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Reviews For: Radio Shack Switching 13.8 Volt 25 Amp Supply

Category: Power Supplies

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Review Summary For : Radio Shack Switching 13.8 Volt 25 Amp Supply
Reviews: 60MSRP: 110 on sale 60
Description:
Compact , lightweight 13.8 Volt 25 Amp Power Supply.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.radioshack.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00603.9
KE4IZA Rating: 2005-03-13
NO RFI OF ANY KIND Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I decided to give my Radio Shack 25A power supply a test. I have my Yaesu FT-897 sitting on top of the power supply. It has been this way for almost 2 months now. I hear ZERO RFI. In fact the soft noise of the fan is all the noise there is, period. Excellent power supply. I also have another one of these power supplies as a bench supply. Also no noise.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by KE4IZA on 2005-01-01

I have had my Radio Shack Switching 13.8 Volt 25 Amp Supply for about a month and a half now. NO RFI of any kind. Maintains a steady 13.8 to 14.0 volts. Fan noise? My computer fan is louder than the power supply fan, so I have no idea why people are complaining. After a while I do not hear either fan. Selective ignorance I guess. I can not find any reason to return the unit or bad mouth it. The $99.95 price tag is a bargain when one considers what other brands cost. Also this unit has binding post terminals. Many other name brand power supplies have cheap set screw terminals. Would I buy another? In a heart beat! I image if I erased the name Radio Shack from the case and printed Samlex or Icom there would be less complaints. Buy one and spend your savings on a wanted or needed option.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by KE4IZA on 2004-11-19

I had to return my new Astron RS-35M a few days after I got it. The magnetic field it generated played hell with my computer monitor and television even though it was several feet away. Made the picture dance. I bought the Radio Shack power supply a few days ago and it powers my Yaesu FT-897 with no trouble. I have experienced no RF hash on any bands. As far as the constant complaints about the fan noise, I dont see it. If I turn off everything and sit in a quiet room then yes I can hear the fan. In no way is it so loud it keeps me from watching TV or using my radio. Maybe I am more tolerant than others. Bottom line is I have a quiet, IMO, power supply and $$$ left over for other ham toys. I would recommend it.
YEPSURE Rating: 2005-02-01
Works perfectly in my shack Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased two of these power supplies a couple years ago and they have both performed wonderfully. One is used to power two Yaesu FT-2600 60-watt mobile radios. The other is used exclusively for my Kenwood TS-2000. I have read reports of those receiving noise and “hash” on HF due to this supply, but I operate very little HF so I can’t comment intelligently on that. However, I do operate a lot of 6-meter & 2-meter SSB and have not noticed any noise resulting from the power supply. It is true that you can hear the airflow from the fan on this supply. However, I have both supplies sitting under the main radio table, which greatly muffles the fan noise. Although I can hear it from both supplies, the noise is minor compared to the purpose of having the fans running in the first place. I would much rather hear a small amount of fan/air-flow noise and have the supply be properly cooled than the reverse effect, thus causing some potentially serious issues.

I purchased one of supplies when Radio Shack put it on sale for $59.95, which in my case is an excellent deal. But again you must bear in mind that I operate very little HF, so if this supply is responsible for generating noise that is realized in the HF range this could be an issue for you (seems to vary from one shack to another). However, I have read conflicting reports on this issue of switching power supplies. Some experience this issue while others do not. I personally have not experienced this problem in the limited HF operations I use. But in all my 6-meter/2-meter SSB operating I have not had the noise issue others have indicated.

The two supplies I purchased work fantastic in my applications, but I think everyone’s own experiences could be different depending on your own shack, installation, etc. But I happen to recommend this power supply nonetheless.
KC8YHK Rating: 2004-11-27
great power supply Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
picked up this power supply to replace an OLD gessy 20R power supply i was using. i have not had a single problem with it yet. i use it to power my UHF motorola Maxtrac and Icom 2100H.. as far as the fan noise, can i hear it? Yes i can. is it worth crying about? not at all, its quiet but you still know its there. i highly reccomend this power supply for the price. its small and lightweight. and NO RFI

going next week to get another one.
KC0BDW Rating: 2004-08-30
Great for what you paid for it Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had mine for almost 2 years now. I got it when they were on special plus my friend worked there so I got a little more off. I use to power my IC-718 and IC-28A, not at the same time.
I think that its a great power supply. I've never noticed any of the hash that some say that get from it. Yes the fan gets somewhat noisy but hey you'll know if the fan stops working. hihi
AD5EM Rating: 2004-08-30
Decent value Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought one at the Radio Shack outlet store in Ft. Worth, TX for $60. Used it for two years and it never missed a beat. It had a little more fan noise than my Astron switching supplies...but since I mount the power supply under the bench...it wasn't an issue. I listed mine on eBay and it sold for more than I paid for it...proving, once again, that eBay is a better place to SELL than to BUY anything. Anyway, it was a decent supply and I'd use one again.
WN3R Rating: 2004-07-20
RF stops it Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I use these units to power VHF and UHF commerical radios. The power supply seemed like the perfect place for the mag mount antenna. Press the mic button and poof - no power. Too much RF stops this puppy. No permanent damage - easy to reset. I have five and each is easily worth 60 bucks.
WPE9JRL Rating: 2004-07-20
You Get What You Pay For On This One! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a good, cheap supply but not perfect.

About the "fan noise": It is my conclusion that the fan is absolutely quiet....the "noise" is generated by the high-speed airflow going thru the cabinet holes. Yes, you need this type of airflow (high-speed) to keep this switcher alive and well. The noise is not objectionable considering the amount of airflow going thru the cheap internal components (most switchers are designed in the same manner). The air flow is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY...the noise is a byproduct of the cheasy design. Live with it!

Internally gernerated RF hash and noise? Show me a switcher that is 100% immune from this....hard to find one. This RadShack unit has a fair amount of hash generated on almost all frequencies. Folks....does the Shack advertise this supply as a matching power supply for your Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood?.....The answer: "NO". Please remember that this is a cheap unit....I bought mine for $60 brand new. Compare this to a linear supply costing about 40-60 dollars more. Of course a linear supply will be quiet....DUGH! RF hash: GET OVER IT, ALREADY!

Bottom line on this one: One must consider that a cheap switching supply will have certain trade-offs. In this case it is a low-cost lightweight unit great for portable work. It does the job when I want to take the rig on the road and don't want to pack a 40-pound Astron or a boat battery. If you need a quiet, reliable supply for permanant home-station use and need to hear weak signals that are not buried in birdies: DON'T buy this power supply....SPEND MORE MONEY FOR A BETTER ONE (ASTRON, etc.)....you know, take one less trip to the Indian Casino or save more of your next SSI/Social Security check!

You get what you pay for!
WIRELESS Rating: 2004-07-18
Excellent value Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have 2 of these supplies and they work well. They are compact and light. After reading the other "reviews" which sound more like complaints, I have concluded these reviews should be shut down because of the rediculous nonsense written here. Slowing down the fans that are trying to cool high density electronics may result in total failure. Fan failure is the number one cause of total failure in switching supplies. The airflow is absolutely necessary to cool the rest of the product. Slowing down the fan IS NOT A FIX, IT IS STUPID. If the fan is defective then the solution is to get another product with normal fan noise. I hope the contributors in this section don't work in the design or service industry where I might take something in for repair.
W3SWL Rating: 2004-07-18
OK, but failed after 3 days Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I needed a supply for my new IC-718, and the local Shack had these in stock, so I figured I would take a chance and try it out.

The first thing I noticed that I didn't like was the loud fan noise (audible around the entire house during the quiet evening hours!), but did read about the fix here, so figured I would add the resistor once it was past the 30-day return period.

The next thing that I did not like was the RF hash it created on the lower bands. Below 2 MHz I heard definite S-9+ noise, including blanking out entire MW frequencies. Since I am also an active SWL as well as a ham, and have spent countless hours reducing RF in my house, this was a definite negative.

The final straw was that, on the third day, it refused to power up. The power light would come on momentarily, then go out, when the switch was turned on. Repeated attempts, and finally it stayed on and the supply worked after that. Not a good sign.

Back it goes to the Shack, and an Astron linear is on order. Too bad, it was small and light weight!
LNXAUTHOR Rating: 2003-12-16
An OEM'd Samlex 1223 Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
kinda funny how this product, which is a re-badged Samlex 1223, gets a lower product rating in eham's reviews than the exact same unit badged and reviewed as a Samlex product!

and yes, i had to do the fan mod... i used a 62 Ohm resistor (couldn't find a 47 one on any of the junk boards i keep for parts)... the tiny resistor was just the ticket to provide adequate airflow with lower RPMs... there is a slight delay (half second) before spinup (and power) after toggling the power on...

the build on the board looks pretty clean, with no sloppy work, a good indication of manufacturing, design and QC (i shudder to think what this PS would look like if it had been manufactured under contract by a certain company with three initials)

:-)

btw, the fan in my unit was a frameless Sunon, highly regarded by small form-factor PC users (5V versions are used to replace PS fans in PCs such as Shuttle SV24s or SV25s)...

this PS is pretty small and unobtrusive - and now it runs silently...