WARS Powerpole Distribution Box
Once you start accumulating more than a couple of pieces of radio equipment, the questions around power supply quickly comes up. Radios can quite easily draw in excess of 15 Amps @ 13.8 Volts depending on the model. My two main HF rigs have a specification of 23.8 Amps and 18 Amps respectively. This is generally more than your standard off-the-shelf supply.
For domestic consumption, linear type supplies (Transformers) are only really viable up to 25-30amps. After that the cost starts going up significantly, as does the weight of the unit. Thankfully switch-mode technology seems to have come a long way in recent years, which resulted in me purchasing a 40 Amp power supply, and no noticeable RF QRM.
With power sorted out, the next thing to deal with is how to get the power from the supply to the devices. With a 40 Amp supply, you can power a whole lot of things, but I quickly discovered the posts only allowed me to connect 2 devices after I attached lugs to the leads. Also, lugs generally are not that portable going across different power supplies – what works on my QTH setup will not work in my car, or at someone else’s house. There had to be a better way.