[time-nuts] Re: Z3801A questions

[Mahlon Haunschild]

My inrush current limiter assortment arrived yesterday, so today I tried a 20 ohm 9 amp ICL in series with the Z3801A positive supply line. Success!  The receiver starts reliably and continues to run, with only a one volt drop across the ICL.

The ICL is a very simple solution to this problem, and I’m surprised that it hasn’t been thought of before (unless of course I just didn’t run across it).  

I think the permanent solution will be to internally-mount a pair of 10 ohm 9 amp ICLs in series; the single 20 ohm part gets quite warm, and I prefer to spread the heat across more than one of these ICLs.

There’s probably a better part choice than what I am using, by the way.  I chose the part because I knew that I wanted to limit the load on the Vicor power supply to 3 amps (20 ohms is close enough, it seems).

Will report back once the unit warms up (and the current drops to steady-state) if there are any further issues.  No news will be good news, in this case.

Best regards

Mahlon - N4ZK

> On May 28, 2023, at 8:11 PM, Mahlon Haunschild <k4oq.radio at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Thanks, but I already thought of that.  Nope.  Still inop.
> 
> I’ve done relay-switched step-starts in the past for other applications, I’ll probably go that route if I can’t get an ICL to work.
> 
> Thanks all.
> 
> Mahlon - N4ZK
> 
>