My KPA1500 just blew up for the third time... gonna go back again. Forced us to run LP in CQWW this weekend as it exploded just two days ahead of the contest. No reason for the explosion that I can tell... radio worked fine on the antenna system without the amp after the explosion.
Previously it went back for: 1. MeanWell Power Supply failure. (Hey, it happens). 2. Blew up the blocking capacitors in the final output circuit (teeny suckers, no reason for it). This time I got a hard failure/low gain so figure it's gonna be final transistors. Thinking of going back to tube amps because they are much more forgiving! Dr. William J. Schmidt - K9HZ J68HZ 8P6HK ZF2HZ PJ4/K9HZ VP5/K9HZ PJ2/K9HZ VP2EHZ email: [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2022 10:44 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Elecraft] KPA1500 RELIABILITY Is there a common component failure with this KPA1500 amp or does something different break every time? Is there a certain mode, power level or type of antenna/feedline that causes failures? I also monitor the SPE Expert list and some people have multiple LDMOS failures while others have no issues ever. N4ZR posted a similar question two months ago when someone else had multiple LDMOS failures and I did not see any responses. http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/elecraft/2022-August/290628.html GL, John KK9A W3AB wrote: I don't have one but I do have access to one. It is making UPS rich going back and forth. Is there a reliability issue with these amps? --- 73 de W3AB/GEO ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected] ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to [email protected]
