A while ago I blogged about modifying the output voltage of some surplus Cisco switch power supplies to operate at 13.8v.
Since I was able to score a nice Hammond 1598DSGYPBK ABS project box on eBay, I’ve built one of the supplies into a nice bench unit.
Above is the supply mounted into the box, I had to slightly trim one edge of the PCB to make everything fit, as it was just a couple of mm too wide. Luckily on the mains side of the board is some space without any copper tracks.
These supplies are very high quality & very efficient, however they came from equipment that was force-air cooled. Running the PSU in this box with no cooling resulted in overheating. Because of this I have added a small 12v fan to move some air through the case. The unit runs much cooler now. To allow the air to flow straight through the case, I drilled a row of holes under the front edge as vents.
Here is the output side of the supply, it uses standard banana jacks for the terminals. I have used crimp terminals here, but they are soldered on instead of crimped to allow for higher current draw. The negative return side of the output is mains earth referenced.
I have tried to measure output ripple on this supply, but with my 10X scope probe, and the scope set to 5mV/Div, the trace barely moves. The output is a very nice & stable DC.
This supply is now running my main radio in the shack, and is small enough to be easily portable when I move my station.
