Mark-Rodgers

While trying to clean up my radio desk and get rid of unnecessary wiring, I decided to get rid of a lot of the wall wart (transformer) plugs under my desk. Since most of the electronics I have at the desk run off 12volts, I can use my Ham Radio power supply for them. My power supply is really just a modified PC power supply, but it is a more efficient supply than transformers.

I added up all of the wall warts (7) and their wattage rating for the input (110v AC). This came up to 222 watts total. The white unit for my 15″ LCD monitor drew the most at 165watts.

After being wired to my Ham Radio power supply, I used my Kill-A-Watt meter, and it only shows 57 watts of usage max, with everything on. Im running

• 4  Scanners
• 2 Meter radio
• 15″ LCD
• HT Battery Charger
• PC Router
• Amplified PC Speakers

Not bad for an hour of cutting and wiring. Since the wall wart plugs were plugged in 24/7 they were always drawing a little bit of power. My big power supply has a switch on i, so I can turn everything off at once now. Im saving about 165 watts now.

The next step is to run a power line from my Solar Panel system and controller in my garage into my Ham Shack, so I can get free power from the sun for my desk equipment. I think I will need another 1 or 2 sets of panels to run it enough, but that will come later.