Can anyone recommend a bench power supply?


It's an actual European company, Although some ties to china.. I haven't seen any pluses or minuses to this specific supply on a google search. But I couldn't find any reviews at all.. Doesn't mean it's bad though..
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This seems to be a Staff thread for the most part. I imagine just googling it and looking for reviews might bring something.
 
It doesn't bring very much, unfortunately :(


(also I started this thread before all the new mods became modded)
 
Honestly I didn't put much thought into getting mine.. I have a second hand or even perhaps third hand surplus bench power supplies. one dates back to the early to mid 60's but still fine quality. My best one is a is this model HP Dual bench supply I got from my Dad, who got it second hand from somewhere.. I honestly would trust one of these old Analog supplies that were made for test and engineering work than many of the ones you've linked.. these still can be had for $50 - $100 dollars on ebay.

Edit: of course that one is a low current unit. My other supplies can at least do 2A and the one from the 60's can handle 4A without issues. I find I never need more than 500mA on any of my projects.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I once used a 6A unit from work to almost-kickstart my car ;) (It did work, like 5min of charging and ready to go), but that is the only time I've used a bench power supply at maximum current... but yeah they're versatile :p
 
I think a car battery normally supplies between 50A and 250A, so you'd definitely be using it as charger (not starting from PSU!)
 
I've been chewing over this issue myself. Sure wish we had a Maplin electronics in Montreal.

In the meantime, I came across this circuit diagram, which seems fairly straightforward and should suit my needs.
 
Last week I ordered a nice 2+1 output power supply from CS Europe.

They shipped the random extras I wanted (test leads, spare soldering iron element etc) fine but accidentally shipped me the wrong power supply - they weren't even close :(

When you buy something from an online shop offering low prices & freebees, you get so-so customer service - right?

Wrong!

Ten/twenty minutes after I emailed to ask about returns I was phoned by a human who had read my email, was extremely apologetic and explained that she would talk to the warehouse staff about it first thing tomorrow morning. She even sounded as though she had real authority to help.

They can consider themselves forgiven - top stuff :)

Edit: Just got another email. I should technically (says the website) give my freebee multimeter back because returning the power supply takes the value of my order below £50.

Apparently the customer service rep has the power to let me keep it.

Reputation++
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Don't fancy having to use full-blown desktop software to control it...
 
Just a brief update on this (should any wandering googler stumble upon this page):

I bought on of these jobbies:

csi-5505s.jpg


http://www.circuitspecialists.eu/power-supplies/bench-power-supplies/bench-power-supply-0-60v-0-5a-or-0-10a-0-30v-5v-fixed-ouput

...and the stock fan was horrible. Noisy and leaked lubricant.

I have since replaced it with a more expensive 20dB PC case fan (12vDC, 80mm) which works beautifully.

The internal connector is two-pin (0.1", shrouded) , so you may need to rustle up an adaptor cable with some 0.1" headers and a soldering iron:)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top