Mean Well RSP-200-5 Power Supply
5V 40A · 200W rated · active PFC PF>0.95 · fanless 1U 30mm · conformal coating option · 215 × 115 × 30mm

RSP-200-5 Specifications: The Datasheet Parameters That Matter on a Screen

Transcribed from the MEAN WELL RSP-200 specification sheet (RSP-200-SPEC, revision dated 2012-12-28 — the revision we hold, quoted here in full; see the compliance section for what that date means) for the 5V model. Unless stated otherwise, readings are taken at 230VAC input, rated load and 25°C ambient.

Three entries here are unusually consequential and rarely quoted by resellers: the 8ms hold-up time, the 3000ms set-up time on 115VAC, and the fact that over-voltage protection does not self-recover while overload protection does. Each is covered in its own section below.

RSP-200-5 Hold-Up and Set-Up Time: What a Screen Does on a Brownout

Two timing figures on this datasheet decide how a screen behaves when the mains is not perfect, and neither appears in a typical reseller listing. They are worth more attention than the efficiency number.

Reading the 8ms hold-up figure honestly

Hold-up time is how long the supply keeps its output in regulation after the input disappears. At 8ms, an RSP-200-5 bridges a mains interruption of roughly half a cycle at 50Hz. That is enough to ride through the small notches and switching transients that a shared supply rail produces. It is not enough to ride through a genuine brownout, a transfer between supply sources, or a generator changeover — all of which are measured in tens or hundreds of milliseconds.

• If the screen must survive a mains dip, that is a system-level requirement. It is solved with a UPS or a DC-side hold-up bank, not by choosing a different 200W supply. Hold-up time on this class of product is measured in milliseconds across the board.
• If the screen reboots during a known event — a generator test, a changeover, a heavy load switching on the same board — the 8ms figure tells you the reboot is expected behaviour and where to put the fix.
• Check the DC-side capacitance limit. Adding bulk capacitance to extend hold-up is constrained by the supply’s own start-up behaviour; see the sizing section before specifying a bank.

Why the 115VAC set-up time matters more than it looks

On a 115V site this supply takes three seconds to bring its output up, against 1.5 seconds on 230V. In a cabinet with several supplies, sequenced or switched together, that is a visible delay between power-on and the screen showing an image — and it is worth knowing before it is misdiagnosed as a fault during commissioning. It also affects any control logic that assumes supplies are ready within a fixed window after mains is applied.

RSP-200-5 Wiring: 9-Pin Terminal Assignment and AC Input Setup

The RSP-200-5 terminates in a 9-pin screw terminal block. The assignment is fixed and printed on the unit, and getting it wrong is the fastest way to destroy a supply on first power-up:

There is no input voltage switch to set

This is a genuine commissioning advantage over the LRS-family supplies, which carry a 115/230V selector that ships in one position and destroys the unit if mains is applied in the wrong one. The RSP-200-5 is full-range 88–264VAC by design. There is nothing to select and nothing to get wrong — which also makes it the safer part to stock across regions, because one part number covers both 120V and 230V sites.

Split the load across the output terminals

At 40A, use more than one terminal per rail to keep contact resistance and local heating down. Use at least two of the three +V and −V terminals on any load above roughly half rating, and keep the DC run to the first module as short as the cabinet allows.

Adjust the output at the far end of the run

The +V ADJ. potentiometer sets output between 4.5V and 5.5V. LED modules are typically specified at 5V, and the voltage measured at the module input is lower than the voltage at the supply terminals once the cable run is under load. Measure at the far end of the run, then trim the potentiometer to bring the module input back to its specified voltage.

The same wiring discipline applies to the control hardware inside the cabinet. Our guides to the MCTRL660 LED display controller and the Colorlight X2 LED video processor cover the signal side, and the Huidu HD-A5 LED display player covers standalone playback for screens that run without a PC.

When the RSP-200-5 Is the Wrong Power Supply

A page that cannot tell you when not to buy something is a catalogue entry, not advice. The RSP-200-5 is the right answer for PFC-critical 5V work at 40A in a fanless case, and clearly wrong in the following cases:

Where the power supply is the wrong component to be choosing at all, the constraint is usually elsewhere in the system. On the indoor product side, pages such as the P3.91 rental LED display and the P2.5 indoor LED display set out the module-level specifications those decisions start from.

RSP-200-5 Troubleshooting: No Output, Hiccup Mode and Start-Up Delay

This supply uses three different recovery behaviours across its protections, which is why the same visible symptom can have unrelated causes. Work through them in order; each step separates one cause from the others.

No output at all, and it stays off after a power cycle

• Possible cause: over-voltage protection has latched. Unlike the overload protection, OVP on this model shuts the output down and requires a re-power to recover.
• How to check: remove the load and re-power. If the output returns with no load connected, the trip was load-related rather than a supply failure.
• Fix: find what drove the output above 5.75–7V — typically a load fault or a wiring error — and correct it before reconnecting.

Output drops out and recovers on its own, repeatedly

• Possible cause: overload hiccup mode (105–135% of rated power) or over-temperature protection at 110°C ±5°C. Both recover automatically, so both look identical from outside.
• How to check: measure DC current with the screen at full white, then measure the case temperature and cabinet ambient. A clamp meter plus a thermometer usually identifies which protection is firing.
• Fix: if current exceeds the planning ceiling, split the load across an additional supply. If the cabinet is hot, fix the airflow — on a fanless unit there is no fan to mask a marginal thermal design.

The screen takes two to three seconds to come on after mains is applied

• Possible cause: nothing is faulty. The set-up time is 1500ms at 230VAC and 3000ms at 115VAC, plus a 50ms rise time.
• How to check: measure the delay between mains applied and output stable, and compare it with the datasheet figure for the site voltage.
• Fix: no fix required if the delay matches the specification. If control logic assumes supplies are ready sooner, adjust the sequence timing rather than replacing hardware.

The screen reboots during a known mains event

• Possible cause: hold-up time of 8ms at full load has been exceeded. A generator changeover, a source transfer or a heavy load switching on the same board can all exceed that.
• How to check: correlate the reboot with the event on site. If they coincide, the behaviour is within specification.
• Fix: provide ride-through at system level with a UPS or a DC-side hold-up arrangement. No 200W-class supply in this family will bridge a multi-hundred-millisecond interruption.

Screen brightness drops or pixels discolour at the far end of a run

• Possible cause: voltage drop along the DC path, not a supply fault. At 5V, cable resistance takes a proportionally large bite out of the delivered voltage.
• How to check: measure voltage at the supply terminals and again at the input of the last module on the run. The difference is the drop.
• Fix: shorten the run, increase the conductor cross-section, or split the feed. Then trim the ADJ. potentiometer so the module input reads its specified 5V under load — not so the supply terminal reads 5V.

Mean Well RSP-200-5: Frequently Asked Questions