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Reviews For: Pyramid PS-53KX Power Supply

Category: Power Supplies

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Review Summary For : Pyramid PS-53KX Power Supply
Reviews: 14MSRP: 257.00
Description:
53 amps peak, 12-15 VDC power supply w/thermal and overvoltage protection.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00142.1
N8EKT Rating: 2005-04-04
NOT MADE WELL Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought one of these because it was a few dollars less than the Astron.
BIG MISTAKE!
It failed and caused damage to my repeater system that resulted in a costly repair.
I replaced it with a Astron and have had no problems since.
K0EED Rating: 2005-02-28
Junk Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Bought one of these brand new (not refurbished), hardly used it and had no load on it to speak of (25 watts). Within 3 months of purchase its putting out almost 20 volts. Nice way to ruin equipment. If your thinking about buying one don't waste your time or money, go with either an Astron or some other supply. I wouldnt wish this on my worst enemy. There's a reason they sell so cheap, you get what you pay for. Actually in this case I didn't even get that!
KG6POG Rating: 2005-02-19
PS-52KX Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I use this power supply to run my Kenwood TS 480HX, and it does a fine job. No RF and powers the 200-watt radio without skipping a beat. I know I would probably be better off with a larger power supply, but this has done the trick without any problems for several months now and the only complaint is once in awhile the fan is a little noisy on start up.
The power supply is actually rated at 40 amp's continuous and 50 amps surge, so I'm not sure where they came up with the PS 52KX title for it. But the TS 480HX draws 41 amps on high power on FM CW and FSK, and so far it has done a fine job, never showing any signs of stress at all.
The reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 is because they give you the impression you’re buying a more powerful power supply.
KE4MOB Rating: 2003-09-25
Seen better....but seen much worse, too. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Ok, so it's not an Astron. I just spent the better part of a week rebuilding one of these due to a surge on the mains. If you've ever worked on a power supply before, you're probably well acquainted with what's inside of this supply. 5 filter caps (25VDC rating--kinda low), LM723 voltage regulator, TIP41C driver, 16VDC Zener coupled to the gate of an SCR and 8 2N3771 pass transistors.

It's a good power supply with nice metering. Just remember, it's 53 amps peak. One look inside will convince you that whoever slapped the 53 amp label on it was on drugs at the time.

If you have trouble however, forget about Pyramid providing technical support. It took me the better part of a month to round up schematics for the thing...finally found them at a CB website. Pyramid never answered any of my emails.

FYI...here's the schematic:

http://www.cbtricks.com/miscellanous/pyramid/ps-52kx/pyramid_ps-52kx_om.pdf