A Dive into the ZMP500-30SX-F-TD PSU

by Cristian Turbeville

Lately, I have been very interested in upgrading my rack's power supply! My current PSU is quite loud and is not consistent with its output VDC. Output VDC constantly fluctuates ±2 V from its set VDC; hence, the PSU can handle variable output. Due to my unique power failover set up, I needed a PSU that can accurately output 29 to 31 VDC; that's when I started searching through DigiKey's catalog!

The ZMP500-30SX-F-TD by ETA-USA immediately caught my eye! It’s a 500W enclosed AC/DC converter designed for medical and industrial applications. I immediately knew this would be perfect for my use case.

Here are some pictures from the experiment, shout out to my dad for helping!

• The 5 x 100 Ohm power resistors
• • https://blob.cturbeville.systems/IMG_2168.jpeg
• The wiring setup
• • https://blob.cturbeville.systems/IMG_2169.jpeg
• Measured Amperage
• • https://blob.cturbeville.systems/IMG_2170.jpeg
• Measured Voltage (Incredibly stable)
• • https://blob.cturbeville.systems/IMG_2171.jpeg
• How hot things got 🔥🔥
• • https://blob.cturbeville.systems/IMG_2172.jpeg
  • https://blob.cturbeville.systems/IMG_2173.jpeg
  • https://blob.cturbeville.systems/IMG_2174.jpeg

What amazed us was the low noise level of the PSU even under the expected load of ~300 watts continuously. One of the most exciting features that I am eager to explore is the capability to connect up to four of these PSUs in parallel for load sharing!