Bench Power Supply 13.8-Volt Linear Regulator

VHF Marine Band radios, protocol, radio communication theory, practical advice; AIS; DSC; MMSI; EPIRB.
jimh
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Bench Power Supply 13.8-Volt Linear Regulator

Postby jimh » Mon Jun 02, 2025 9:36 am

In April 2025 I bought a nice “12-Volt” 10-Ampere bench power supply on Amazon, a PYRAMID PS12KX model for only $57. The supply uses linear voltage regulation, which generally produces less residual voltage ripple and is often more reliable than the now-common and much more compact switching-mode regulator power supplies, often no-brand products.

Unfortunately at this moment the device is out of stock on Amazom.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KMLNLWQ

The voltage regulation under load of a VHF Marine Band 25-Watt radio is quite good. In receive mode and squelched and also powering a Lowance HDS-8 chart plotter, the output is 13.80-Volts, and at transmit and producing 26-Watts output from the radio the power supply voltage drops only to 13.77-Volts, or 0.2-percent. The measured ripple (AC) voltages were 0.016-VAC and 0.054-VAC, or 0.1-percent and 0.39-percent, respectively.

If this product become available again and the price remains at its prior point, this is a good choice for a bench “12-Volt” power supply.

At this writing a similar but smaller 5-Ampere (7-Ampere surge) PS7X model remains available at $47:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00069RB1Q