Power Supply

[BrianG]

Originally Posted by junkman

I used a motorola tpn-1154a, base station power supply until it recently quit working. It had been a good one, weighed a ton but worked well.

That is most probably a linear type. Usually, they are pretty simple to fix. The transformers (the most expensive part) is pretty reliable. I would look at the main power caps and maybe the output pass transistor(s). You can probably get that unit working again for just a few bucks.

The thing about modding computer PS units is that they are all different. The modding scheme is the same (and usually pretty easy to do), but the details will vary.

Edit: I just checked, that motorola PS is rated for ~ 10A @ 14v. You may have just been pushing it too hard for too long. You sure you just don't have a blown fuse or something simple?

[junkman]

wow, I wouldn't have imagined it to only be 10 amp, it probably weighed around 30lbs. I ran 2 old tekin chargers off of it for 8 or 9 years with no problems, gues I was lucky. I have pitched it now, but it would show 13 volts or so, but had no amperage whatsover, even a lightbulb would kick it down. I actually bought another one just like it since I had such good luck with that one, but it for some reason was putting out around 18 volts, and I couldn't figure out how to trim it down. I ended up throwing both of them away, thinking I could get the computor supply going, but didn't have good luck that route either. With the money and time I have wasted screwing around with these, I could have just bought a good one!