12 volt supply problems

[lboucher]

hi all

 so i know most are using the atx supplies, but for me i already had a ham supply for my active hub, and wanted to use smaller cheaper supplies for the passive hubs.

So i ordered 2 300 watters from ray.
1 wouldnt put out the right voltage upon receipt, and ray replaced quickly
Then one died after running for about a week, had an internal short. Even bypassed the fuse hoping to see which component burned, but it just blew the breaker instantly.

Now i borrowed another expensive ham radio adjustabke supply.

How has everyone else made out on rays 12 volt supplies?
Any other good sources for 300 watt or 150 watt 12 supplies?

 i want something cheap and big enough to power one or 2 passive hubs.

Thanks

[Steve Gase]

I've got 5 of ray's 300w supplies.  they are working without problem for me.

I don't have another source except for newegg's ATX supplies.

[drlucas]

I used some power supplies from surplus DL380s I had lying around. worked like a champ!! RCgroups.com has lots and lots of mods on their forums for old server supplies. maybe you can find some old supplies on ebay, or elsewhere...

[arw01]

They will cost you more, but Ray can access Meanwell built supplies.  Next order I put in with Ray will have a couple of those in it as well.

I have always wondered why not a marine battery (deep cycle type) and then you could use a float type battery charger to bring it back up tomorrow.  But maybe we pull so much they cannot make it 5 or 6 hours a night.

Alan

[lboucher]

Well i am pretty sure most batterries and most battery chargers are around 13.8 vdc. While this may work for leds i might expect the lifetime to be reduced as it will push too much current through. Anyone elsr know and or have experience?

[arw01]

I will toss the meter across the marine battery tomorrow, I know in car 13.8 is pretty normal and I have seen mine putting out over 16, which causes some other issues.

[tbone321]

Wet cells tend to be arounf 12.5V but can have a surface charge above 13V  Battery chargers can push beyond 14V but it is a dirty unregulated supply that is pretty much useless for electronics.