A good source for an inexpensive Isolated Variable AC Power Supply

[init4fun]

Originally Posted by vortalexfan

Hello everyone, I've been trying to look up an inexpensive (under $50) Isolated Variable AC Power Supply (like the one that Shango066 uses in his Videos or like the Heathkit one that Radiotvphononut uses in his videos) and I've not found anything so far, and what ones I have found they wanted over $300 or more for them and some ridiculuous amount for shipping costs that brings the cost to almost $800.

The reason why I ask is that I have a 1947 vintage Westinghouse AM/FM Bakelite Tabletop radio thats an AA6 set that is receiving absolutely no signal whatsoever on either AM or FM and I want to try and hook my signal generator up to it to check the front end out on the radio but since I don't have an isolated power supply to hook the radio up to, I dare not try and work on that radio right now otherwise I might fry my test gear and I don't want to fry my signal generator.

Anyone on here have any suggestions for a good isolated variable AC power supply that I could use to plug my series string radios into for troubleshooting purposes?

Thanks for your help.

like everything else in our hobby , if ya gotta have it now your gonna pay a premium , but if you can bide your time till the swap meets start back up , I'll bet you can find what you want for your target price (and not end up with cheaply made junk in the process) . For the meantime , you could rig up your own home made isolation transformer if you have a couple of old radio or TV power transformers kicking around in your parts stash . You'd connect the 6 volt secondaries of both transformers to each other , the primary of one would connect to your 110V AC power source and the primary of the other will become your isolated 110V AC supply to power the radio from . This , while not as elegant as a fancy pre built unit , will certainly isolate and protect your test equipment till you can get something within your price target .