard sale back around 1982. It has been installed at many QTHs and been modified by me, many times. I have added cooling fans, Volt and Amp Meters, remote voltage adjust, etc.
It has never complained. About 2 months ago, I was using it in parallel with a large deep-cycle Marine battery. My 2 Meter SS brick draws too many amps for the Astron. NO PROBLEM. Unfortunately, there was a fire down the street and my AC went out. This killed the 35A. However, there is a ton of great info at "repeater-builder.com" about Astrons. This failure is a common one using the external battery when the AC drops.
To make a LONG story short, I could not fix the P/S no matter what I did. I replaced every thing but the transformer and covers!
I had an issue with my VOM and the problem was two fold:
1. using transistors I bought off of ePay from China for cheap
2. all 4 of the Emitter resistors were open.

In desperation, I called Astron. Although he was a little bit difficult to understand, the Tech helped me find the trouble pretty quick. Yes, I did repair that VOM also!! ha ha

Neither of these are the fault of the P/S. It's now running with a set of HD transistors.

ron
N4UE

Hi Just wanted to address several reviews of this P/S and the 'metered' version, being reviewed as having 'hum'.
There are 2 types of 'hum', electrical and mechanical.
The electrical 'hum' is probably a dried out filter cap.
But in many cases (even here), the 'hum' I experienced was mechanical.
The transformers used in these power supplies is MASSIVE. As such, it can couple it's 60 Hz noise to the covers, or even the bottom cover if the p/s has been shipped without proper packing.
I remounted my transformer to the bottom cover, soundly. I even fabricated a new top cover (since my yard sale 'bargain' had already been 'modified').
I added some small 24VDC muffin fans to the heatsink area and even one to exhaust warm air out of the unit. When run on 12VDC, these fans are COMPLETELY silent.
The p/s runs at room temperature.

Don't let the reviewers complaints about 'hum' prevent you from getting one of the best p/s made. I put meters in mine for cheap.

I also have an Astron 70A model as a back-up.

If you ever have ANY concerns, the "repeater builder" website has answers for ANY question you will ever need to know about these. Simple, NO switching noise and my Astron powers my 7300, 7610 and TS-890 without a bit of strain.
DU7SJF Rating: 2019-06-23
Rock Solid Since 1993 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had the rs35A since 2010 and an rs20 since 1993. Both solid, not one problem with the design, For the rs20, perhaps in the 1994 time frame the unit would often shut down during transmission. I traced that to a bad RF grounding problem where the RF triggered a shut down at times. The problem went away after solving the grounding. Although I have had no problems over the years, this is a linear and I am beginning to wonder what might happen to my equipment if the supply failed and went out of regulation. I have seen repair videos where the full rail voltage was supplied to a transceiver when the SCR crowbar circuit failed and did not blow the fuse. Also, does the crowbar act quickly enough to prevent serious damage? Linears like this fail high but switchers "usually fail low into foldback (but not in rare cases where the PWM might lose supply voltage). I guess I will not worry about that as I know of not one actual case where an Astron failed at high voltage.
K4LSX Rating: 2019-04-29
Tip Top Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have two of them, going wicked strong for several years. One died recently. I replaced the bridge rectifiers and the regulator circuit board with very reasonably priced parts and up and going again! The help from Astron in obtaining the reg. board was terrific.