Bench Power Supply

I'll be starting on the electrical wiring part of my -8 very very soon. I know testing everything would likely run down a battery, and was curious what people are using for power during installation and test. Bench Power Supply? What manufacturer and model, current rating? Is a battery and attached charger sufficient?

(I am installing the Cole-Hersey (Piper-style) ground power recepticale ala 'lectric Bob, so I envision a bench power supply and cable with this type plug on the end. Airplane will be 12V.)



Thanks in advance,
Bart

vmirv8bldr said:

I'll be starting on the electrical wiring part of my -8 very very soon. I know testing everything would likely run down a battery, and was curious what people are using for power during installation and test.

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I went the route of purchasing a junk battery for a garden tractor from Wal-Mart and use that to power all my equipment. Every once in a while, I toss it on the battery charger for the car. This seems to work well. Total cost was $19.99 (before sales tax).

Steve

No need for anything fancy. I use either my deep cycle "RV" battery or my lawn tractor battery, whichever happens to be the most handy. Either one will last a long time between recharges, though I prefer to use the deep cycle battery since running it down is what it was designed for.

Just fabricate a couple of leads off of your main busses (+ and -) and strip the last inch or so of the wire and then just use the wingnuts on the battery terminals to hold the wire on.

Ditto. I have a walmart cheapie sitting on the floor with heavy leads running to the master solenoid and battery ground. I run a small charger on the battery ever so often. I have a bench supply that does ok, as long as I don't turn on the strobes. They seem to make the voltage swing when on the bench supply alone. Parralell with the battery, no problems.

Got access to a junk desktop computer?
http://www.wikihow.com/Convert-a-Computer-ATX-Power-Supply-to-a-Lab-Power-Supply

Lars, you rock

As it turns out, I frequently DO have access to old ATX PSU's! I like it!

Thanks,

You can pick one of these up at RadioShack:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...r+supply&kw=dc+power+supply&parentPage=search

I use a 20 Amp Bench power supply made by Pyramid. It cost less than $100 shipped and has been reliable.

jmartinez443 said:

You can pick one of these up at RadioShack:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...r+supply&kw=dc+power+supply&parentPage=search

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Oddly, the information on the page gives some technical specs but not the important one of how many amps it is rated for. I know I had a similar looking power supply years ago that was somewhere around 3 amps which doesn't run much airplane equipment.

Power supply vs battery issues

Guy Prevost said:

I use a 20 Amp Bench power supply made by Pyramid. It cost less than $100 shipped and has been reliable.

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I have one like Guy's. It works fine except if you hook a load with a big inrush current (Whelen Nav lites) it will go into overcurrent and shut down (foldback current limit). I CAN get them to light by hitting the switch a few times to get the bulbs warmed up but.. my model at least is not too great for those kinds of loads. For most everything else, its OK. The current limit IS helpful to keep from blowing fuzes etc while banging around under the panel.

I wouldn't go with an old computer power supply.

My preference is the battery route. Run off the batt then charge it. No inrush current limit issues, more like the real system and safer than a junk computer power supply. Remember the cost of all the stuff you are hooking up.

I use a Samlex SEC 1223 power supply. It puts out 23 Amps(!) continuous, which is plenty to light up all the toys on all your buses. It costs about $95 here:

http://www.radiodan.com/misc/samlex1223.htm

Great little unit!

lucky333 said:

I have one like Guy's. It works fine except if you hook a load with a big inrush current (Whelen Nav lites) it will go into overcurrent and shut down (foldback current limit). I CAN get them to light by hitting the switch a few times to get the bulbs warmed up but.. my model at least is not too great for those kinds of loads. For most everything else, its OK. The current limit IS helpful to keep from blowing fuzes etc while banging around under the panel.

I wouldn't go with an old computer power supply.

My preference is the battery route. Run off the batt then charge it. No inrush current limit issues, more like the real system and safer than a junk computer power supply. Remember the cost of all the stuff you are hooking up.

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Well, we have used a lot of old (but not junk) computer power supplies at the university lab where I work, and found them to be very stable and tightly regulated (yes, our electronics engineer tested them). so I guess I'd have to disagree with that. He was the one who recommended the idea to me, after discovering how well they work.