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Bench Power Supply When Building a New Panel

Saville

Saville

Well Known Member
You folks who have built new all-electric panels - what did you use for 12 volt bench power supplies when you were wiring the whole thing up on the bench and testing it?

I'm wondering if I should invest in a 12 or 16 volt programmable bench power supply for things like - downloading to my GDL-82 before installation or when building a new instrument panel on the bench.

One can get a Programmable DC Power Supply 128W 16V 8A for about $250. I'm wondering if that's a good investment.

How did everyone else power their bench setups?

Thanks
 
Saville said:
You folks who have built new all-electric panels - what did you use for 12 volt bench power supplies when you were wiring the whole thing up on the bench and testing it?

I'm wondering if I should invest in a 12 or 16 volt programmable bench power supply for things like - downloading to my GDL-82 before installation or when building a new instrument panel on the bench.

One can get a Programmable DC Power Supply 128W 16V 8A for about $250. I'm wondering if that's a good investment.

How did everyone else power their bench setups?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I bought mine off Amazon for $45. I dont think you have to spend a ton. The one I bought is a MeanWell brand, which is a reputable product... I?ve used them in products we make at work.

That said, I will tell you that not all supplies are equal. For some reason, mine created a constant broken squelch on my radios - but everything else worked fine.
 
I suggest you just run it off a 12v battery and charge it when you're done.
 
Walt said:
I suggest you just run it off a 12v battery and charge it when you're done.
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I thought about that. But I wondered about how clean the power is when coming directly from a battery, and if that would matter.

I also wondered about any spiking when you close the switch to the battery.
 
Secondary question - how many amps should a power sully be able to generate? I don't know what will be on the panel so I don't have any idea.
 
Make sure the power supply has the amps. A battery is fine and charge after using it to power avionics (but don't charge battery at same time).

A little noise in the DC is not going to hurt the avionics, since it puts up with your airplanes alternator which is far from pure DC. Almost all avionics have regulated power and runs on 10-30 volts.

I have some "lab" quality power supplies with variable volts out and reads amperage draw. However a single 13.8-14,5 volt power supply with enough amps is fine. I still have my Radio Shack 13.8 volt 5 amp power supply.
 
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gmcjetpilot said:
Make sure the power supply has the amps. A battery is fine and charge after using it to power avionics (but don't charge battery at same time).

A little noise in the DC is not going to hurt the avionics, since it puts up with your airplanes alternator which is far from pure DC. Almost all avionics have regulated power and runs on 10-30 volts.

I have some "lab" quality power supplies with variable volts out and reads amperage draw. However a single 13.8-14,5 volt power supply with enough amps is fine. I still have my Radio Shack 13.8 volt 5 amp power supply.
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How many amps should I reasonably expect to need?
 
Saville said:
How many amps should I reasonably expect to need?
Click to expand...

I would say 10-15 depending on your equipment. When my panel is on, I?m around 6a. When i key the mic, it might go up to 9A. If you want to test lighting and stuff like that you?ll need more.

The size though is determined by adding up the current draw of all the equipment you want to run
 
I bought a C TEK battery charger that is capatible with my battery. The charger has a built in 20A power supply that I use while working on my panel. I've used it for over a year and it works great.
 
Get a power supply and set it up for ground power. It'll be handy when the plane is done for updating databases, testing, playing around, etc. I got mine from Amazon as well.
 
majuro15 said:
Get a power supply and set it up for ground power. It'll be handy when the plane is done for updating databases, testing, playing around, etc. I got mine from Amazon as well.
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That's what I've been thinking....because software updates are the wave of the future it seems.
 
Walt said:
I suggest you just run it off a 12v battery and charge it when you're done.
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+1

This is what I do most times. Always seem to have an old battery laying around the shop. I also built a little LM317 based variable power supply years ago for tasks requiring an amp or less. Only costs a few dollars in parts.

Larry
 
Saville said:
I thought about that. But I wondered about how clean the power is when coming directly from a battery, and if that would matter.

I also wondered about any spiking when you close the switch to the battery.
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A battery is the cleanest source of power and will be substantially cleaner than anything coming from an electronic device. Cleanliness is related to things like ripple, that are produced when power is converted from AC to DC. Just like your alternator, which also isn't that clean. It is the battery that helps to clean things up.

You close the switch to the battery every time you turn your master off in your plane.

Larry
 
lr172 said:
You close the switch to the battery every time you turn your master off in your plane.

Larry
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True BUT...I close the avionics switch (power up the avionics) after I've started the engine and everything is settled.

I open the avionics switch to the avionics BEFORE I shut down the engine and BEFORE open the Master.
 
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I bought a power supply sold for use with Ham Radios. So far it has been great, very stable, good current capacity, and quiet.

I purchased the Astron SS-50M supply from GigaParts.com. https://www.gigaparts.com/astron-ss-50m.html Probably overkill at 50 amps, but I would rather have too much capacity than too little.

Regards,
 
SeanB said:
I've owned the Samlex SEC-1235M for several years upon the recommendation of friends. It's been great for all the reasons you are contemplating.

https://radiodan.com/misc/samlex1223.htm

Pictured toward the bottom right with Voltage and Amperage meters.
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That one looks good.

What have you arranged to take the power from the connectors in the back to a bench setup of your electronics? What gauge cord from the back?

I was thinking of running each wire from the back to two of these - one for power and one for ground:

https://leeselectronic.com/en/product/1885.html

Basically a ground block with screw terminals and a larger lug for the lines coming from the power supply
 
Can one of you help me understand why avionics should not be powered via a 12 v dc battery AND external digital charger such as a Battery Minder operated at the same time. Would this not be the same as the alternator charging while the AC is in Service? Because I do this often!!!
 
Electrogunner said:
I bought a C TEK battery charger that is capatible with my battery. The charger has a built in 20A power supply that I use while working on my panel. I've used it for over a year and it works great.
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I have 2 of the C-Tek chargers and love them. They come as OEM equipment from Corvettes to Bentleys and other really expensive cars so they're proven good. They have the Power Supply setting that gives great clean power (checked on my spectrum analyzer) and I use them when I'm doing anything in the plane with the engine off.

 
Saville, that could work for you.

What I did:
Went to local hardware store and got about 10 feet of multistrand power cord, then crimped large aligator clips with boots on one end, lugs on the other end. This power supply has a header you attach your power and ground to and there is a certain size to keep in mind. I belive that information is in the Owner's Manual, linked on the site.

For my bench, I used two forest of tabs (B&C).
https://bandc.com/product/ground-block-24-48-tab-firewall-kit/

One for power, one for ground. Kept them far away from each other. I connected to each device off of these with an inline automotive fuse on the positive side.
https://bandc.com/product/in-line-fuse-holder-atc-style/

FP27082015A00032.jpg


FP27082015A00034.jpg


FP17082015A0004J.jpg


This worked great for me. Had no noise and was fully functional on the bench. Just used on/off switch from power supply to operate.
 
DennisRhodes said:
Can one of you help me understand why avionics should not be powered via a 12 v dc battery AND external digital charger such as a Battery Minder operated at the same time. Would this not be the same as the alternator charging while the AC is in Service? Because I do this often!!!
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No - this is not at all the same as normal operations with your alternator on line.

Battery chargers are just that - battery chargers. They are not designed to power electronics. As such, you are hit or miss on ?garbage? coming out of the charger in terms of floating AC, switching noise and such. Some vendors, such as pMag, have a specific warning about not having a battery charger connected if the pMag has power - for this reason.

But the good news is a real power supply can charge your battery(s) as well - and since most real power supplies allow you to set your output voltage you can run your avionics with battery(s) connected for days not not worry about overcharging your battery - just like your alternator voltage regulator works. Now overlay the sketchy history of some battery chargers (or minders) routine use trashing otherwise healthy batteries and the choice is easy. I?m sure many do this and get away with it - so you decide.

Here is one of many options for a nice, light supply that will do everything you need: https://www.dxengineering.com/searc...toview=SKU&sortby=Default&sortorder=Ascending

Carl
 
Pilot135pd said:
I have 2 of the C-Tek chargers and love them. They come as OEM equipment from Corvettes to Bentleys and other really expensive cars so they're proven good. They have the Power Supply setting that gives great clean power (checked on my spectrum analyzer) and I use them when I'm doing anything in the plane with the engine off.

Click to expand...

Ok so in reading the C Tek specs I see that it's an 8 stage charger.

I have an Odyssey 20 Amp fully automatic six-stage charger.....

Can I use the output of that to run avionics on the bench? I thought I couldn't because of that "staging".....
 
SeanB said:
Saville, that could work for you.

What I did:
Went to local hardware store and got about 10 feet of multistrand power cord, then crimped large aligator clips with boots on one end, lugs on the other end. This power supply has a header you attach your power and ground to and there is a certain size to keep in mind. I belive that information is in the Owner's Manual, linked on the site.

For my bench, I used two forest of tabs (B&C).
https://bandc.com/product/ground-block-24-48-tab-firewall-kit/

One for power, one for ground. Kept them far away from each other. I connected to each device off of these with an inline automotive fuse on the positive side.
https://bandc.com/product/in-line-fuse-holder-atc-style/

FP27082015A00032.jpg


FP27082015A00034.jpg


FP17082015A0004J.jpg


This worked great for me. Had no noise and was fully functional on the bench. Just used on/off switch from power supply to operate.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. Sort of what I had in mind. Thanks - good to get corroboration.
 
Saville said:
Ok so in reading the C Tek specs I see that it's an 8 stage charger.

I have an Odyssey 20 Amp fully automatic six-stage charger.....

Can I use the output of that to run avionics on the bench? I thought I couldn't because of that "staging".....
Click to expand...

If you use it to charge then yes it?s a charger but look on the panel in the picture and you?ll see there?s a SUPPLY setting. That?s not a charger but a very well regulated clean power supply.
 
Pilot135pd said:
If you use it to charge then yes it’s a charger but look on the panel in the picture and you’ll see there’s a SUPPLY setting. That’s not a charger but a very well regulated clean power supply.
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Well I went downstairs into the shop and looked at the unit - no word "supply" anywhere nor a switch to select that sort of option.

Didn't see it in the manual either.

Maybe you are looking at the C-Tek. Mine is Odyssey model number OBC-20A - that's the one I was considering using.
 
Saville said:
Well I went downstairs into the shop and looked at the unit - no word "supply" anywhere nor a switch to select that sort of option.

Didn't see it in the manual either.

Maybe you are looking at the C-Tek. Mine is Odyssey model number OBC-20A - that's the one I was considering using.
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Sorry, I didn't understand your question. I don't have an Odyssey so I wouldn't know. I was just talking about the C-Tek.
 
I've used my power tool batteries, red in colour, and 12volts, then done something very similar to Sean. Used a fuse box with different sized fuses sitting in there so I can check different sized circuits. Also bought alligator test leads just to make hooking up for testing easier. No switches in the circuit, I just don't connect the battery +12v until everything else is ready.

The batteries I have accept a standard 1/4" male spade terminal in their "slot", I've got a few in different capacities, and when they go flat I just charge them again. So far I've only used this to test simple stuff like light circuits or contactor switching, and haven't really got a panel together, but the basic set-up should give enough juice for panel testing when the time comes.
 
I used a DeWalt 12 V power tool battery to test the landing light wiring. Worked fine. But afterwards the battery wouldn't hold a charge.

Maybe I drained it too far, or maybe the draw was too high. Or maybe it was just time. Still....

Dave
 
My power supply looks a lot like the Mega Watt one listed above, but I bought it on amazon for around $30. It’s a 12V, 40 amp power supply that is adjustable. I usually set the output voltage at about 13.8 -14V. You can either connect it to the downstream post of your master relay, which takes the master relay out of the picture and powers everything on your master bus as soon as it’s plugged into the wall outlet, or connect it to your battery and use your master switch to turn it on. When you do it this way, your master relay will be powered all the time it’s on (like when you’re flying) consuming a small amount of energy, but the battery, which is a large capacitor, smooths out the input from the power supply. I have a PC680, so it also charges the battery. This will charge my aux battery (12V sealed lead acid/8 amp) if the master switch is on. Aux bus is powered from the switched aux battery, isolated from the main bus by a dedicated one-way Schottky diode. This is a very handy way to power things up even after your IP is built. Updates, configuration, troubleshooting, mods, etc..
 
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johnbright said:
I have a megawatt 30 A, $50 + $8 shipping.

When you check out it says 13.8 V max but it's actually adjustable up to 15.5 V.

http://www.megawattpowersupplies.com/
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I will also vouch for the MegaWatt units. There are a bunch of this style of power supply on the market but they are not all the same. I can run entirely from the S-350-12 (30A) set to 14.2V with no radio noise. To my surprise there is also no noise with the battery switched out of the system.
 
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