FARNELL ADVANCED POWERMAG A1500 Manual Needed

[AJ3G]

All:

I picked up one of these on eBay, and need a manual for it:

http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/100779.pdf

If anyone can point me in the right direction, would be appreciated. I am not sure what the story on this company is, but I think they may have gone out of business. I picked up one of their power supplies as the back end to a RIDEN controller. 

Thanks in Advance!

Rich

[Cerebus]

It might we worth asking them, one of the forum members (offhand I forget who) had good results with an old product they picked up second-hand and got a very helpful response. As always, your mileage may vary.

[AJ3G]

Hi Cerebus:

I see that they are a UK Company. Do you know if they are still in existence? If not, would you happen to know who may have acquired them?

Rich

[Cerebus]

I'm assuming that they are still around. As far as I've always understood they are a division of the the same Farnell that sells components, but with all the mergers/takeover etc. in the distie world it's possible that the power supply division has been spun off separately. The last time I had any contact with them was in the late 70s when a friend was doing his sandwich year in industry there building prototype SMPS when they were still quite a new thing - so my 'insider' knowledge is a bit out of date.

The BABT logo on that data sheet dates the original to the 80s by my reckoning, so at least you know it's an old reliable design. 

Sorry, I realise this isn't particularly helpful.

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi,

Here is a link to the company:

https://advanceproductservices.co.uk/about-us/our-history/

I worked at Gould Advance location in Bishops Stortford in 1979 

Regards,
Jay_Diddy_B

[AJ3G]

Hi Cerebus:

No, you have been helpful. I did not realize the Farnell (whom I have bought parts from), is one in the same as the Farnell who made this supply. That is a lead, and I will write over there to see if anyone can help me with a manual/schematic, or whatever else I can find. I was hoping to avoid tearing it open to verify/reverse engineering what the various pins on the Molex connector are for, and to insure wiring is set for US 115/120VAC.

While I am not afraid of most SMPS’s, 60V @ 25A would make me inclined to obtain as much documentation as I can with the hopes all of the features become clear.

Thanks for writing back, I will see what Farnell has to say about it!

Rich

[Cerebus]

Ah, now that rings a bell, it's slowing coming back to me. I remember the "Farnell Advance" branding now.

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi,

Farnell Power Supply operation was an off shoot or subsidiary of the component distributor.
Farnell component distribution is part of Element14.

The Farnell power supply operation was located in Wetherby, Yorkshire.

Advance had their power supply operation in Bishops Stortford.

In the 1980's they used to make some very similar products, that had the same form factor and were designed to be interchangeable. However, they were competitors.

At some point in the history, they combined.

Many of the power supply companies in the UK can be traced back to four companies.

Advance
Farnell
Weir
Coutant

Jay_Diddy_B

[AJ3G]

Hi Jay_Diddy:

Wow, good information!  I just sent an email out to them to see if by chance they have any documentation on this supply. Hopefully, they have something to offer.

Rich

[Cerebus]

The Farnell power supply operation was located in Wetherby, Yorkshire.

They must have had a facility of some sort in Sussex (possible Burgess Hill from memory) back in the mid/late 70s, as my mate Graham was commuting there every day from Hove/Brighton. Wetherby would have been a bit of a stretch for a daily commute from the south coast. 

[G3VFO]

Hi Rich. Were you able to find anything on this psu? I have the same problem! Thanks, Terry

[AJ3G]

Hi Terry:

No I have not been able to locate any further information. I did take it apart, and it’s a very well built supply. I read some of the sales brochures from similar models, and I would really like a schematic. I have a thermostat circuit for a fan which I think will work, but am concerned as it appears as though the supply logic board reads the Tach, and if none is present may shut the inverter off. The fan is switched on all the time even during light load scenarios.

What I can say is this is a very tightly packed supply. I am almost amazed at how they got all of this stuff into such a package. The mechanical engineering exceeds some of the electronics design in my opinion. With the amount of high current stuff going on in there I would really like a schematic so I am not probing aimlessly.

73

Rich

[nali]

I worked at Gould Advance location in Bishops Stortford in 1979 

Regards,
Jay_Diddy_B

Wow I worked there briefly about 10yrs later doing some contract work whilst between jobs. I can conform the A1500 was made there as I spent most of that time on the production test line for them.

[AJ3G]

Hi Nali:

Wonder if you might recall the following information:

1. Is there in fact protection tied the center pin of the 12V Fan which triggers an inverter shutdown?

2. Notional idea on Power Factor for this Supply and if there is any PF Correction Circuitry?

3. Notional idea on Efficiency numbers?

Rich

[nali]

Hi Nali:

Wonder if you might recall the following information:

1. Is there in fact protection tied the center pin of the 12V Fan which triggers an inverter shutdown?

2. Notional idea on Power Factor for this Supply and if there is any PF Correction Circuitry?

3. Notional idea on Efficiency numbers?

Rich

I can't remember what I had for dinner last night let alone something I did 30+ years ago! I vaguely recall they had a fan fail protection although I had to find a datasheet to check in case that was just suggestive bias at work, here it is: https://www.farnell.com/datasheets/100779.pdf

I don't think I remember any fancy PF correction, but doesn't the inverter PCB lift out as a subassembly by means of an edge connector? That should let you get a better look at it. I didn't have too much technical involvement at the time as I was only testing/troubleshooting on a production line as a contract worker although I did have some quite interesting chats with the designer (who as it turned out wanted to headhunt me but a much better paid job awaited in IT...)

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi,

My best guesses, from the age of the equipment and the technology that was being used at the time:

1) don't know about the fan.

(I do know that the earlier HiFlex units used a shaded pole motor in the fan. The motor had an extra winding that provided auxiliary power!!)

There probably is a temperature sensor somewhere. It will shut down on OT.

2) The PF will be about 0.65. It will draw the typical current waveform from a capacitor input filter. There will be a lot of current harmonics.

3) There is probably no PFC. They were not widely used when this power supply was designed.

4) The efficiency will be about 85-90%. It will be high because you have a high voltage low current  version. The low voltage, high current versions will have lower efficiency.

Jay_Diddy_B

[AJ3G]

When I opened it, the main PCB is located on the bottom, and getting to it is very difficult. There are some Card Edge connections, but its very densely packed. They spared no expense on the supply however, and the EMI/EMC considerations are obvious. To get it completely apart would be a considerable effort, which may be avoided if I had a schematic or information.

I am not seeing any temperature probe on the Heatsink of the inverter. I read in a similar model that if the fan stops, it will trip the inverter. That tells me the fan must have a tach, or pulse based on the revolutions of the fan, which the mainboard must be looking for. The Fan connector is routed through the inverter Heatsink, and onto the main PCB. The connector is almost un reachable without stripping the whole supply down to “parade rest”. The Fan was made in Japan and looks to be a very expensive. I could not pull a data sheet on it, so again I am kind of guessing at this point. I had hoped to place a proper thermostat circuit in line, and attach a temperature probe to the sink.

I do not mind passing along the tach line, but want to make sure that is what I am up against. I am using this as a backend for an adjustable high power bench supply. When consuming a lot of power, I certainly do not mind the fan, but if I am lightly using the supply (<500mA) I would like to quite it down a bit. At the moment it kind of sounds like a jet engine.

Rich

[AJ3G]

I see what I was looking at:

“Fan Fail - Inverter Inhibited if Fan Fails”. So that has to be on top of the temperature sensor.

[G3VFO]

Hi Rich. Thanks for the earlier reply. I am still asking around my local contacts, some of whom may have contemporary experience of using the PSU, and I will let you know if I come up with anything helpful. I intend using the psu for a ham radio VHF amplifier project.

Have you been able to get the psu running? Your comments re fan noise suggest that you have and I would be interested to know what control connections are needed. My example has a Molex plug in 12 pin socket J2. Two of them evidently are for output voltage sensing, (top row of pins, 3rd  and fourth from the left, -ve and +ve respectively), and there are two bullet-connector free leads (one on the  middle row fourth from the left, and the other on the bottom row first on the left). I suspect that these have some kind of command function, but I am reluctant to make assumptions here! Does any of that make sense, based on what you have seen after opening up the beast? Thanks and regards, Terry

[AJ3G]

Hello:

Yes, it appears to be running. I have not load tested it, but that too is in the works. My PSU was wired for 115VAC so I simply made an adapter to mount to the terminals of the AC INPUT for he PSU, plugged it in, and it produced the appropriate voltage. There is a compartment on the side for changing the taps of the transformer from 115 to 240VAC, that you should check. Also, there is a small taper pot located below the DC OUTPUT terminations which allows fine adjust of the voltage. I have set mine up to produce 63VDC.

I have the Voltage sense leads connected between J2 and the Output terminals of the supply. This came Pre wired this way, and I am assuming these are voltage sense connectors. I have no other documentation about the other pins of J3/J2, but could really use them. In my case J2, Top Row, Far Right is V+ and the pin to the left is V-. I have been around enough supplies like this to believe my hypothesis about their functionality is correct, but simply cannot confirm do to a lack of documentation.

There are a series of LEDS which the GREEN is Power OK indication. I have not placed the supply into a OV or Temp fault condition, so I have not had a chance to see those perform. I suspect when I place this on the ProDigit DC Load I might have an opportunity to evaluate the function of those LEDS further.

I am making a dual channel, high power, Bench DC Supply. I am using two RIDEN modules which have been talked about here on the EEVBLOG. The reason for such a build is its a pretty reasonable cost for me to not only get a good lab supply but also have one that I could power such things as RF Amplifiers and other RF goodies. When it comes to DC Lab Supplies, there are not many, at a reasonable cost, which produce enough power to test things such as FET Amplifiers like the one you plan on using yours for.  I also want to see how it will do for making split RAILS..   

73

Rich, AJ3G

[AJ3G]

Hi Terry:

I have been doing some more digging, and I wonder if the two connections you have terminated on J2 are not in fact the External Shutdown? According to the limited documentation available there is a External Shutdown which can be invoked through providing a Logic Level. I am not sure if the Logic Level is High or Low, but I can see an application for it in my design.

What I think this signal is used for is to turn off the unit with AC MAINS Still connected. I have a AC MAINS Switch on the back panel of Bench Supply I am using this for. I would love to be able to shut it off using the External Shutdown feature described in the POWERMAG Brochure referenced in these series of brochures.

73

Rich, AJ3G