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I'm using a 12V Panel Mount Power Supply, taking a 110/220VAC input and giving a 12V/5V DC output.
What is the best practice for connecting this power supply to the AC mains?
And how should this unit be mounted for use with a PCB, ie: do you mount this directly to the PCB, or is there a special mounting platform that we can mount both the PCB and this power supply to?
This power supply is intended to be mounted somewhere inside your enclosure. The screw terminals are intended to be used with either stripped wire ends or spade crimp connectors.
In other words, just use wires to connect the power supply to both the incoming power as well as to your circuit.
We normally just use stripped wire ends. Stranded wire but not tinned. The pressure plates are designed to spread the wire strands out over a large surface area and provide long-term clamping pressure.
If you tin the wires, all of the clamping force is concentrated over a very small area and the solder between the strands will cold-flow. This results in the connection becoming loose over a long period of time.
If you look at the left side of the terminal strip, there are 3 connection points labeled L, N, and FG. L should be connected to line, N to neutral, and FG to Frame Ground.
For this type of supply, ordinarily it is mounted to the chassis. The PC board is mounted separately, and wires run from the power supply outputs to the PC board power connector.
In addition to what other have answered, typically you would connect the input connecter such as Digikey or Digikey. The second would be preferred as it includes a fuse so that if your wiring shorts out, you'll be protected from fire.
You would run wires from the appropriate terminals of the module to the L, N and FG terminals of the power supply.
