AB4UG Radioblog

I've been pondering some modifications to make to my Astron power supply. The first mod I considered was replacing the nut/bolt terminals with Anderson power pole connectors, but it looks like that will require replacing some wiring and what appears to be additional filtering components which I think I'd rather not do in case I mess things up. Plus I'd also have to square out the round holes for the power pole terminals. I think I'll just make up some pigtails with power pole connectors instead.

Found a fair bit of info and interesting looking mods to Astron power supplies at the Repeater Builder site that I might try. The in-rush current reducer mod looks simple enough and while mine has never tripped the breaker when I flip the power switch, it seems like a good idea to have in place.

I think it would also be neat to have a volt and current meter on the PS to monitor the output. There's plenty of room on the front panel of the PS for meters, but my metal working tools and skills are limited and I'm not sure I'd be able to do a proper job yet. I think the easiest way for me to add the meters is make a separate enclosure or panel for them that will sit on top of the PS. That should be easy enough to do.

One interesting thing that I noted while browsing the Astron part of the Repeater Builder site is that all of the schematics for the RS-35M/RS-35A they have show only one large 2.2 mF filtering capacitor while there are two in my PS. Don't know if that's an addition to newer models, or if it was someone else's mod.

After taking another look at the first pictures I took, it looks like there may already be a thermistor (the red thing that I think looks like a thermistor anyway) added in the circuit.

Think I'll open it up again and have a closer look at what's inside.