Procuring an ITECH PSU in the U.S

[magicmastja]

Hey there folks, ive been working on a couple of automotive interior-cabin board designs on and off for the last couple of years and im starting to look at test equipment for simulating 12-24v car battery conditions. As far as ive been able to find, the ITECH 6512C seems to be the best value buy for what I need given its combination of sufficiently high current and voltage output capabilities, built-in DIN/ISO waveforms, and additional List operations + more. If ebay and Aliexpress pricing falls in line with what retailers in the EU are charging it seems like its going for ~$4k USD or so.

The issue is of course, buying a unit from a reliable vendor as a solo entity trying to step up their R&D efforts. I wouldnt normally shy away from Aliexpress (ive had success with small tools, mini-PCs, and an SBC) but given the price tag its enough to give me some pause, if I understand correctly ITECH is itself a reputable bench power supply designer based in China so one might hope that means units going through Ali would be legit but I know things dont always work as we would logically assume lol, do any of you guys have experience buying higher cost power testing equipment through marketplaces such as this?

Otherwise, not too sure how or who to approach for picking one of these up, would any of the EU or the 1-2 U.S vendors ive seen carry them be open to selling to a rando? or at the very least maybe a rando who went through the minimum effort to spin up an LLC  with a jank Squarespace website lol?

Ive looked at alternatives and I just cant seem find either a 1-to-1 substitute or combination of cheaper discrete devices that doesnt either fall short on capabilities or exceed the 6512C pricing by a fair margin. Closest alts coming from the likes of BK Precision (ITECH being their OEM/ODM if ive read correctly), Instek, and Elektro-Automatik.

[dorkshoei]

I bought an ITech 8211 digital load from AliExpress. It was a cheaper version of the BK (for the reasons you suggest)

Transaction was fine but it's obviously not a multi thousand dollar item like you're looking at.

I buy a lot from AliE (hundreds of orders) generally sub $30 but a few upto $400.  I understand the dispute process well but I'm always concerned on the higher value items because it's hard to demonstrate functional problems that are more subtle than "it's dead Jim".

For high dollar items you really need to thoroughly research AliE sellers, how long have they been on the site, #orders, feedback.

My bigger concern here would be warranty repair.  There are reputable sellers in China, if you go this route I'd be having careful conversation with them and thoroughly understand the costs if it has to be returned.

Good luck.

[zrq]

IIRC, ITECH is from Taiwan but does have a very strong tie to mainland China.