Mean Well UHP-200-5 Power Supply
5V 40A · 200W rated · fanless slim 194 × 55 × 26mm · 91% efficient · active PFC · DC OK & redundant options

The UHP-200 Series: Nine Voltages and the One That Lands Exactly on 200W

The UHP-200 series covers nine voltages from 3.3V to 55V. The three lowest share a 40A current ceiling, and only the 5V model converts that ceiling into exactly the 200W the series is named for.

One specification is worse at 5V than at the lower voltages: ripple and noise. The 3.3V and 4.2V models are quoted at 150mVp-p, while the 5V model is 200mVp-p. Higher ripple is normal as current rises at low voltage, but on a 5V rail it is worth knowing before a screen shows noise-related artefacts that are blamed on the modules.

The UHP-200-5 Aluminium Plate Requirement: Mount It or Lose the Rating

This is the most consequential thing on the UHP-200 datasheet, and it is the one detail that reseller listings routinely omit. The installation section states that in order to meet the derating curve and the static characteristics, the UHP-200 series must be installed onto an aluminium plate — or onto the cabinet of the same size — on the bottom of the unit.

What happens if you ignore it

• The unit still works — it just no longer meets its published rating. This is why the omission is dangerous rather than obvious. A UHP-200-5 screwed to a thin painted panel will run, pass a bench test, and fail in service when the cabinet gets hot.
• There is a separate derating curve for operation without the aluminium plate. The datasheet draws one set of curves against ambient temperature and another explicitly labelled ambient temperature without aluminium plate. The second set is lower. That gap is the practical cost of skipping the plate.
• There is also a curve against case temperature (Tcase). MEAN WELL provides three ways to read the thermal limit — ambient with plate, ambient without plate, and case temperature — so a design can be validated whichever measurement is practical on site.
• The plate is not a mounting bracket. It is a heatsink. A painted, uneven or undersized panel has thermal resistance of its own, which is why the datasheet specifies bare aluminium, a smooth surface, and thermal grease as an alternative to a perfect finish.

UHP-200-5 DC OK Signal and the UHP-200R Redundant Function

The UHP-200 series offers two optional functions that the RSP 5V models do not have at all. They matter for screens that must report their own health or keep running when a supply fails.

DC OK signal — output status to a monitoring circuit

DC OK is a collector-shorted signal produced by an optocoupler inside the supply, indicating output status. When the unit turns on, the optocoupler’s collector-emitter pin conducts; when the output fails, the pin goes open. The contact rating is 15Vdc / 10mA resistive load, and it is brought out on connector CN10 (JST B2B-PH-K-S or equivalent, pin 1 DC COM, pin 2 DC OK +V).

• What it gives you: a per-supply status line that a monitoring board or control system can read — so a failed supply is identified rather than inferred from a dark section of screen.
• What it is not: it is not a current or voltage measurement, and it is not a fault code. It reports on or off, nothing finer.
• The contact rating is small. 10mA at 15Vdc is a logic-level signal. Do not switch a relay coil or an indicator lamp directly from it without checking the load.

Redundant function — the UHP-200R parallel variant

The UHP-200R has a built-in redundant function and can be connected two units in parallel. The datasheet describes the behaviour precisely: for parallel applications, when one power supply cannot work, the other is automatically enabled, preventing a system crash and improving system reliability.

Neither function is a substitute for planning capacity. If a section genuinely needs more than 200W at 5V, split it into independently supplied sections or move to a higher-current model — the UHP-350-5 power supply or the RSP-500-5 — rather than paralleling units for wattage.

How Many LED Modules Can One UHP-200-5 Power?

No supplier can answer this without knowing your module. The count depends on the maximum power rating of your LED module from its own datasheet, the number of modules on the supply, and the thermal headroom you leave — which on this supply depends on the mounting surface as much as the load.

1. Start from the real rating. 200W at 5V, which is 40A.
2. Apply a load ceiling. A common planning rule in LED cabinet builds is to keep continuous load at or below about 80% of rated output — roughly 160W, or 32A, on a UHP-200-5. This is an engineering convention rather than a MEAN WELL figure; confirm it against your own project’s thermal and warranty conditions.
3. Divide by the module’s maximum power, taken from the module datasheet rather than a marketing page — full white is the condition a screen is commissioned under.
4. Confirm the mounting surface. Read the derating curve that matches the installation: with the aluminium plate, or without it. The answer changes the usable load.
5. Check the current path. 32A still has to leave through the terminal block and reach the modules. Confirm wire gauge, terminal rating and the number of feeds.
6. Check the capacitance on the 5V rail. If the cabinet carries a large capacitor bank, raise it at quotation so the start-up behaviour can be confirmed.

Worked as an Illustrative Example — substitute your own module figures; these numbers are for the arithmetic only:

For the control and signal side of the same cabinet, the LED control system collection covers how sending cards, receiving cards and processors are powered and wired alongside the supplies.

UHP-200-5 Certifications: Heavy Industry Immunity and 3.75KVAC Withstand

The UHP-200-5 carries a different and in some respects stronger compliance profile than the RSP 5V models, including an appliance-safety standard and a heavier immunity classification.

Heavy industry immunity is a real difference

The RSP models are tested to light industry level. The UHP-200 is tested to heavy industry level with criteria A under EN61000-6-2. Criteria A means the equipment continues to operate as intended with no degradation during the disturbance — not merely that it survives. On a screen sharing a supply with welders, motors or switched inductive loads, that classification is the specification that predicts whether the image stays clean.

EN60335-1 and the EN61558 design reference

Two entries deserve reading carefully rather than skimming. EN60335-1 is the household and similar electrical appliance safety standard, and it applies to every model in this series except the 55V variant. Separately, the EN61558-1 and -2-16 reference is stated as a design reference rather than an approval — which is a different level of claim from the RSP-320 datasheet, where EN61558-1/2-16 is listed as an approval for 12V-or-higher models. If a tender names EN61558 as an approval requirement, the distinction between “approved to” and “design refers to” has to be clarified with the manufacturer before the specification is fixed.

UHP-200-5 Troubleshooting: Thermal Derating, Hiccup Mode and DC OK

On this supply the most common field problem is not a fault at all — it is a rating that no longer applies because the mounting condition is wrong. Work through these in order.

The screen dims or the supply shuts down as the cabinet warms up

• Possible cause: insufficient heatsinking. Either no aluminium plate, an undersized one, a painted or uneven surface, or the unit mounted off-centre rather than at the centre of the plate.
• How to check: measure case temperature and cabinet ambient, and compare against the derating curve for the actual mounting condition. The datasheet provides a separate curve for operation without the aluminium plate — read that one if no plate is fitted.
• Fix: fit the plate, or fit a larger one, mount at the centre, and use thermal grease if the surface is not bare and smooth. This is the first thing to check on this model before suspecting the supply itself.

Output drops out and recovers on its own, repeatedly

• Possible cause: overload hiccup mode at 110–140% of rated power, or over-temperature protection — which on this model may either shut the output down or enter hiccup mode. Both recover automatically, so both look identical from outside.
• How to check: measure DC current at full white, then case temperature and ambient. A clamp meter and a thermometer usually separate the two.
• Fix: if current exceeds the planning ceiling, split the load. If the unit is hot, fix the mounting and airflow — this supply has no fan to mask a marginal thermal design.

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

• Possible cause: over-voltage protection has latched. OVP trips between 5.75V and 6.75V, shuts the output down and requires a re-power to recover — unlike overload and over-temperature, which both self-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: correct what drove the output above the OVP threshold — typically a load fault or a wiring error — before reconnecting.

The DC OK signal reads “fail” while the screen appears to work

• Possible cause: the monitoring circuit is miswired or the optocoupler load exceeds its rating. DC OK switches a collector-emitter output rated at 15Vdc / 10mA resistive load, and it is a status signal rather than a measurement.
• How to check: verify the wiring on CN10 (pin 1 DC COM, pin 2 DC OK +V) and confirm the external load is within the contact rating.
• Fix: drive the monitoring input directly or through an appropriate interface, not a relay coil or lamp. If the signal says fail and the output is genuinely present, the sense circuit is the fault, not the supply.

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

• Possible cause: nothing is faulty. Set-up is 2000ms at 230VAC and 3000ms at 115VAC, with an 80ms rise time.
• How to check: measure the delay from mains applied to output stable and compare with the datasheet figure for the site voltage.
• Fix: no fix required if the delay matches specification. If control logic assumes supplies are ready sooner, adjust sequence timing rather than replacing hardware.

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 SVR adjustment so the module input reads its specified 5V under load — not so the supply terminal reads 5V. Unlike the RSP-500-5, this model has no remote sense to correct the drop for you.

Mean Well UHP-200-5: Frequently Asked Questions