Benchtop Lab PSU

General
1

Has anyone got a recommendation for the least bad cheap lab PSU?

Requirements:

  • Control voltage 0-30V,
  • Control max current 0-5A,
  • Current limit that doesn’t just cut power if the limit is exceeded,
  • Two separate voltage outputs would be nice,
  • Unlikely to burn my house down.

Any suggestions?

2

Mine was from Jaycar
It looks like the don’t stock it any more.

It was the single version of this beast
https://www.jaycar.com.au/0-to-32vdc-dual-output-dual-tracking-laboratory-power-supply/p/MP3087

Looks like this is the one replacing it.
https://www.jaycar.com.au/0-to-30vdc-0-to-5a-regulated-power-supply/p/MP3840

At the time I looked at all the reviews and tear downs and decided it was ample for what I wanted.

3

Build your own K3206 ?

4

I’ve decided to get one of these:

Will probably be total garbage, but for the price I can’t complain too loudly. If it works alright I might buy a second.

5

$42 doesn’t sound too bad, except that’s USD, and doesn’t include the $20USD shipping… .so that’s closer to $90AUD, shipped. :frowning:

6

Yeah, I realised the shipping cost but not the USD until after I ordered. Oh well, still a good deal for what is, on paper, a decent bit of kit.

7

My PSU arrived on Friday. I ran it through some basic tests. Seems alright.

Very poor voltage and current control between zero and one volt/amp, but I can live with that. The volt and amp readouts on the front of my cheap shitty Chinese PSU roughly match the readouts on my cheap shitty Chinese multimeter. +/- 0.1 volts/amps.

The current limiting seems to work as I expect. I set the limit to 1A and powered a little motor. Stalling the motor lit up the current limit LED and the motor was pulling 1.1A as measured by my multimeter.