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Old April 29th 06, 06:22 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.homebrew
James Thompson
 
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Default 13.8V high current power supply


wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,

You may recall me mentioning I was thinking about adapting a 24V PSU
for use at 13.8V for powering up mobile HF rigs and stuff. I had some
spare time yesterday and took this thing to bits for a better look
inside. It turns out the mains transformer has several secondary
tapping points. I discontected the DC-stab/reg side of the supply
circuitry and reconnected the secondary tapping points to lower voltage
tappings.
Now I measure 16.8V after the transformer's output has been rectified
and applied across the *big* electrolytic. This is under no-load
conditions. Now, is that 3V enough 'headroom' to use up in regulation
and stabilisation for 13.8V final output if I throw the old 28V
reg/stab away and build something from scratch? There are 6 pass
transistors plus a driver (2n3055) already mounted which I plan to use
in the adapted version, so basically I'll just junk the existing
control board and re-use everything else. Any observations/tips?
Thanks,
P.

I would cobble together a simple, say lm317 regulator to drive your series
pass driver and see what you come up with under some small loads. You may
be ok with that big transformer. The power supply I built uses 4 2n3055 in
parralel like what you have. Have fun.. JTT