Server Power Supply - The Cheap Ham Radio Shack Option.

[@David-hm9ic]

Just my opinion, this is the best video on KZbin for converting the HSTNS-PLxx. Just completed my first conversion of an HSTNS-PL18. After reading of people having the PSUs shutting down when run above 13.5 volts I elected to not adjust all the way up to 13.8. My 50 watt VHF radio drops the voltage 0.1 volt for just long enough for the DVM to read it and then comes back to13.5 v. I've run it for less than a half hour as I write this but us far it is extremely quiet. I keyed the mic with a dummy load on the radio and the fan didn't speed up after 30 seconds. That's about a 14 amp draw. For comparison, I bought a Chinese power supply thinking that it would be OK for a while but the noise was hard to ignore. My normal room sound level is 32 dB. When the Chinese power supply's fan came on the sound level jumped to 49-50 dB even when the radio was drawing less than 0.5A just listening. It's being returned to the people with the big blue smile on their trucks. Other than soldering on a near microscopic level it was easy. I spun a cheap 30 watt soldering iron tip against a bench sander with a drill to make a very fine point and tinned it. Rather than soldering a jumper to turn the PSU on I installed a toggle switch. The PSU is getting mounted in a vertical stack box that I'm building so the toggle switch and a power meter ("lipo battery watt meter" on Amazon) will be mounted up front for monitoring and convenience. That style of meter is powered by the PSU and doesn't require a shunt. They will handle voltages and currents far above what the PSU is capable of delivering and they're very inexpensive. Currently (8/2024) they're about $21 USD for two meters. I lacked the confidence and a small enough tipped solder sucker to try to jumper the discarded resistor just with solder. I tried to bridge the pads with a short piece of very small gauge tinned wire but it kept rolling out of position. Finally I had the idea to tin a piece of copper wire and flatten it before cutting a piece off to bridge the resistor pads. That made the task easy. I held the flattened wire in place with the tip of a long straight pin and it was soldered in about 2 seconds.

[@2E0LMI]

Good tip, they do the job. I have been using a 10 year old HP HSTNS-PR17 38 amp model that I dug out of the skip at work for my base PSU for the past 16 months, it's "serv"ing my radios well :D

[@M0JSX]

Thanks for sharing. 73!

[@andy-M0CFM]

Hi Jonathan, i hope you and family are keeping well. Fantastic video. Thanks Andy

[@M0JSX]

Hi Andy. Thank you very much. All well here. 73!

[@ScatManAust]

Great video. I did this to two units just last week. Mine were the PD units so did the resister and trimmer trick. Worked perfectly and although I have not used it on my 7300, I do use them on some of my 10-meter rigs and one has a 200+ watt amp built in, and it runs nice without any obvious noise. Not very elegant but I soldered 8 gauge wire the full length both sides of the pcb on pos and neg to a distribution block. I was afraid of pulling the full potential current from just a small section available on the pcb and burn it off. That as well as reducing the chance of venereal.

[@M0JSX]

That’s a good idea. I suspect it would be okay, but why take the risk, eh? 73!

[@michadobrowolski5374]

Amazing explanation, super clean and full described work 👌 Thanks mate, 73!

[@steverose1]

Excellent idea. Many thanks Jonathan.

[@M0JSX]

Thanks Steve! 73!

[@jbammi]

Please use some fuses on the dc side. Murphy will otherwise come whack you for sure. Yes it is fundamental but not mentioned. Also, i would adjust under load if you have sensative equipment on the dc side. Ask me how i know ..... Murphy is a good friend 😂

[@D4000-u7e]

That's a huge negative of Icom mobile radios that you've found out. Not everyone wants a running engine to give 13.5V or more, so running off a 12V battery seems the next best option, certainly for emergency communications that's all we might have. with the pot that you're turning, the output voltage ranges from 11.8 to 12.9 without adding any additional resistors. A word of caution, the 14 pin IC by the pot is reaching 50c in early testing. That is just by changing the potentiometer value. One of the easiest ways to take power off, is a breakout board (edge connectors) , has several contacts and is working well putting out 50w. Best part, the voltage is rock solid !

[@DXCommanderHQ]

Finally got here - sorry I didn't show up earlier!

[@M0JSX]

I’ll forgive you!

[@sm3ttz]

I got 4 Dell server PSUs that I intend to use in series to drive a future power amplifier. by exchanging some metal screws for nylon, I can separate negative from the ground.

[@M0JSX]

That sounds like an excellent project. Do keep us posted with progress!

[@luciocastellano636]

I watched this video, ordered a HSTNS-PL18 for 20 euro on ebay and in 10min got it modified. It would be useful to get som ideas for housing it. Anyway many thanks Jonathan.

[@M0JSX]

Fantastic stuff! Well done!

[@stephenabbott904]

Hi Jonathan. I found that the unit shuts down at around 10 amps , Reset above 12amps PSU vibrates very loud. I dropped the voltage to 13.2V all OK . Great video.

[@M0JSX]

Hi Stephen. Mileage may vary with these. I had to do a similar tweak on one of mine. 13.5V did it for that one. 73!

[@jimdemetri8168]

13.5v is the sweet spot. Going upto 13.8 i found it cut out. Yet I had a different one that I used a 22k resistor across ground and the voltage pot. Work fantastic.

[@lmaoroflcopter]

Just picked up 2 of these on ebay. Nice tip!

[@LeeKirkman88]

I have a mydel proper 50 amp power supply for cb and ham radio, And using a radio just putting out 50w the voltage drop is quite a lot 13.8v to 10v quite bad voltage droop for a proper shop bought supply. I also have a modified server supply that pushes out 13.8v and 82amps i run my Kl703 off it and even though its drawing lots more amps the voltage only drops to around 13v. I think companies like RM should also make power supply units that accompanies their amps and make sure they are up to the job. That would be a nice package option too. When buying a linear.

[@ianxfs]

Really useful that Jonathan. Thanks!

[@M0JSX]

Cheers Ian

[@eliotmansfield]

I get 8mm copper radiator pipe, smash it flat, fold in half and shape as desired, solder the ends to the upper and lower edge connector and then fit heavy duty terminal posts to your copper bar, use heat shrink over the exposed bus bar before soldering it on

[@jayzo]

I've been working on building a kind of backplane for these common slot server PSUs so that you don't need to solder to the connectors. It's basically a PCB with a connector that fits onto the PSU's edge connector and interfaces with all the different pins.

[@M0JSX]

That would be awesome!

[@timidater4803]

Did you get the board done yet?

[@m1sdh]

Looks like there are a bunch of different breakout boards for HP power supply connectors that you can pick up cheap; many with a voltage display and screw terminals. They seem popular in crypto mining community, and found a few that list your supply as compatible. They look like a neat solution to get radio equipment connected.

[@M0JSX]

Thanks Steve. It doesn't surprise me given how many PSUs are out there! Can't really go wrong for £15! 73.

[@chrisbartlett6022]

@@M0JSX Ordered a PSU and Breakout board. Will see if I can de solder tiny things 🙂

[@pasjeihobby]

I own one of this. Cheap and reliable.

[@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE]

Interesting and useful, thanks!

[@stevenyemc]

Cool. I have 3 redundant DL380's (6PSU's) in the loft. Miss the noise they made ha ha haaa.

[@M0JSX]

Yeah, that’s the nice thing with the HP units, they are super quiet

[@MaciejBaur]

How it works when you plug some load? I suppose that rising voltage up works fine without load but what is happening when you draw several amps? I saw some videos when it shuts down automatically.

[@M0JSX]

In my experience it turns off under load if the voltage is set slightly high. If it does shut off, back the voltage back slightly to say 13.5V when idle and it should be good.

[@justkelly6992]

Bought two of these power supplies on Ebay. Tested fine. When I tried to bridge the gap the SMT Resistor came off. Replaced it and tried again. No luck. Pad had come up with the resistor. I mostly could not see the devices and even with a magnifying glass had a very hard time. I decided to toss the first one and give the second one to my friend. Too small, too much difficulty with temp control on the pencil. Not worth the effort if you are not equipped to do SMT soldering and have an electronic magnification system to work with. I will still keep to commercially made PS systems as I don't have to do anything to make them work but plug them in. Perhaps this might have been easier 60 years ago LOL!!! Too old for this shit!

[@RaverRst]

Done this and works a treat, however I’m finding I’m getting slight electric shocks from me Radios coax when there connected to this supply, any thoughts why???

[@M0JSX]

Not sure on that one I’m afraid. Do make sure everything is properly grounded would be my suggestion.

[@bruceroaf5750]

Good Evening Jonathan i hope all is well with you

[@M0JSX]

Hi Bruce, I'm well thanks, hope you are too.

[@Ispanico8787]

great video, some information, I bought the same model of power supply from ebay, I don't know if it is defective, not having an identical model, I will describe what happens, if I load a 300w medium absorption rx580 video card, I hear a strong internal electric hum and normal? then without any boot board connection, i just apply electric plug it starts the fan starts automatically, is this normal?

[@M0JSX]

That doesn’t sound typical, but I’m no expert! Sorry!

[@izzzzzz6]

I'm just wondering why people say to bridge the power on pin with a ~50Ohm to the end pin (and the load sharing pin with ~550ohm to negative rail). Some say connect with a dead short wile others say to use a resistor? Thoughts? Anyone?

[@M0JSX]

It’s a good question. I don’t know the answer though!

[@JuanIgnacioPucheu]

Nice video! What about RF noise? It's like Chinese video switching power supplies ?

[@M0JSX]

I’ve not noticed any RFI from these supplies. But I can’t guarantee that! 73!

[@mishokorlov]

Hi thanks for the post 👍 Could you please tell after watching your video is bought exactly the same power supply I didn't modify it yet but when I plug the cable there's no led green light on and no output voltage does that mean it's arrived already faulty 🤔

[@M0JSX]

No. The mod(jumping the two pads on the connector tells the board it is installed in a server and to switch on. Designed that way for safety.

[@mishokorlov]

@@M0JSX I much appreciated your answer 👍

[@mishokorlov]

Thanks 👍 I did exactly as you showed and it worked for me 💪​@@M0JSX

[@mertklck]

Hello, does VHF produce harmonics in UHF?

[@M0JSX]

Not from a PSU

[@iangrice5511]

I'm looking at a PD model, when you say a little more complicated to converter any links or idea whats actually involved please? Great video btw

[@M0JSX]

It’s been a while since I did it, but from memory it means adding extra resistors in. Have a google, you’ll find the instructions. Good luck! 😊

[@setocx_gameplayz2873]

Hi Jonathan I have makenone ans its providing 13,7 volts, but anytime I transmit with my radio, the PSU gives some strange sound, looks like the relé inside its Activated by the RF? Please any solution for this? Thanks you.

[@M0JSX]

Hello! Thanks for the comment. Try backing the voltage down to around 13.2V. You’ll probably find this fixes the issue. 73!

[@nguyenanhduy7130]

Hello, Can you mod slow down (decrease) the voltage to 10.5V or less? How to do that? Thank you.

[@M0JSX]

I’ve not tried to. But you probably could.

[@nguyenanhduy7130]

@@M0JSX Hello, Thank for your response. Please release a videos talk about it. I searched on KZbin and all about increase voltage. :( Thank you.

[@M0JSX]

@@nguyenanhduy7130 I’m afraid I won’t be doing that as I’ve covered the topic as far as I’d like to. Best of luck!

[@klimraamkosie]

I need those tweezers. Where can I get them?

[@M0JSX]

EBay is probably your friend. Came with a tool set in my case. 73!

[@richardpowell723]

Great work 👍 M0DSK

[@DellFargus]

I use an old power supply out a 1990's Compaq computer for 12V DC in my garage. It doesn't have enough amperage for a ham rig - maybe a CB since those are limited to 4Watts in the US. I use the power supply to run a car radio on a shelf, complete with a ring of speakers out of a luxury car for a surround effect. My garage is loud when I'm underneath a car. 😁

[@M0JSX]

That’s excellent! Well done!

[@enginedave]

I could only get more new to 13.6

[@M0JSX]

13.6V is close enough

[@terrysookhoo2528]

I cant even find one of that in my country

[@M0JSX]

Try eBay from different countries