ELENOS ETG 1000 - Power Supply

[BriansBrain]

Hi guys

There are ELENOS ETG 1000W available for a reasonable price

But I have been warned by a friend of mine who has used many of these said...

The power supplies tend to be a bit temperamental.
I have a few of the ETG 1000's and have had PSU failures with most of them but typically after power outages.

Anyone got any experience with these units ?

Pictures are not from the unit available.

ELENOS ETG 1000-s.jpg

ELENOS ETG 1000 PSU-s.jpg

[mikroman]

I have one, it currently serves as a replacement. I didn't have any problems with the PSU, but I definitely recommend installation 1: 1 isolation transformer with this device

[Krakatoa]

If it hasn't blown up, it may be a start up problem like an auxiliary power supply that fails to start, like in computers that go dead after disconnecting from the mains for some time. In this case, very probable that there is some dry electrolytic capacitor.

[BriansBrain]

I have one, it currently serves as a replacement. I didn't have any problems with the PSU, but I definitely recommend installation 1: 1 isolation transformer with this device

Why exactly ?

[teckniqs]

Surely an anti-surge protector is more what you would need.

....I would still expect a 1:1 transformer voltage secondary winding output to still increase if there is power surge on primary input winding??

[BriansBrain]

Surely an anti-surge protector is more what you would need.

Knowing this guy that I mentioned in my first post...
I would of assumed that there was already a anti-surge protection system in place in the RF shacks.

....I would still expect a 1:1 transformer voltage secondary winding output to still increase if there is power surge on primary input winding??

This is true
But the current would be limited to the power of the transformer

[mikroman]

SMPS is very sensitive to sudden voltage changes either caused by thunderstorms, or short voltage spikes caused by poor electrical network. From experience, I maintain 4 TX locations, wherever there are problematic fluctuations in the public power network SMPS is bound to suffer. In extreme conditions even with a 1: 1 transformer the device will crash, but in 20 years of experience I have had only one such case (combination of atmospheric discharge and poor grounding).

[BriansBrain]

... but in 20 years of experience I have had only one such case (combination of atmospheric discharge and poor grounding).

All I can go by is by the comments my friend has given me regarding the ETG1000

I like Elenos equipment, my only observation is the power supplies tend to be a bit temperamental.
I have a few of the ETG 1000's and have had PSU failures with most of them but typically after power outages.
+
One of the stations I engineer for in Ireland also used to have ETG1000's and had the same issue.

His experiences was from locations in Ireland and the island of Tenerife
He told me he never tried to repair them. they installed some ebay China PSU's

Also I am in Gran Canaria.
We get a lot of mains glitches and spikes even before we talk about atmospheric discharges

So I was asking if anyone had similar issues with the said power supplies and if they could be easily repaired ?

Here is a picture of an original Dead PS

ELENOS ETG1000 PSU-5-s.jpg

[radium98]

smd i am out sadly smps became theses days very hard to repair without any schematics,and over priced,and the manufacture does not need any one to repair them,from a freind experience and hex inside etc,very and rarely hard to repair them and sensitive devices,yess less current hungry then a transfo ,but i prefer old technologie and heavy load and weight .

[BriansBrain]

smd i am out sadly smps became theses days very hard to repair without any schematics,and over priced,and the manufacture does not need any one to repair them,from a freind experience and hex inside etc,very and rarely hard to repair them and sensitive devices,yess less current hungry then a transfo ,but i prefer old technologie and heavy load and weight .

Could anybody translate that for me

[Marcel]

I have repaired a lot (+/- 40) which sometimes happens that a 10 ohm protection resistor in the power supply breaks.

What is worse about this old type of ETG that are a lot of problems with the driver board (ALL type of ETG).
Especially the ENA5 and now also the BLF404 cause MANY problems (is also no longer available).
Because the fans run so fast , a lot of dust and even worse condensation gets to the driver board with all its consequences.

I personally think this type of transmitter is really badly made.

[Albert H]

I got really fed up with dying SMPSUs. They're very convenient in many ways, and they're (typically) smaller and lighter than the same output traditional supply, but their reliability is dreadful. If you buy expensive ones (like "Advance" and a few others) you might get luck, but I prefer a big toroid, a bridge rectifier and lots of big smoothing capacitors. I often use an inrush current limiter (a relay, a lightbulb and a simple timing circuit is the simplest one), so that you can use reasonably fast blow fuses to protect the gear, but prevent them popping because of the switch-on surge.

A traditional PSU is less likely to put ripples on the supply, thereby avoiding the nasty spurs often seen from SMPSUs driving rigs. You MUST bypass every diode junction with a few nano farads and any regulators need really good RF bypassing. If you use a couple of high power Schottky diodes, it's trivially easy to provide a rig with battery back-up so you stay on the air if there's a brief power cut. (A favourite trick of the "authorities" looking for a couple of the political pirates in Belgrade some years ago was to interrupt the supply to a neighbourhood in an effort to narrow down the location of the transmitter!).

I suppose I'm a bit old fashioned!

[BriansBrain]

I have repaired a lot (+/- 40) which sometimes happens that a 10 ohm protection resistor in the power supply breaks.

What is worse about this old type of ETG that are a lot of problems with the driver board (ALL type of ETG).
Especially the ENA5 and now also the BLF404 cause MANY problems (is also no longer available).
Because the fans run so fast , a lot of dust and even worse condensation gets to the driver board with all its consequences.

I personally think this type of transmitter is really badly made.

Great information, just the sort of thing I need

Thanks a lot

[BriansBrain]

I prefer a big toroid, a bridge rectifier and lots of big smoothing capacitors.

I'm with you on this, expensive, heavy... but... solid, reliable and easy to service

I often use an inrush current limiter (a relay, a lightbulb and a simple timing circuit is the simplest one), so that you can use reasonably fast blow fuses to protect the gear, but prevent them popping because of the switch-on surge.

I used to do this with the high power audio amplifier racks I used to build for the disco industry in the 1980's.
Used to use a 1000w Par 64, the (always had them in stock) spare for the lighting rigs.

I suppose I'm a bit old fashioned!

Nothing wrong with liking the old ideas and gear

I like old gear, especially Tektronix scopes

This is my 7854 built in 1989

Tektronix 7854- in Brian's room.jpg