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5 New power supplies -- reviews

C

CC

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi:

Recently bought a Xantrex XDL-35-5:

http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/73/p/255/pt/20/product.asp

I have this Xantrex XPF-350 dual supply on order but don't have yet:

http://www.xantrex.com/web/id/74/p/1/pt/26/product.asp

I just received a Kepco XLP-150-16-1200:

http://www.kepcopower.com/klp.htm

A Protek 1805 and 3040T:

http://www.protektest.com/CatgList.asp?prodId=CT_PS

Haven't looked closely at noise yet, but here are my reviews:

The Xantrex XDL-35-5 is truly high grade. The interface is easy to use.
The precision is excellent. I love the ranges of this supply. The
500mA current range with 0.1mA resolution is great for evaluation of LED
light sources. The only thing that's wierd is that the supply outputs a
few negative mV when the output is turned off which produced a few -mA
into my meter when I was measuring current. It was about 0.014V <-->
0.007A or vice versa, I forget. But since the voltage was very low, I
doubt it could actually do anything annoying, unless you were operating
is as a voltage reference. In that case, better to leave it turned on
at 0.000V.

I anticipate the Xantrex XPF-350 will be equally impressive.

The Kepco, at 1200W constant power and able to reach 150V*8A or 75V*16A,
compares to only one other product on the market, the Agilent 6030A.
The Kepco however lists for $1795 while the Agilent is >$5000.

The Kepco is a little bit awkward. The knobs increment the V/I settings
in large non-decimal increments. I quickly discovered though, that
pressing the knobs accesses a fine adjust which allows setting to the
full display resolution. The only other annoyance is that it sounds
like a vacuum cleaner. Well, almost. It's way too loud to be
unannoying if it's just a few feet away. I was almost set to send it
back and look for another brand until I noticed the price on the
Agilent. Now I think it's not so bad for the money. I may just try to
swap out the three fans inside for quieter ones.

The Protek products are inexpensive and of "reasonable" quality. I
bought two for home. I also bought two for work. I received only my
personal copies as of yet. The 1805 works fine (used it to trim my
beard this morning). The 3040T buzzes quite a bit in the power
transformer. I don't like that, so Tequipment.net will be replacing it.
Hopefully the replacement will be Ok. A coworker has a Protek 3033B
and it is fine. They have a 2 year warranty which is a plus.

I wish I had the money for the two Xantrex supplies for my home use, but
a total of $2000 is just not a wise use of one's meager allowance when I
only get a few hours now and then to play. I'll have to settle for the
budget brands.

Summary: Very impressed with Xantrex and will buy more in the future.
Kepco looks like a good workhorse, just need to put it in another room.
I suppose I can control it with a LabVIEW Vi or something, since it
includes all the interfaces standard, which is cool. Protek--good
enough for general purpose breadboarding and experimenting, for which it
has better useability and feature/price ratio than competitors like B&K,
Instek, Extech, Sorensen, etc.

We need a web site for test equipment reviews!

Good day!
 
T

Tony Williams

Jan 1, 1970
0
CC said:

I like the Lambda ZUP system supplies, mainly because
they are so flexible. Bench or rack mount, manual or
daisy-chained RS232/485 control as standard, series/
/parallel, etc. Good vfm.

http://www.lambdapower.com

The only thing I don't like about the ZUPs is that
recovering from an Overvoltage Trip can only be done
by turning the supply Off and then back On again.
Unfortunately an OVT can be accidentally triggered
by programming things in the wrong order.
Bit of an ambush when operating under remote control.

The Xantrex XDL-35-5 is truly high grade. The interface is easy
to use. The precision is excellent. I love the ranges of this
supply. The 500mA current range with 0.1mA resolution is great
for evaluation of LED light sources. The only thing that's
wierd is that the supply outputs a few negative mV when the
output is turned off which produced a few -mA into my meter when
I was measuring current. It was about 0.014V <--> 0.007A or
vice versa, I forget. But since the voltage was very low, I
doubt it could actually do anything annoying, unless you were
operating is as a voltage reference. In that case, better to
leave it turned on at 0.000V.

Sounds like it has an active pulldown. Some system
supplies have this, a) to be able to get to an actual
Zero out, b) To do a rapid discharge of the output-C
if programmed-down with no external load connected.
 
C

CC

Jan 1, 1970
0
Tony said:
I like the Lambda ZUP system supplies, mainly because
they are so flexible. Bench or rack mount, manual or
daisy-chained RS232/485 control as standard, series/
/parallel, etc. Good vfm.

http://www.lambdapower.com

Yeah, I looked at those too. They are nice.
The only thing I don't like about the ZUPs is that
recovering from an Overvoltage Trip can only be done
by turning the supply Off and then back On again.
Unfortunately an OVT can be accidentally triggered
by programming things in the wrong order.
Bit of an ambush when operating under remote control.

I suppose if I needed a "system" supply with remote programming more so
than a bunch of bench supplies under manual operation, the ZUP is very
compelling. The OVP thing is a little problem. I have an old 1kW HP
that needs to be turned off to reset.
Sounds like it has an active pulldown. Some system
supplies have this, a) to be able to get to an actual
Zero out, b) To do a rapid discharge of the output-C
if programmed-down with no external load connected.

Yeah, maybe that's it.


Good day!
 
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