Greater Bridgeport Amateur Radio Club Technical Video: Don't like spending a lot of money on ham radio? Do you enjoy projects? Then this video is for you! How to convert a server power supply into a 12 volt, 63 amp ham radio switching power supply for about $12 (half the cost of that Baofeng handheld!). Check it out. -by Brandon kb1thm
I did something similar with a Dell Poweredge 6800 power supply. About 100amp DC. It did cost me more than $12. Even though the fan speed is adjustable, it was still put out some fan noise. Good for outside. It also needed a dedicated 15amp power input. Its all good.
Mine is similar. I bought from Amazon for about $21.00. 12 volt 30 amp supply. Clean RF supply. No modification. I use it in conjunction with my West Mountain Power Gate to keep my 12 volt 35ah AGM Battery charged. https://www.amazon.com/SUPERNIGHT-S...ds=12+volt+power+supply&qid=1588011702&sr=8-7
I have two converted HP units. One does close to 13.8 the other 12.2. I've used both on my FT-857 without issue.
If you want to go bigger there are models that run on 220v like this one made by dell and put out 197 amps @ 12 vdc! Also theres 48v models that people have been using to power LDMOS amplifiers. Currently selling on ebay for $20.
would been a good video if he hadn't dropped the F Bomb while trying to connect the power pole! there are other models of the HP that is 75 amp on 120v or 100A on 220v and you can modify them to do 13.5 volts.
so the resistor I used was 1k . giving me 13.98 volts... anybody know how much deviation from 1K to get 13.4ish?
The value of the resistor does not control the level of the output voltage. It is just a signal in to allow the power supply to turn on. There needs to be a resistor of a specific range because the analog level of the voltage into that pin (PSOK) will determine one of three states, one of which is 'Power Supply Fault' which will cause the unit to shut down.
I seem to remember reading elsewhere that lack of RX noise is only half the story. Depending on the switching frequency, you could get spurious harmonics on TX. What with the explosion in buck/boost converters (some quiet, some not so quiet), some content showing how to create effective filters for these things would be extremely helpful. 73 de OE6FEG/M0FEU Matt
What do you modify to get them to do 13.5 volts. I'd prefer my power supplies to be as close to 13.8 as possible. If it's a simple mod I may pick up a few of these.
Looks very interesting, and you can't beat the price. I have ordered one to play with, but I can't find any documentation online for them. Some of you seem to know more about them. Where can I learn more? Modification for 13.8 volts would be cool. I doubt there is a trimmer pot inside to set the voltage, but you never know.
At least for the supplies that I have experimented on, such as the HP DPS-600PB, a resistor is connected to the power supply pins to "trick" it into thinking it is delivering a lower voltage at the other end of the wiring harness. In this way the supply produces a higher voltage to compensate for it. I think the correct term might be a "sense line". A key thing to note is that different supplies have varying amounts of tolerance for how much beyond the rated 12 volts you can go. One of mine would happily go closer to 13.8 V, while others trip due to over-voltage protection around 12.7 V. Here are some handy links: Repurposing server power supplies: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/sho...high-quality-12Volt-100Amp-Power-Supply-Part1 Pinout of the aforementioned DPS 600PB: https://static.rcgroups.net/forums/attachments/4/2/3/3/7/0/a8495561-247-DPS-600PB PINOUT.gif Source for nice adapters for common server supplies: https://www.parallelminer.com/product-category/power-accessories/server-power-supply/
Came across a different type. Not sure if it would work. I might have to purchase one to try. HP 1200W G6 HOT-PLUG POWER SUPPLY. Did a search on Ebay and Amazon. Prices differ. $35 and ubove on Ebay and $25 and above on Amazon. Checking on a video about these, will see what they say.
