RC Power Supply Guide: Don't Starve Your RC Charger

by John Salt - Last Updated April 2026

An RC power supply (PS) is needed to power your RC battery charger/s. Because I get so many power supply sizing & recommendation questions; I built this page to help answer them. 

The underlying messages of this entire write-up are focused on saving money, quality, flexibility, and electric powered RC growth; for the electric powered RC newbie right up to the most experienced and power hungry RC guru.

Some of my RC Power Supplies. Left to right: Meanwell 24V 1000W, HP Server 12V 575W, Lower Quality RC Hobby Grade 15V 350W.

In the nearly two decades I've been into electric powered RC aviation, I have found a handful of quality and economic power supply solutions to cover this entire spectrum. 

To save you some time, if you already know what voltage and wattage power supply you need, and are quickly looking to get a good quality supply for your RC charger, Buddy RC has some decent quality rebadged server power supplies. 

Another option for better quality and usually less money, you can't beat Meanwell power supplies in terms of robustness, reliability and value.

Meanwell's four most popular supplies to power RC battery chargers are the 12volt, 350Watt LRS-350-12, the 24volt, 350Watt LRS-350-24, the 24volt, 600Watt LRS-600-24 and the monster 24volt, 1000W SE-1000-24. They are all a better value compared to lower quality and more costly hobby grade RC power supplies.  

The Meanwell LRS-350-24 Is A Quality & Affordable 24 volt, 350 Watt RC Power Supply For Many RC Battery Chargers

The one thing of note with these Meanwell power supplies, is they don't come with an AC power cord or 4mm bullets to plug your charger into because they are industrial power supplies meant for a wide range of applications.

As shown in the photo below, they have screw terminal strips to connect your power cord and RC charger/s to. Note, on the left side of the terminal strip, they also have a voltage adjustment pot allowing you to adjust the DC output voltage slightly. I for example can get just over 27V out of my 24V Meanwell SE-1000-24 with the pot turned all the way CW. 

Convenient and quality screw terminal strips on Meanwell Power Supplies to hook up your AC power in, and DC power out.

The connectivity is very simple, there are three line in terminal screws for ground, neutral & hot with input line voltage ranges of 100 to 240V.

Open End Grounded Power Cord For Meanwell Line Power Input

I find old grounded extensions cords with a damaged female plug end (destined for the garbage) work well for this; they are free after all.

Just cut the damaged female plug end off, remove the outer sheathing and connect the three wires to the Meanwell screw terminal.

You can of course purchase open ended power cords with the exposed 3 wires ready to connect. 

Then there are the DC negative and positive outputs. All the Meanwell LRS supplies have 3 screws for each positive and negative output (6 total), but for us RC'ers, we generally just need to use two of them to hook one negative and one positive wire to the terminal strip for our RC charger.  

4mm Speaker Terminals Are Perfect For RC Power Supply DC Outputs

The best solution for this in my opinion are common red & black 4mm female speaker terminals. 

Because most RC chargers have 4mm male bullet pins for the power-in or power harnesses with 4mm male bullet pins, speaker terminals work great! 

You just have to solder a couple wires or fork connectors to the posts on the back of the speaker terminal and connect them directly to the positive and negative output on the Meanwell terminal strip.

I also put 4 of those little stick on silicone feet/pads on the bottoms of my Meanwell and server power supplies, so they don't scratch or slide around on the bench. 

Now, if you don't think you are able to figure those screw terminal strip wiring connections out on these Meanwell power supplies, then it's best to stick with the higher cost and lower quality hobby shop RC power supplies that already have all that in place.

That is after all why the hobby grade RC power supplies, while lower in quality, usually cost more... Because someone has already gone to the trouble of installing the power cord, RC charger connections, and likely put some eye-candy graphics on the exterior.

Getting The Right Size RC Power Supply
Voltage & Power

Now that you know of some good power supplies on the market, it's time to go over RC power supply ratings basics so you know what voltage and wattage power supply to get for your particular RC battery charger/s. 

If you know all that stuff already, please feel free to skip down the page where I discuss the advanced but most flexible power supply option - going modular! 

Why Do We Even Need An RC Power Supply?

Well, they convert AC voltage & current from your household wall outlet to clean and steady DC voltage & current to power your RC battery charger/s.

Some lower powered RC chargers come with built-in power supplies, but once you get past a certain charging power level, you must start using separate stand alone power supplies because of the large size increase.

Power supplies (PS for short) come in all sizes with different voltage and current output ratings depending on your needs. The more powerful they get, the larger they get - some as large as concrete cinder blocks, weight almost as much as well!

The most common and universal input voltage for RC battery chargers is 12 volts DC, but many more powerful RC chargers can handle 24V and up. It's always best to power your charger with the most voltage it can safely handle from an efficiency standpoint (more voltage = less current). Today's average size RC chargers will also need at least 300W of power and up. 

How Much Voltage & Power Does Your RC Charger Need?

Generally, when deciding on a specific RC power supply, you pretty much have to know what RC battery charger (or chargers) you will be using with it so your PS is capable of providing adequate power.

The rule here is if you want to get the full charging potential out of your RC charger, you must pair it with a power supply that has about the same output voltage that your RC charger's maximum input voltage is rated at, along with a power output rating as high or higher than what your RC charger's maximum power rating is. 

As an example, if you have an RC charger that lists a maximum input voltage of 30V and can deliver a maximum of 300W of charging power, your RC power supply should also have an output voltage close to 30V (no higher), and a minimum power rating of at least 300W.

Due to efficiency losses within the charger, going with an even higher power output rating on your RC power supply, say 350W in this example, certainly won't hurt! Basically 10% over the charger's maximum power rating is a safe bet as most RC chargers have efficiency ratings not much lower than 90%.

Now, you can go with lower voltage and power ratings on your power supply than the maximum of what you RC charger calls for (I do it often), keeping in mind you won't be able to get the maximum charging current and power out of your charger then.

This alone is why so many people complain that their RC charger won't charge at the maximum current it's rated for. It almost always has nothing to do with the charger, if you are not feeding it enough voltage and power, don't expect it to create extra power out of thin air! 

My page on RC battery chargers goes over this in more detail, what to look for in a charger and how to know you are getting a charger powerful enough for your needs now and down the road.

The RC Power Supply Growth Game

While traveling down this electric powered RC aviation road myself for the past 18 years since switching from nitro power to LiPo power, I've learned two important and fundamental lessons during the journey.

• As you progress in electric powered RC flight or surface vehicles, your charging needs almost always increase. This stems from the basic and undeniable fact that as you progress with electric powered RC, you will most certainly be getting more battery packs and RC vehicles. More often than not, they also get larger. In other words not only more LiPo & LiFe batteries to charge, but higher voltage & larger capacity ones on top of it.

• At this stage, you find yourself purchasing not only more computerized battery chargers but more powerful ones to handle the ever growing work load for faster charging. Less time charging = more time flying and driving for more enjoyment in the hobby.

The obvious outcome as your charging needs grow, so do your powering needs. What you soon come to realize at this stage is power supplies start to become one of the largest single expenses in this electric growth game.

Every time I got a new more powerful charger, I also had to shell out at least as much or more coin to get a more powerful RC power supply to power it! Not only that, once past the 1000 Watt realm, the RC power supply issue becomes the financial show stopper in relation to the fairly reasonable price you can get very powerful computerized RC battery chargers for these days. Growth spurt over!

The Meanwell 48V 1500W Beast

For example, the $400USD Meanwell RPS-1500-48 puts out 48 volts & 1500 Watts. 

Even this huge & costly beast is not powerful enough for my most powerful RC charger.

So what's an electric powered RC'er to do?

Wouldn't it be nice if you could just increase the power (both voltage and/or amperage) of your RC power supply by just adding another lower cost power supply or supplies to it?  Well now you can - time to go modular!

The Modular Computer Server RC Power Supply Solution

Build Your Own Modular RC Power Supply & Save Money!

My modular server computer RC power supply story starts shortly after getting the iCharger 4010 Duo charger. 

This is a dual port 2000 Watt power beast of an RC charger capable of delivering 40 Amps per port (80 Amps total) and as such, is mega hungry for clean & reliable DC power.  

I was at first powering the 4010 Duo with my 1000W, 24V Meanwell SE-1000-24 power supply. It worked, but I could only use the 4010 to roughly half its maximum capacity.

The Meanwell SE-1000-24 is a powerful supply, but not nearly enough for the 4010 Duo!

To get the full meal deal out of the 4010, I needed an RC power supply that could deliver around 50 VDC @ a minimum of 2000 Watts of power.

I started searching for DC power supplies that could accomplish this and almost had heart failure in the process. Not only are 50 VDC 2000 plus Watt power supplies rare and expensive (most well over $600), they also all needed a 240VAC power source meaning I would also have to run a dedicated 240VAC line to my charging area in the workshop - it was a huge expense that I couldn't justify. 

At this time, I was fortunate enough to get an email from a very nice fellow by the name of Mike with an RC helicopter question. During our correspondence, somehow the topic of my iCharger 4010 Duo powering dilemma came up.

Mike, as luck would have it (using his extensive electrical and computer engineering know how), had been working on a modular RC power supply system using used DPS 600PB server PS's that could fill his power needs, mine, and many other RCer's at not only an affordable price, but one that could also run on a normal 120VAC supply voltage.

So What's A Modular RC Power Supply?

Inexpensive HP Server Power Supply Ready To Become Modular!

Simply put, you can economically and easily add multiple, specially modified server power supplies together in series or in parallel to increase the output voltage, amperage, or both, exactly the same way batteries can be hooked up in series or parallel to increase the voltage and/or capacity. This is something you can't do with off the shelf power supplies. 

As a newbie, you can start out with one quality modded RC power supply very inexpensively. 

Then as and if your charging needs grow or change (either with more chargers or a more powerful one), you can just purchase and modify additional server supplies as required, again at a very reasonable cost. 

As a more advanced electric RC'er, you can have several modified modular RC power supplies all hooked together to give you one big powerful RC power supply for your high power charger or separate them to power several smaller battery chargers.

No one time huge RC Power Supply expense or additional huge expenses; just add or subtract power as you need it and grow your supply power over time.

As an advanced user, the other thing that really appeals to me is if one of these inexpensive server power supplies fail, I'm not out of commission like I would be if an expensive single power supply let out the "magic smoke";  I could still charge all my batteries with the remaining good one/s, just not as quickly.

This also makes a repair/replacement should it happen very economical. We are no longer forced into purchasing another expensive power supply, we can just purchase a single lower cost replacement one to replace the failed unit and be back at full charging capacity again.

Just a Few Modified Modular Computer Server RC Power Supply Configuration Options:

Single 12 Volt, 47 Amp, 575 Watt, supply powering an iCharger 106B or 208B.

Two Supplies hooked in series (24V, 47A, 1150W) powering an iCharger 306B, 3010B, or Power Lab 6.

Four Supplies, two pairs hooked in series to power two iCharger 306B's or two Power Lab 6's.

Four Supplies all hooked in series (48V, 47A, 2300W) powering an iCharger 4010 Duo.

Series Configuration Calculations:

When hooking modified computer power supplies up in series, you add the voltages and Watts but the Amps will remain the same. For example two supplies configured together in series will give you 24VDC @ 47A proving up to 1150W of power.

Parallel Configuration Calculations:

When hooking modified computer power supplies up in parallel, you add the Amps and Watts, but the voltage will remain the same. Two supplies configured together in parallel will therefore give you 12VDC @ 94A again providing up to 1150W of power.

For my iCharger 4010 Duo, I have four modified computer power supplies configured together in series giving 48V @ 47A, providing up to 2300W of power. This enables me to run the 4010 Duo at full capacity and finally be able to para-charge twelve 6S 5000 mAh LiPo packs from a 50% storage state to fully charged in under 30 minutes - WOW!

Huge RC Charging Power: 40 Amps Per Channel = 80 Amps Total.

Building Your Own Modified DPS 600PB RC Power Supply

If you want to know how to build your own modular RC power supply/s using the popular DPS 600PB server supply, I cover the full process here.

It all starts with the industrial grade Hewlett Packard DPS 600PB server computer switching power supply that is rated at 12VDC @ 47A providing up to 575Watts of power output.

A dual speaker terminal (positive and negative) that will accept 1/4" fork connectors and 4mm banana plugs is then installed. The required "configurable" electrical modifications inside are performed along with the addition of a removable negative terminal chassis grounding tab (an important & necessary safety feature).

The cooling fan operation is also modified so it won't run at maximum speed all the time. Its speed is now variable dependent on internal temperature and electrical load. This makes the fan very quite in comparison to other RC power supplies I have.

Being designed for high-end computer server use, these DPS 600BP supplies can be stacked either vertically or side by side without overheating issues. To take up as little bench real-estate as possible, I have stacked mine in a 2X2 configuration. 

Even with them all working at near full capacity powering the 4010 Duo para-charging on both channels at 40 amps each (80 amp total), these converted server power supplies barely get warm.

Over temperature protection is of course a standard safety feature as is over current protection, short circuit protection, and over & under voltage protection; making these power supplies very goof proof (perfect for yours truly).

AC Power Requirements For Multiple Modular RC Power Supply Operation

Okay, I know this is a question many people will have since I had it as well.

"How is it possible to hook four DPS 600PB power supplies together (all pulling about 575 Watts each totaling 2300W) under full load and not trip the typical 15A house circuit breaker?"

For those that didn't know this, a 120V 15Amp house circuit can handle up to about 1440 Watts of sustained power usage before the circuit breaker starts tripping. In theory, the number is actually 1800 Watts (120V x 15 Amps) but electric load calculations on typical circuit breakers are based at 80% sustained maximum load (80% X 1800 = 1440W).

So it's perfectly fine to plug two DPS 600PB power supplies into the same 15A circuit and use them to full capacity as the total Wattage will be around 1150 Watts; provided of course there are no other high Wattage items sharing that same circuit that would push the power load over 1440 Watts combined. A dedicated 15A receptacle on its own circuit is the best option if you are unsure what other items may be sharing the circuit.

Powering 3 or more supplies...

This is were it gets a little more complicated.

Now, I must emphasize here I'm not a licensed electrician. Moreover, electrical codes vary from state to state and province to province. This information is just to give you some basic ideas of how to power 3 or more supplies. If you don't have a good working knowledge of electricity and the residential electrical code in your particular area, please contact a licensed electrician and they can help you out.  

You could plug three modified server power supplies at full capacity (1725W total) into a 120V 20A circuit (80% circuit breaker rule calculates out to 1920W available). Most newer homes will have a few 20A 120V circuits.

20A kitchen counter plugs for example are getting more and more common in new home construction. The utility room or garage will generally have at least one 20A circuit as well for powering a central vacuum system.

20A Duplex

20A 120V duplex receptacles look just like 15A ones, but the left vertical slots will also have a horizontal slot making it look like a side ways "T". It wouldn't hurt of course to check at your circuit beaker box that the 20A receptacle you plan on using is indeed controlled by a 20A circuit breaker.

I have seen numerous DIY electricians install 20A receptacles on 15A circuits for example. You can't just fire a 20A breaker in either because 15A wiring is 14 gauge and 20A needs 12 gauge to prevent the wiring from overheating.

The next obstacle to overcome powering three RC power supplies from a single 20A duplex receptacle is of course there are only two plug receptacles and you have three plugs from your three supplies.

The obvious work around is to plug one of the supplies into one of the duplex plugs, and then use a plug expander in the other plug for the other two supplies. 

A third option would be to power two of the supplies off one 15A circuit and the third supply off a separate 15A circuit. The potential problem here is if one circuit breaker trips for some reason, it will cut power to one or two of the supplies and leave the other one/s still powered up - this can damage the power supplies!     

This two 15A circuit powering option will also work with four modified computer RC power supplies (two supplies hooked to one 15A circuit and the other two hooked to another 15A circuit); but again, the potential of one breaker tripping shutting down two of the supplies exits so it's less than ideal.

I actually did power my four server supplies at first this way (using two separate 15A circuits) until I installed a dedicated 30A 120V receptacle in the work shop (30x120V = 3600 x 80% rule = 2880 Watts.

Yes, I know one of my issues with getting a 240V power supply was the expense of installing a dedicated 240V line to the workshop so how is this any different?

Well, it's slightly less expensive to run a 30A 120V line (10/2 wire instead of 10/3), and it only takes up one circuit breaker space instead of two; the main reason since our panel is pretty much full and I most certainly didn't want to install a sub-panel.

I then built a quad receptacle with two standard 15A duplex plugs in a 2 gang utility box. I used 30A rated 10 gauge wire with a 30A 120V twist-lock plug on the end that plugs into the new 30A twist-lock receptacle in the shop.

My quad receptacle creation here is not exactly code, but it's the workaround I came up with and is much better than powering four modded RC power supplies off two separate 15A circuits in my opinion.  

I can if I choose also plug this 30A plug and quad receptacle creation of mine into the 30A 120V outlet on the generator should I decide to take the geni out to the flying field (which I really hope I never ever have to do). May as well go back to fuel powered flight if I ever get that desperate.  

Powering Computer Server Supplies with 240 VAC

These DPS 600PB supplies, like all the Meanwell ones I've mentioned on this page will also work on 220/240V. They automatically detect the input voltage and can run on 240V without any modifications which is pretty neat. No messing around with jumpers or hidden switches. Powering them from 240V (especially four of them) is likely a better way to do things than what I have done since you don't have to run on as high a current. Double the voltage and you effectively cut the current requirements in half (2300W divided by 240V = 9.58 Amps). 

Again, this AC power information is for getting some idea juices flowing and in no way is intended to cover everything. Please seek out the services of a licensed and qualified electrician if you are not 100% sure of what you are doing when powering more than three supplies together. 

Final Thoughts

Pushing aside the fact that modified server power supplies are the only modular supplies that can grow with you; they are also roughly 1/2 the cost of similar rated RC power supplies.

Furthermore, like the Meanwell's these are industrial units designed specifically for continuous 24/7 operation in demanding server computer environments requiring higher end safety and protection features making them much more robust than simple hobby grade power supplies. Put all that together and you get unmatched RC power supply value.

Lastly, if you happen to also have an iCharger 4010 Duo or any other high power RC charger, yet want an economical way to power it; multiple inexpensive used server supplies configured in series work impressively well at about quarter the cost of getting a huge 50V 2000W supply and you won't need a 240V source if you don't want to go to that expense.

Those were the two main features that sold me. The quiet operation and ability to also configure them to run my less powerful chargers as well were sweet icing on the cake bonuses!   

If you have a basic understanding of DC electrical principles (which most of us electric RC'ers do), and you can solder; you can modify your own computer PS with easy to source, inexpensive parts.

If that is too daunting however, stick with a Meanwell, or a Buddy RC power supply.

Happy Charging :-)

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