[sdiy] +-12V supply

[groovyshaman]

I am curious Harry - what is the advantage of a soft start mechanism?  Does
this in some way help alleviate the initial heavy current outrush that
occurs when turning on the power due to all of the decoupling caps on all of
the modules in my system?

I've noticed that from time to time when I power up the 800ma power one, one
rail "goes flat" due to current limit circuitry I think - and I immediately
shutdown when this occurs.  Hopefully this does not harm things.  (although
I think I remember someone mentioning that running certain ICs with one dead
rail for any length of time will kill the part..)  I'm still running the
supply below the rated output once things power up ok.  It's the initial
current draw that's causing problems.

George

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "harrybissell" <harrybissell at prodigy.net>
To: "Ken Stone" <sasami at hotkey.net.au>
Cc: <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 11:41 PM
Subject: Re: [sdiy] +-12V supply


> I considered building a relay based "soft start" for my PowerOne
> supply as "building my own power supply".  The only time I would
> build my own is....
>
> 1) when I want cheap and dirty and don't care about performance
>
> 2) when it has to fit into a custom sized area
>
> 3) when I need an odd voltage not readily available
>
> H^) harry
>
<snip>