Pros and Cons of Parallel Power Supplies Connection

In the below diagram, when you configure your power supplies in parallel connection, the total possible output current will be higher than what a single power supply can manage. Multiple parallel power supplies also offer redundancy to a system, enhancing its overall reliability

Power Supply in Parallel

In addition, distributing your system’s required current across multiple power supplies lowers the thermal burden on any given single supply, helping with PCB thermal design and heat efficiency as a whole in your system.

Unfortunately, parallel power supplies cannot guarantee precisely identical load current output for each individual power supply. This means the efficiency, thermal burden and life expectancy of each power supply will be different, even if you use the exact same model for each parallel power supply. This can complicate circuit design or repair.

For more information, please see “Properly Configure Parallel Power Supplies to Share Load Current or Risk System Failure