Don't you love how, in the headline pic, the "VOLTEQ" logo looks painted on? Like... Windows Paint-ed on?
Same POS is rebranded by any number of sellers; beats me if there's one or many companies ultimately manufacturing the things.
Last time I had one of those available, half the time the fan wouldn't start, and in any case, the "heatsink" (no fins whatsoever, just an aluminum plate with three TO-3 transistors on it -- yeah, like more transistors will handle more dissipation or something!) got much too hot even at half rated load. Eventually, the fan itself died (its BLDC circuit kicked, but the fan didn't turn over, hence the circuit just sat there cooking itself into a single winding), and the rest of it followed later.
The higher power (switching) models are pure shit. They lack sufficient EMI filtering, creepage distance, anything reminiscent of proper design (e.g., switching transistors grossly mismatched to a piss-weak drive circuit), and the output doesn't even begin to meet the already generous specs claimed in the datasheet (such as SOA and ripple). The failure mode I observed: high current, low voltage: because the gate drivers swing in microseconds, a low duty cycle output utterly destroys the transistors.
Conclusion:
If you need a bench supply, don't be a cheapshit. Find some good old iron, like HP, Kepco, etc. If you want new / computerized, find something with at least a little quality, like an up-scale Rigol. Expect to pay over $1/watt capacity. New name-brand equipment, >= $3/W.
Or make your own, so you have only yourself to blame for its failure (and there's nothing that you can't fix).
Tim
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