Spellman DXM70N600X3547 power supplies on ebay -70kV 8.56MA

[William Kelly]

Keep in mind that fusion rate increases exponentially with voltage, if you have a 70kV supply, I'd recommend running 70kV. Any reason why you want 12ft of HV cable? The supply can be remotely controlled, you can mount it close to your fusor and control it at a distance. I believe you can order cable with a CA11 on one end and no connector on the other. For the spellman supply, 2 pairs of the 4 pins are connected in parallel, (HV and fil) and (fil return). Since they pot the cables and pins you probably would want the cables with 4 conductors.

Well, Some of the parts that I plan to buy and I think have are only rated for around 30-40kv. Namely the Huntington 2.75" viewport as well as the MDC power feedthrough. Also, my chamber is made out of all solid titanium(if this is of any help). Titanium and steel, i believe, become saturated with x-rays and neutrons at 30kv and they start to diffuse out of the chamber becoming harmful to anyone in proximity. Also if i were to get a higher rated power feedthrough from MDC they cost thousands (literally) more. Those are just some of the reasons. As for the conductors and pins and pairs you speak of I quite honestly have no idea what you are talking about not being well versed in the subject. However, I would like to buy a cable from you(I said 12 feet just in case but if you think less, that should be alright) and if you or anyone else would be able to connect the cable to the MDC ceramic feedthrough for me, for a little extra if you need, that would be great as I am by no means an electrician and have no intention of being electrocuted. Thanks!
- William

[Dan Knapp]

For the DXM power supplies there is no point in having a cable with more than two conductors since the pins are internally connected as pairs, i.e. C and S are connected internally and L and G are connected internally.
Some of William's comments suggest a level of unfamiliarity such as to constitute a significant safety hazard. I would strongly advise that he find a qualified mentor before proceeding much further. This stuff can be lethal.

[William Kelly]

For the DXM power supplies there is no point in having a cable with more than two conductors since the pins are internally connected as pairs, i.e. C and S are connected internally and L and G are connected internally.
Some of William's comments suggest a level of unfamiliarity such as to constitute a significant safety hazard. I would strongly advise that he find a qualified mentor before proceeding much further. This stuff can be lethal.

Thanks for your concern! I do have a mentor from PPPL (Princeton Plasma Physics Lab). He also told me about such risks. We concluded that I would build the reactor as I was, however, at the end I will hire an electrician to examine the fusor before any operation.

-William

[Andrew Seltzman]

Some more notes on the operation of these supplies:

1) The connector is only rated to full voltage when mated, it will likely flash over if you run the supply up to 70kV for testing without a connector installed. Up to 10kV is fine without a connector for sure. The matlab code that I uploaded should by default ramp the supply up to 5kv then back down to 0.

2) You will need to jumper pins 11-12 in the J2 control IO port to enable the interlock for HV output.

3) These supplies may produce an overvoltage error when running unloaded at very low setpoint voltage(<1kV) or when running unloaded and given rapid decrease in set point voltage

4) The supplies that I received were pretty dusty inside, you may want to blow yours out before running it at full output

[William Kelly]

Some more notes on the operation of these supplies:

1) The connector is only rated to full voltage when mated, it will likely flash over if you run the supply up to 70kV for testing without a connector installed. Up to 10kV is fine without a connector for sure. The matlab code that I uploaded should by default ramp the supply up to 5kv then back down to 0.

2) You will need to jumper pins 11-12 in the J2 control IO port to enable the interlock for HV output.

3) These supplies may produce an overvoltage error when running unloaded at very low setpoint voltage(<1kV) or when running unloaded and given rapid decrease in set point voltage

4) The supplies that I received were pretty dusty inside, you may want to blow yours out before running it at full output

Taking this into consideration, would anyone be able to make a cable with 2-4 conductors and attach it to an MDC ceramic feedthrough(http://www.mdcvacuum.com/DisplayProduct ... 1&g=m61034). Again, I will be willing to cover the cost of the purchase of the feedthrough, the CA11 cable, as well as any assembly, shipping and construction costs one might feel reasonable. Thanks as always!

-William

[Richard Hull]

William and others....Please stop quoting the post just above the one you are responding to. It is really rather stupid. We have gone over that many times before, here. It is naturally assumed that we can all read and have read the preceding post. Try just simply replying in future. You will find we have a higher order of folks here who do not need, nor desire, to read the same thing twice over and over again.

Richard Hull

[Jim Kovalchick]

FYI - Mine was DOA out of the box. I took off the top panel and found the line in fuses are missing. I'm starting to worry these are repair shop scrap. Once I get some fuses I guess I'll know for sure.

[Liam David]

One of mine was also DOA, even though I can hear a humming noise emanating from somewhere. I checked both input fuses and they were fine, and power was going to the board, but nothing. The one that works came on immediately; the Ethernet connector blinked a few times, the fan came on, and the power indicator lit up. There are no obvious burnouts or discolorations on the top board, and the DOA one was pretty clean inside.

[Andrew Seltzman]

Both mine were Ok and tested good with the 5kv ramp(haven't done a full voltage/power test yet), although one is very dusty inside and both have some dents in the case. I found a broken piece of a 0.05ohm shunt resistor in one of mine, though it's apparently not from my supply, it must have gotten in through the fan grate.

Everyone check your supplies for operation, remember there is a right of return on these supplies if they don't work.

For those with DOA supplies, what problems are they having?

For those with good supplies, please test them(with the matlab program if possible) and report in.

[Dan Knapp]

I haven't received mine yet but will test it on arrival.
Andrew, could you give us a little more information on using your Matlab driver. I've never used Matlab to drive an instrument, have only used it for computational applications. I assume your driver has to run under Matlab, correct?
Do you need to do anything with port setup before running, or does the driver code take care of that? Any further advice would be appreciated.

[Sihao Huang]

One of my units was DOA.
No visible component damage. Fan does not spin when powered on (no lights either).
I swapped the power conditioning/fuse section with my other known good supply. Powered it on and arced (high current)+ smoked on mid-section (between heat sinks and DSP). Opened the unit and could not identify the failure.
Going to get new fuses and test the other unit.

To others who have units which are broken: did you contact the seller yet and what was the reply?

[Jerry Biehler]

FWIW, never swap parts between a power supply that works and one that does not. You have a very high probability of ending up with two power supplies that don't work.

[Sarvesh Sadana]

The one I purchased seems to work. When plugged in, the fan turned on, the Ethernet light blinked a few times, and the power status light turned on.

The inside didn't seem to be very dusty, but I cleaned it to make sure.

I don't have the cables necessary to do the 5kv ramp as of now.

Would Ethernet patch cables and a USB type A to B suffice in controlling it? Or are the RS232 and jumpers necessary for operation?

[Andrew Seltzman]

I haven't looked into controlling it over USB

You will need to install an interlock jumper(jumper pins 11-12 on the 15 pin connector) to enable the HV. You will not need a HV cable installed to do the 5kV ramp test(you will require it at higher voltage since the connector is not rated to the full voltage unless mated to the proper HV connector; without it it will probably arc to the case).

I was testing mine with it plugged into am Ethernet switch common to my computer, I have not tested it with a direct connection to the computer. The matlab test program requires an ethernet connection to the supply to control/monitor it.

Here is a newer version of the matlab control program with better comments, it should run as configured and produce a 5kV ramp

DXM_control2.zip

(2.22 KiB) Downloaded 415 times

This has to be run in matlab, but should work as configured. Matlab will handle connecting to the supply as well as HV control and monitoring.
More info on the TCP commands can be found in the manual starting on page 63 of the PDF
http://www.spellmanhv.com/-/media/Files ... DXMMAN.pdf

When run as provided it should produce the following plot

the red overvoltage light should turn on at 10s when the kV_set is turned to 0 and the program should have output something like this to the terminal:

Spellman DXM Control
HV On Hours= 21,93.1,
Status= 22,0,0,1,1,
DSP Version= 23,SWM0113-008,
Hardware Version= 24,L05,
Webserver Version= 25,SWM0030-003,
Model Number= 26,X3547,Q-003,
Network Settings= 50,DXM70N600X3547,192.168.1.4,50001,255.0.0.0,00:40:9D:2F:10:27,
Interlock Status= 55,0,
Faults= 68,0,0,1,0,0,0,

Prog kV Set= 10,$,
Prog mA Set= 11,$,
Prog Fil Lim Set= 12,$,
Prog Fil Preheat Set= 13,$,
Req kV Set= 14,0,
Req mA Set= 15,0,
Req Fil Lim Set= 16,0,
Req Fil Preheat Set= 17,0,
Req Analog Mon= 19,0,0,0,
Req kV Mon= 60,0,
Req mA Mon= 61,0,
Req Fil Feedback= 62,0,
Req -15V LVPS= 65,1673,
Local/Remote= 99,$,
HV On/Off= 98,$,

Data Run
Local/Remote= 99,$,
HV On/Off= 98,$,
Prog mA Set= 11,$,
Time= 0.021608 kV_set= 2 kV_mon= 1.453
Time= 0.9284 kV_set= 2 kV_mon= 1.9487
Time= 1.3931 kV_set= 2 kV_mon= 1.9487
Time= 1.8092 kV_set= 2 kV_mon= 1.9487
Time= 2.1963 kV_set= 2.1963 kV_mon= 2.0513
Time= 2.6578 kV_set= 2.6578 kV_mon= 2.2906
Time= 3 kV_set= 3 kV_mon= 2.8034
Time= 3.3467 kV_set= 3.3467 kV_mon= 3.0085
Time= 3.6817 kV_set= 3.6817 kV_mon= 3.4188
Time= 4.0219 kV_set= 4.0219 kV_mon= 3.8974
Time= 4.3578 kV_set= 4.3578 kV_mon= 4.0342
Time= 4.6878 kV_set= 4.6878 kV_mon= 4.4274
Time= 5.0189 kV_set= 4.9811 kV_mon= 4.8547
Time= 5.3558 kV_set= 4.6442 kV_mon= 4.8376
Time= 5.6889 kV_set= 4.3111 kV_mon= 4.3761
Time= 6.0268 kV_set= 3.9732 kV_mon= 3.9658
Time= 6.3585 kV_set= 3.6415 kV_mon= 3.8291
Time= 6.6978 kV_set= 3.3022 kV_mon= 3.4359
Time= 7.0307 kV_set= 2.9693 kV_mon= 3.2308
Time= 7.3698 kV_set= 2.6302 kV_mon= 2.8376
Time= 7.7058 kV_set= 2.2942 kV_mon= 2.4615
Time= 8.0379 kV_set= 2 kV_mon= 2.188
Time= 8.3685 kV_set= 2 kV_mon= 1.8632
Time= 8.6968 kV_set= 2 kV_mon= 1.9487
Time= 9.0365 kV_set= 2 kV_mon= 1.9487
Time= 10.1553 kV_set= 0 kV_mon= 1.9145
Time= 10.4953 kV_set= 0 kV_mon= 1.5385
Time= 10.8303 kV_set= 0 kV_mon= 1.2479
Time= 11.1702 kV_set= 0 kV_mon= 1.0256
Time= 11.5091 kV_set= 0 kV_mon= 0.83761
Time= 11.8457 kV_set= 0 kV_mon= 0.66667
Prog kV Set= 10,$,
Prog mA Set= 11,$,
Req kV Set= 14,0,
Req mA Set= 15,0,
Local/Remote= 99,$,
HV On/Off= 98,$,

[Sarvesh Sadana]

Ah, darn. According to the manual:

The Ethernet interface has the following attributes:
...
Supported Operating Systems: Windows 98 2ED, Windows 2000 (SP2), Windows NT (SP6), Windows XP Professional

Have you found that to be the case? I have a mac, so it has neither the Ethernet port, nor the correct operating system.

Also, would you mind posting a picture of your setup?

[Rich Feldman]

Received my PS, but haven't yet read enough of the manual to try powering up the unit. Found a connector in junk box that fits J2; might try the analog controls before the digital approach.

You know those four receptacle contacts in the HV connector? I verified that 2mm "bullet connectors" from the hobby store, which are stubby miniature banana plugs, plug in very nicely.

http://www.e-fliterc.com/Products/Defau ... =EFLAEC208 http://stores.aeromicro.com/ec2-device-connector-2/

Andrew, please tell Bern Bareis thanks from me for the PS tip. I hope we haven't seen the last of his posts at this forum, and that he didn't feel unwelcome here.

[edit]
Young William wrote: "The extent of my knowledge is that: I need this power source to transfer at the very minimum around 35kv to the vacuum MDC feedthrough. So what I need chords for are: firstly, from the plug on my wall to the power supply next from the power supply to a computer as that is how you control the output I believe and then finally from the power supply to the MDC feedthrough on the vacuum chamber."

Sorry, you have to show more progress on learning about electricity before getting help from me. It's not a thing to skip on the road to fusion, though a couple of neutron clubbers have gotten away with it.

[Jim Kovalchick]

Put in new line in fuses, and my unit now powers up and connects to the router. I can't test the HV yet because I'm staying in a corporate leased apartment and don't know the xfinity modem's user name. That keeps me from figuring out the supply address. I was thinking of guessing up to 255 times lol.

[Jim Kovalchick]

I've come to the conclusion that my unit is not obtaining an address from my router. It does not show up in network scans. The yellow light is lit on both my router and unit but green never flashes on the router. Only the unit. Any advice would be appreciated.

I suppose I can keep the unit on the chance that I can still set up control manually. Maybe more trouble for me than its worth.

[Jim Stead]

The manual suggests the IP of the supply is statically assigned. Assuming it hasn't been changed by the last owner, it should be 192.168.1.4

[Andrew Seltzman]

The yellow light staying on is normal behavior when it's not actively communicating with anything. The Ip should be 192.168.1.4 on all supplies by default. Try connecting to it with the matlab program or typing the Ip address into the web browser.

From the manual where it says: Ethernet Supported Operating Systems: Windows 98 2ED, Windows 2000 (SP2), Windows NT (SP6), Windows XP Professional, this refers to operation of the java applet over the web server only, ex the webserver won't launch the java control applet in win7 or win10, you should be able to connect to the supply in a web browser in all operating systems though and it should bring up the webserver page, just not launch the applet for all OS.

Ethernet communication works fine across all operating systems though, and matlab or any other TCP system should be able to control the supply.

[William Kelly]

Has there been any developments on the CA11 cable issue yet?
- William

[Liam David]

I have found the failure point in my power supply. A IRFBG30 mosfet blew out on the top board and came right off the board in pieces. I'll be ordering a replacement and will see what happens. I hope it didn't cause a chain of failures, or vise versa.

Location of the blowout




Removed mosfet

[Peter Schmelcher]

I bought 2 supplies, one works and one is dead (it even came with a toe tag). I’m considering fixing it and that is not something I undertake lightly. The circuit board is visibly burnt and some high current components are cooked. It’s a crapshoot without a schematic or phrased another way “Do you feel lucky… punk”. My impression is that it is a good modern DSP (Digital Signal Processor) design worth repairing -stay tuned.

Looking at the DXM brochure and manual I see the 300W model input voltage is 90 to 265VAC while the 600W and 1200W models input voltage is 180 to 264VAC. More input voltage equals more output power.

Our supply has a custom model suffix X3547 with nameplate input voltage of 115VAC and with output specifications implying 600W, so they are oddballs. Perhaps the 600W ratting at 115VAC is not continuous!

Given that some of these supplies have failed, caution might suggest that at 120VAC operation be restricted to 300W until more technical details are known.

-Peter

[Andrew Seltzman]

I was in contact with Cliff Scapellati at Spellman when I first got a supply of this model a year ago. The custom model X3547 is designed to operate at 115vac at full power continuously. Please post pictures of the damage to the board.

I believe it is possible to test the functionality of the digital control circuitry by applying 24Vdc to the power supply fan connector without plugging in the power supply to the AC mains. The fan connector is in parallel with the main 24v bus that gets regulated down for all the digital and control logic. This should in theory power up the control board, bypassing the AC power input circuitry that may be damaged. If the control board powers up, try to run the matlab program and post the output.

If the digital circuitry is unharmed it might be possible to debug the input power electronics and repair the supply, if the digital circuitry is bad, the supply is likely beyond repair.

[Rich Feldman]

Thanks for the 24 VDC jump-start tip, Andrew.

The club of DOA power supply owners includes me. Some observations and questions:

1. Top comes off w/ 9 identical screws. The small sheet metal box covering fuse and filter module is deluxe -- note welded corners.

2. Let's compare notes on fuses, in case the one I found blown is different from the type installed by Spellman. It says 10A 250 V 314. A Littelfuse 314-series fast blow ceramic body (powder filled) cartridge, like those in MWO's. I need to buy replacements, or use a plain glass 10 amp fuse before moving forward.

3. There are no obviously damaged components. Sniffing closely reveals no burned-electric-stuff smell. (The human nose is a valuable diagnostic tool.)

4. My unit's s/n is 101825126-A00370. Sticker also says REV:AW 10/13 (maybe that's the sticker rev). The remains of a hand-written annotation on the metal, near s/n sticker, says "installed 4/17/13".

5. This not-so-old model apparently isn't rare in junkyards. Here is a website with new units (rev L) for $81. Out of stock. https://www.nriparts.com/electrical/con ... wer-supply