Picked up a Kikusui PMC18-5A for $150. Good upgrade? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: tylerssims
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2022, 08:19:24 pm
content: Hi everyone,I purchased this Kikusui power supply off Craiglist yesterday as an upgrade/companion to my Tekpower TP3005T. The Tekpower unit works well, but it is loud and cheap, and I feel a bit uneasy powering expensive devices with it. I can't find much discussion about the Kikusui supplies but have seen this unit sell for well over $500 USD. Does anyone have any experience with Kikusui? The owner's manual is extremely well written and the supply works well. My 121GW multimeter is arriving today so I'm excited to test it later! Just curious what yall think about the purchase, I'm fairly new to the test equipment world.It's gorgeous inside and I can post pics if anyone's interested.Cheers!

author: armandine2
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 01, 2022, 09:16:03 pm
content: Yes - I went for Kikusui for my power supplies. They appealed to me but I think they're still quite rare, in general.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2022, 03:19:10 am
content: I used to have an old green linear Kikusui power supply. It was heavy but was a good one. I have some Kikusui TE around but I haven't used or seen it it in a while. IIRC it's an oscilloscope calibrator. Kikusui seems to make good stuff but it's rare in the US and I doubt that you'd ever find manuals in English for it. As long as the stuff works then you're good to go but if it breaks you may have a boat anchor on your hands.

author: tylerssims
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 02, 2022, 03:42:10 am
content: There is a Kikusui America website and they have an extensive manual for it in English luckily! So far it looks like it running well. Did yours break or did you upgrade?

author: J-R
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 03, 2022, 03:18:03 am
content: Some on ebay are made in China, some in Japan, interesting.Looking at the manual, this for sure has some nifty extra features. Controlling the output via the rear connection, easy to calibrate, remote sense...Typically my main gripe with such supplies are the 10 turn pots. They can be annoying depending on the workload.I see these are typically set to 100V, did you modify it or was it already configured for 120V?

author: tylerssims
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2022, 10:25:41 pm
content: That is interesting, mine is made in Japan:)The features do look cool! I'm going to try the remote sense soon. Are these pretty uncommon with a lot of similar supplies?This one is set at 100v with a 10%+/- tolerance. My mains is 120V, so 10V above the 110V it's rated for:/ I see that they make a 117V version in the manual. Do you think it might be relatively easy to modify it to the 117V spec? I'm going to look into it. It's obviously been working fine at 120V for quite some time but I know it's not within the performance envelope.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2022, 03:42:07 am
content: Quote from: tylerssims on August 02, 2022, 03:42:10 amIf that was directed at me, then yes I upgraded to a newer HP supply. There was nothing wrong with the Kikusui supply that I had except that it was so fricken heavy! I don't remember getting rid of it so it's probably still around here somewhere. I think that I did search for a manual for it but I couldn't even find a mention of that model. The controls were so simple that I didn't need a manual to operate it. I have no idea how old it was but it looked like something that was built in the 1970s. I never opened it up so I can't even tell you what sort of technology it used inside but it definitely had a massive transformer in it.Actually I think that I may have given it to one of my ham buddies. He has a phobia about using switcher power supplies because of RF noise so he's always looking for well made heavy duty linear power supplies.