7 responses to “EEVblog #8 Part 2 of 2 – BK Precision 1697 Programmable Lab Power Supply”

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  Ray Jones May 16th, 2009 at 17:03

  Hi David,

  Firstly, great videos, always something of interest to watch.

  Re the crap user interface on this power supply.
  Easy solution.
  Bolt a jiffy box up front, put a uc in there and control it via the Serial port!
  Then you can have your quick access buttons and whatever you feel is best for your needs

  Cheers, Ray

  Reply

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  Andrew May 27th, 2009 at 06:39

  I don’t think this power supply has been manufactured by BK Precision. It is a fairly standard Asian design, for example also known as the SPD-2405 http://images.google.com/images?q=SDP-2405 At least the Asian design would explain the usability problems, they just don’t invest much money into usability.

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  none October 4th, 2009 at 06:55

  This is also branded as PeakTech 1885 or 1890 series (same power, different voltage and current).
  BK Precision offers a Python module for serial control for similar devices, it can probably (I wrote my own before I found theirs) easily ‘adjusted’.

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  none April 4th, 2010 at 20:58

  According to http://www.stigmatedbrain.net/drupal/?q=node/81, this device is also labelled as “FULLWatt Premier 5.1″. However, it just gets two hits from Spanish sites.

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  Martin June 14th, 2010 at 22:32

  This unit was made By Manson in Hongkong and if Dave looks at his bench power supply he got from Jaycar they come from the same company. I have thier 13.5v 120A unit and its Great unit. The only problem is its very hard to buy their product. They do OEM the units into the EU so they told me.
  This is the next one i need but its so hard to buy them
  http://www.manson.com.hk/en/dcpowersupplies_detail.php?m=1&id=10

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  ac July 25th, 2010 at 06:32

  Power supply without well known brand japanese caps? Seen enough of those blow up to know that if they can’t afford good jap caps they probably couldn’t afford to design it so that the caps would last. Makes buying PC supplies easy when you limit options to stuff that has all jap caps and atleast 5 years warranty.

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  Sven Killig July 9th, 2011 at 06:49

  By the way, they’re from California, not Canada. I just ordered their 1785B and hope it’s as good as your 1697!

  Reply