[TAC] Astron power supplies in parallel

[Ian Hill K8MM]

Hi Mike,

That's sort of the problem I was thinking about. The back of my RS-50 has a
single plug (in addition to the positive and negative outputs) and the
writing below it says "For parallel operation only". The back of the RS-20
doesn't have such a plug. I have not looked at the schematic for the RS-50
to see where in the circuit the plug is tied to and what it's purpose is.

<over>............


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <mzedan at juno.com>
To: <tac at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2007 6:20 PM
Subject: Re: [TAC] Astron power supplies in parallel


Hi Ian:

Just running your scheme in my mind, I believe that Kirchoff's law applies.
That is, if the voltages are not exactly equal, the higher V supply will
tend to push reverse current into the lower V supply.

When you're drawing the high current in your rig, this might not mean
anything.  Actually, it may not mean anything in any case.

The solution:  I haven't looked in the handbooks (will later), but the
circuitry that's used in analog power supplies that have parallel power
transistor outputs is probably a clue.  They throw in that stuff to take
care of voltage inequalities.  Using isolation diodes, as in dual battery
vehicles and such, would require some heavy duty semiconductors, but would,
definitely, take cure of the Kirchoff issue.

Let me know if I'm on the right track.

CU,

MikeZ

-- "Ian Hill K8MM" <k8mm at arrl.net> wrote:
Does anyone know if I have had to do anything special to connect my astron
power supplies in parallel? I'm going to connect a RS-50 and a RS-20 in
parallel to feed the DC power buss for my station.

Ian K8MM
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