Mean Well RSP-500-15 Switching Power Supply
IT just arrived. Initial impressions: Much heavier than the cheapowatt 1/2" wider, 1/2 inch longer and almost 1/2 inch less High than cheapowatt. The casing is about 50 to 75% thicker aluminum t...
Forum Discussion
The Meanwell has gotten a lot of use since the last post in this thread.
Just recently I decided to give it a tune up. Some of my earliest 45 amp powerpoles crimps were deteriorating from many hundreds of connections/ disconnections, and the fact that the Meanwell is mounted on a cabinet door. So the connectors see stresses from opening and closing too on rather stiff 8awg cable. The copper under the set screws had also oxidized. They got cut off and Caig Deoxit shield applied to the shiny new copper before retightening.
I've gotten a lot better at soldering, I cut off the old 45amp powerpoles and crimped and then soldered on new ones to the 8AWG.
The Fan blades were certainly dusty. Many a Qtip dipped in 91% rubbing alcohol was required to make them look new again. There was some dust inside the casing too, and this came off easily with a bottle brush. I had acquired the correct size fan grilles 60 and 80mm for the Noctua fans a while back too.
I finally got around to installing the Finned heatsinks on the casing exterior adjacent to where the transistors use the Meanwell's case as a heatsink. Lots of filing/ grinding and drilling of aluminum was required to get the heatsinks to sit nice and flush in the case depressions, and still allow access to the screw heads, which in the following pictures are covered with blue tape to keep the Arctic Silver Thermal epoxy out.
I have not yet permanently mounted the 10 turn 1000 ohm potentiometer. Right now some foam rubber holds it in place between the 2 fans. The Caig Deoxit F5 fader lube has not had to be reapplied. The Pot has exhibited no flares when turning as it did when newer, before the original applications of F5. It seems I went a little light on the first application making the second necessary.
Dialing in voltage to 0.01v is still simple, and a joy.
With the new heat sinks in place, the Meanwell's extremely loud and powerful 40MM computer still kicked on tonight, in 85F temps at 40 amps output, but it also shut down at 34 amps, and if memory serves, before the additional, heatsinks the fan shut off at 24 amps, and at 75F ambient temps, so this is an easily noticeable improvement in cooling ability.
I've never put the Meanwell on a timer. There have been a few times where it held my Northstar AGM at 14.4v overnight, unintentionally, and the battery simply would not accept even 0.01a in the morning. The battery 'appears' no worse for wear from these overcharging episodes. I can not detect any capacity loss. It still quickly rebounds to over 12.2v with 45 AH removed from it.
The screwy31 has been taken out of the RV, but still gets cycled powering some lights and my old 12v tv in my workshop, and gets charged weekly, and takes 35 to 45 AH before amps taper to under 2 at 14.7v. No more Hydrometer dippings for it. Not sure I am even going to use it as a core charge on a future t-1275, as it fits my needs in the workshop nicely.
The 90AH Northstar AGM 27 has been both engine and house battery for a few months now, and gets 3 to 4 cycles to 50% each week. Mostly solar recharged but after 4 cycles I feed it 40 amps from the Meanwell to restore its performance. The Meanwell also will float it all night long at 13.5v for 2 to 3 days a week. I'm not really too worried about babying the Northstar. It needs to earn its keep, and if plugging in is a hassle, it gets cycled. It started my engine easily with 65 AH removed from it the other morning, and gobbled up huge alternator amperages from my latest reman'd alternator, the previous one having failed with a shorted stator from much abuse.
This power supply has been awesome. I love the thing and am extremely happy I never bought a regular converter or other automatic charging source. I love how it can seemingly hold 40 amps for as long as my battery can take it, and do it without blinking, and now, without excessively hot casing temperatures.
Thank you Westend for mailing me those heatsinks and extra fans. Sorry it took me so long to get them adhered to the casing of the Meanwell and pics uploaded to this thread.
The heatsinks certainly do their job nicely. They get quite warm extracting the heat from the casing and transistors. The thermal epoxy is easy to work with and the bond appears to be quite solid.
I might even hook up the 60mm fans to the finned heatsinks as originally designed, and on a switch to keep them even cooler for the total overkill factor.
I've not gotten a kilowatt or one of those adapters which would allow me to measure AC current consumed at max output Via my Clampmeter. I will update this thread when I do.
Just recently I decided to give it a tune up. Some of my earliest 45 amp powerpoles crimps were deteriorating from many hundreds of connections/ disconnections, and the fact that the Meanwell is mounted on a cabinet door. So the connectors see stresses from opening and closing too on rather stiff 8awg cable. The copper under the set screws had also oxidized. They got cut off and Caig Deoxit shield applied to the shiny new copper before retightening.
I've gotten a lot better at soldering, I cut off the old 45amp powerpoles and crimped and then soldered on new ones to the 8AWG.
The Fan blades were certainly dusty. Many a Qtip dipped in 91% rubbing alcohol was required to make them look new again. There was some dust inside the casing too, and this came off easily with a bottle brush. I had acquired the correct size fan grilles 60 and 80mm for the Noctua fans a while back too.
I finally got around to installing the Finned heatsinks on the casing exterior adjacent to where the transistors use the Meanwell's case as a heatsink. Lots of filing/ grinding and drilling of aluminum was required to get the heatsinks to sit nice and flush in the case depressions, and still allow access to the screw heads, which in the following pictures are covered with blue tape to keep the Arctic Silver Thermal epoxy out.
I have not yet permanently mounted the 10 turn 1000 ohm potentiometer. Right now some foam rubber holds it in place between the 2 fans. The Caig Deoxit F5 fader lube has not had to be reapplied. The Pot has exhibited no flares when turning as it did when newer, before the original applications of F5. It seems I went a little light on the first application making the second necessary.
Dialing in voltage to 0.01v is still simple, and a joy.
With the new heat sinks in place, the Meanwell's extremely loud and powerful 40MM computer still kicked on tonight, in 85F temps at 40 amps output, but it also shut down at 34 amps, and if memory serves, before the additional, heatsinks the fan shut off at 24 amps, and at 75F ambient temps, so this is an easily noticeable improvement in cooling ability.
I've never put the Meanwell on a timer. There have been a few times where it held my Northstar AGM at 14.4v overnight, unintentionally, and the battery simply would not accept even 0.01a in the morning. The battery 'appears' no worse for wear from these overcharging episodes. I can not detect any capacity loss. It still quickly rebounds to over 12.2v with 45 AH removed from it.
The screwy31 has been taken out of the RV, but still gets cycled powering some lights and my old 12v tv in my workshop, and gets charged weekly, and takes 35 to 45 AH before amps taper to under 2 at 14.7v. No more Hydrometer dippings for it. Not sure I am even going to use it as a core charge on a future t-1275, as it fits my needs in the workshop nicely.
The 90AH Northstar AGM 27 has been both engine and house battery for a few months now, and gets 3 to 4 cycles to 50% each week. Mostly solar recharged but after 4 cycles I feed it 40 amps from the Meanwell to restore its performance. The Meanwell also will float it all night long at 13.5v for 2 to 3 days a week. I'm not really too worried about babying the Northstar. It needs to earn its keep, and if plugging in is a hassle, it gets cycled. It started my engine easily with 65 AH removed from it the other morning, and gobbled up huge alternator amperages from my latest reman'd alternator, the previous one having failed with a shorted stator from much abuse.
This power supply has been awesome. I love the thing and am extremely happy I never bought a regular converter or other automatic charging source. I love how it can seemingly hold 40 amps for as long as my battery can take it, and do it without blinking, and now, without excessively hot casing temperatures.
Thank you Westend for mailing me those heatsinks and extra fans. Sorry it took me so long to get them adhered to the casing of the Meanwell and pics uploaded to this thread.
The heatsinks certainly do their job nicely. They get quite warm extracting the heat from the casing and transistors. The thermal epoxy is easy to work with and the bond appears to be quite solid.
I might even hook up the 60mm fans to the finned heatsinks as originally designed, and on a switch to keep them even cooler for the total overkill factor.
I've not gotten a kilowatt or one of those adapters which would allow me to measure AC current consumed at max output Via my Clampmeter. I will update this thread when I do.
