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Three SMPS controllers and a microcontroller for 170 USD? Who'd fall for that?DC input makes it harder to carry around because you always have to use an AC wall adapter and cable.Screw terminals will wear out, banana plug sockets would be much better.Outputs aren't isolated, so they can't be connected in series. Maybe they can be paralleled.No idea about the output protection, but I wouldn't be surprised if the SMPS circuits are built from a datasheet example (without any real protection).I don't see any serious filter caps or output inductor (PI-Filter). This sing surely generates a fair amount of AC.It also needs a PC to operate... Some kind of stand alone input method would be nice.But it's a neat design and has a nice case... Looks like a good deal ;-)I'd love to see a power supply in the same form factor, battery powered and with a fixed output power instead of fixed output voltage / current.I mean something that can generate e.g. 0V to 500V (wide range to cover all applications) but is limited to e.g. 20 Watts. So you can get 5V at 4 Amps and 500V at 40mA.It could surely be built using a flyback transformer with switchable windings. If the output would be linear regulated then it'd be the perfect tool to carry around.Edit: I just checked their website, looks like they dropped the price to 99$ which sounds more reasonable.
Teardown would be nice! thank you in advance
Served!
If the output current ever rises above the maximum limit set by the user, the Hydra will automatically modify its output voltage to drop the current to the programmed limit. It is important to note that this feature is a slowly-responding software feedback loop, and is not sufficient to prevent damage to circuits that require tight control of current and/or supply voltage.
The case is more hefty than it looks at first glance - milled/anodized aluminum.
the 'rounded' cutouts around the square screw terminals...aaaaargh. so much trouble gone to, such nice case etc... the OCD in me raaaarrrr
I don't think the chip below the usb connector is eeprom. It's a 10-pin chip. The atmega168a has 512B eeprom storage on-chip. which should be plenty for what this product needs (calibration values and output setpoints). That one stumps me too, and searching for parts with those markings hasn't turned up anything. I thought it might have something to do with current monitoring, but that's just a simple trace up to an adc pin on the mcu for each channel - so it's not that. It appears to be tied to the input side of each module
I've not used one of those before, and not really sure why it would be needed here. It seems to me that mcu has plenty of ADC inputs and digital outputs for what this device is doing and wouldn't need to multiplex anything. Any ideas on the purpose of this chip here?