So, I'm seriously considering purchasing a variable power supply. I'm leaning towards a linear power supply because, while I'm a relatively beginner at electronics, I plan on designing my own variable power supply from a regular ATX psu in the future.
I'm reluctant to use eBay or various online websites to purchase due to the weight of such items, which would make shipping to where I live expensive (Romania).
Therefore, at the moment I'm planning to purchase one from Farnell, because the shipping only costs about 5 $/euro and I can buy other parts from them.
The problem I have is that both power supplies that were attractive to me are quasi unknown, I can't find any review, any teardown, don't have a clue about them
I wanted one that's as cheap as possible so at first I considered buying this one :
CALTEK - PSD30/3B - PSU http://uk.farnell.com/caltek/psd30-3b/psu-laboratory/dp/1270468It's 30v - 3A single power supply, with digital display... at 86 pounds it looks like a good deal.
The problem with this one is that I could only find this page about other Caltek power supplies:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1030827The guy basically bought 2 power supplies broken from the factory and the faults were quality control related: a diode installed the other way on the pcb, dry smd joints, the switches causing shorts or sending 60v through the output...
Not sure if it helps, but apparently these guys at Caltek are the OEMs for some Extech power supplies... this is one of their :
So on one hand price is very attractive but on the other hand I'm not really willing to roll the dice and try my luck with one.
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Several days later, I was checking Farnell again and noticed this power supply:
TENMA - 72-8690 - POWER SUPPLY, BENCH, 2 X 32V, 3A http://uk.farnell.com/tenma/72-8690/power-supply-bench-2-x-32v-3a/dp/1836056Naturally, this is Farnell's brand... but I did some research and discovered it's a rebranded
Uni-T UTP3702 :
http://www.uni-trend.com/UTP3702.html There's another Tenma about 5-10 pounds more expensive that is the UTP3703 - same psu with fixed 5v/2A added. I don't care about that - if I buy this one i might just mod it to add the 5v/2a in the empty space.
What I like about it is that it's 2 independent channels for just a bit more price, about close to the maximum I'd pay for a variable power supply (~ 125 pounds).
Also, a major plus I feel is that one channel can track the other and so it would be great as a dual power supply, for amps and all that.
The manual also says that since they're floating outputs, it's possible to chain them and have a 64v 3A output, which may matter or not in what I'll do in the future..
Now my issue or concern with this is that again, there's no reviews, no information about Uni-T power supplies, I can't find any of these on eBay, can't find inside pictures etc .
It's a Uni-T: I have the UT61E multimeter and I'm impressed with its quality but I'm aware other categories of devices they produce have varying quality so I'm reluctant to try my luck without any nformation about it.
.... Long text, sorry about it but thanks for reading so far.
I'd appreciate it if you guys can say your thoughts about this Tenma/Uni-T psu... if you have any info about it or other Uni-T power supplies in the series I'd love to hear it. The Caltek is out... it doesn't seem worth it to even consider that Caltek, 2 x 32v for 30% more money seems a much better deal for me.
Also, please let me know if there's other brands you know or trust at around this price but do keep in mind the shipping costs.. those kill lots of deals for me.
tl:dr: Anyone bought it, opened it, imported it, heard anything about these Uni-T variable power supplies marketed by Farnell under their Tenma brand?
ps. I've watched Mike's review of the Tenma psu but that's a switching power supply and it seemed ok. It's always a backup option.
Thank you for any help any of you can give me.