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Reviews For: PowerWerx SS-30DV

Category: Power Supplies

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Review Summary For : PowerWerx SS-30DV
Reviews: 45MSRP: 129.95 (119.95 street price)
Description:
13.85 VDC, 25 amp continous, 30 amp surge power supply. 2 Anderson Powerpole connectors (front) and 1/4 inch binding posts (rear). Fan cooled.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.powerwerx.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00453.7
K6BRN Rating: 2021-11-02
Excellent Switcher with Fixable RFI Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The PowerWerx SS-30DV switching power supply runs about $110, is the size of a paperback book (very small), has dual Powerpole connectors and ¼ inch binding posts built in, weighs about 3 pounds, easily support a 21A/14V continuous load with periodic excursions to its CASE MARKED maximum 25A/14V rating where it gets pretty hot, despite it’s pretty quiet built-in cooling fan.

This compact, light, reliable and very handy power supply is easily adequate for a single 100W HF transceiver, even running FT8, but with significantly less headroom than the comparatively massive and large (linear) 25 pound Astron RS-35A (at about twice the price, new), the apparent, de-facto reference standard in HF radio power supplies.

Displayed on a 200 MHz BW oscilloscope, SS-30DV switching noise is a relatively low 100 mV p-p on the DC output with a 21 Amp load (typical HF transceiver TX current). Resulting RFI is broadly distributed across lower HF bands as shown on a 3GHz spectrum analyzer. In a simple HF receiver listening test (with stub antenna), periodic RFI spurs on 160M are present at low amplitude but wander slowly across the band – they are not fixed and you cannot avoid them. Wandering RFI spurs on 80M are quite loud and annoying but becomes imperceptible at 40M and above. Note that some switching power supplies, like the MegaWatt S-400-12, appear to use a ceramic resonator as a switching frequency reference, with fixes RFI spurs in place and prevents them from wandering, which reduces the “annoyance factor” a bit.

The good news is that winding 10 turns of the DC supply cord through a Fair-Rite mix 31, 2.4-inch toroid placed near the chassis dramatically reduces SS-30DV RFI, making it nearly imperceptible. This is pretty important for any serious user of 80M. Note that mix 31 has low DC resistance and should be kept clear of bare power leads and terminals to avoid catastrophic shorts.

I have several PowerWerx SS-30DV power supplies and find them to be very reliable, compact and handy at all three of my ham stations where they’ve been in use for more than 7 years without failure. For HF gear on 80M, I’ve fabricated and use RFI suppression power leads incorporating the Mix 31 toroid mentioned above and all is well. For use on 40M and up or VHF/UHF, no RFI remediation has been needed.

Two of my stations use the PowerWerx switchers while the third uses Astron linear supplies, which generate no RFI at all and won’t, unless they’re broken and the feedback control loop is oscillating or a component or connector is failing.

Both the Powerwerx SS-30DV and Astron RS-35A power supplies are excellent products – but there are tradeoffs: Much smaller size/weight/cost for the Powerwerx SS-30DV, but requires some RFI suppression steps on HF/80M, vs. zero RFI and significantly higher capacity from the much more massive and costly Astron RS-35A.

Every amateur radio switching power supply I’ve tested has generated some RFI, but generally gives back in price and size/weight/power. As SS-30DV RFI is easily remediated and the product is quite solid, I give it 5 stars in the switching supply class. I’d give the Astron linear supplies the same rating in its own linear supply class for being noise-free, reliable and well supported. They are easily repaired when a capacitor or pass transistor finally goes after 30 years.

Which one is best for your application? That’s up to you. It’s good to have choices!

Brian – K6BRN
KN0JI Rating: 2021-11-02
Big bang for buck Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Have had mine for well over a year now, having used it with my Yaesu FT-2900R, FT-857D, and Kenwood TM-241A. Couldn't be more pleased.
Update 11-02-2021:
I've purchased four of these Powerwerx SS-30DV power supplies, and have tested two of them on my analyzer, and have not seen so much as a tiny bit of RFI on any amateur band. Contrast that to my Astron RS-35A, which exhibits RF hash on 80 meters, and gives off a loud, annoying buzz.
Also, the Powerwerx PSU is super-lightweight, allowing me to feel comfortable porting it from one location to another. Also, it's able to handle the inrush demanded by radios such as the Icom IC-2730A, which draws heavily upon key-up, even on medium power. That inrush tends to momentarily shut down the regulation of the lesser-expensive import PSUs, such as the MegaWatt knock-offs.
N5KBY Rating: 2021-09-02
Small, Calm, Cool, and full of hash on HF Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this nifty sized unit around the middle of 2020. My location suffered from serious power service noise for several months at this time and for all I could tell the ss-30DV was doing fine...

Finally the power company solved their problems across town and -- yes, you guessed it -- the "birdies" were easily noticed marching up and down on the spectrum scope and now easily heard.

Battery power solves the problem and my Dad's ASTRON 30 certainly does as well, although making quite a bit of heat.

I'm really disappointed in the PowerWerx ss-30 DV. I'm off to read the reviews on their other power supplies.

So the meter version has a big voltage overshoot when switched to on while this plain version has most of the hash complaints...go figure.

One thing in its favor is its voltage regulation. Nice and stable at 14.1 with 100w out and 14.1 with 200w.


KQ9J Rating: 2021-03-01
Noisy Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Unit puts out a good steady voltage at rated current draw. Unfortunately it creates a lot of HF noise. Winding the DC cables and power cord through toroids helps but does not eliminate. I have relegated this one to the basement as a bench supply. It would be fine for VHF though.
KK9H Rating: 2021-02-28
No problem with mine Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Update:

Unfortunately since my review from a few years ago, I have experienced the same problem that other reviewers have reported. A couple years ago I noticed a strong “birdie” that would slowly drift up and down several bands, especially on 40M. I don’t know if this was due to a slow component failure or something else, but I had to replace it as an HF radio power supply. It is still quite useable for VHF/UHF radios however. So I would have to say that this is not a suitable power supply for HF radios.





I also bought one of these from Elecraft to use with my K3. When I first connected it I left the antenna disconnected and carefully tuned through all the bands. I found no indication of any power supply interference. When I reconnected the antenna, there was still no interference of any kind so that is not an issue. While operating the K3, the SS-30DV simply sits quietly in the background providing a steady 14.1 volts. I have no problem recommending this power supply. It does exactly what it's supposed to do.
WW6L Rating: 2021-02-28
Good unit, is RF quiet Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I use these for HF and VHF/UHF service and have had excellent service from them. I bought the first unit years ago when first released and bought two more since. I use the digital metered versions.
I expect the vendor would replace defectives without question if contacted.
KD2TUD Rating: 2021-02-28
DO NOT BUY THIS. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Creates RF noise and makes 40m and 80m unusable. I deeply regret buying this RFI generator and will replace this HF noise machine with an Astron RS-35A.
VA3PAW Rating: 2020-05-10
S9+20 noise every 30kHz Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Got one from HRO Atlanta today. Awful hush noise every 30kHz across all bands even when it sits next to the transceiver.

Got to be defective, returning to the seller.

P.S. Mine was made in Taiwan. CE certification. Not UL listed.
The manual indicates compliance with FCC CFR Title 47 Part 15 Subpart B Class B but obviously the PSU I got is not suitable for HF work / transceivers.
W8OB Rating: 2020-05-07
Guess I must have got lucky Time Owned: more than 12 months.
had mine for over 3 years now and power a couple of rigs with it. In short very good regulation and no hash that I can hear anywhere in the bands. Fan started to get a little noisy after year one but I lubed the bearings with a very fine penetrating oil and no problem since. I will purchase another one
K4HPP Rating: 2020-03-23
Still a 5 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is an updated review from my first review back in mid-December of 2010.
I have owned 2 of these supplies for over 9 years now. My first one - (I wrote the first ever review on eHam) - has NEVER been shut off in all this time. The second one has been running for over 50% of its life. Maybe I just got lucky, but I have never experienced any noise or hash from either of these supplies. I have had numerous rigs since that time - mostly Icoms. After seeing the complaints and poor ratings posted by some operators, I ran a test by winding several loops of wire around the supplies and attached the free end directly to the antenna input of two or three rigs. I could not detect any noise from 30 KHz all the way through 450 MHz. I did the same test with the DC output wiring with the same result.
I also find the voltage regulation to be quite good - it is in the same range as my Astron and Alinco power supplies. If the cooling fan ever hits high speed, I can detect it, but is is still not bad. I always use headphones so it is not an issue.
I still rate this supply a 5 and if one of my existing ones dies, I would immediately purchase a new one!