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In late 2007, I stumbled upon a great article by Robert Schulz KC6UDS
detailing his clever modification
of an Astron SS-30 power supply. The original supply has only one pair of set screws for connecting
radios and accessories, and it's a real pain to remove and replace wires with these stock connectors.
Robert noticed that his Astron had two knockouts on the rear panel that appear to be for an optional
second set of set screw connectors. He found that four sets of Anderson Powerpole connectors could be
installed in this location. I modified my own SS-30 in early 2008 and am very glad that I did. The
Powerpole connectors are rated at 30A per pair, so they are more than adequate for my purposes.
After performing the mod on my SS-30, I looked at the other power supply in my shack, a
Daiwa PS-304 linear power supply. It originally featured two sets of spring-clips in addition to the 5-way
binding posts. The spring clips were rated for a maximum of 6A and always seemed to be a source
of intermittent connections, etc.
The more I looked at the PS-304, the more I was certain that I could replace the lousy spring
terminals with many sets of Powerpoles! Applying the same techniques used in the SS-30 mod,
I found that six sets of Powerpoles would fit in my PS-304!
Before you begin modifying your PS-304, I suggest you read the
KC6UDS Astron SS-30 Modification Article
I also used spacers between the Powerpoles. although I found that there was not enough room
horizontally for a spacer between each set of Powerpoles, so I fit the spacers
as needed to keep the connectors straight, and also fill any remaining space in the opening. I
tried to cut the spacers carefully, so that they fit very tightly in the cabinet. I do not
want these metal pieces coming loose inside my power supply!
Once the connectors are fit tightly, apply liberal amounts of glue inside the cabinet to secure
all of the Powerpoles to the supply. Next, use a zip tie (or two) wrapped around all 6 pairs of
Powerpoles to keep everything secured together.
After allowing the glue to dry overnight, I set to work installing the jumpers from the
binding posts to the Powerpole connectors. As specified in the SS-30 article, I'd suggest using
the largest wire you can comfortably use. I found that 12 AWG was about the largest gauge wire
that could be crammed in the PS-304. In the interest of abundant safety, I rated my new Powerpoles at 15A per pair.
This page has information on my shack projects. See the
left side of the page for other operating modes and projects.
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Retrofitting shack power supplies to include Anderson Powerpole connectors
I needed to use some sheet aluminum as spacers. Any home improvement or
hobby store should have a good selection of sheet metal for a couple of dollars. As you can
see in the picture, I used one spacer above the Powerpoles to take up the extra vertical space
between the Powerpoles and PS-304 cabinet.
Before After
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