Mastech Power supply

[nes999]

The wife suggested I get a power supply for my birthday. (Probably to keep me away from her in the winter.) Through searching the forum it seems like the best bang for my buck world be either the mastech 3003f-3, or the mastech 3005f-5. I was hoping to keep the budget around 100 but after much searching this seems like its better to buy a decent one first, rather than buy a cheapie and in 6 months out grow it.

Am I better off springing for the 3005f-3 or should I save the money? I am open to any and all suggestions if you think there is something else I should get.



http://mastechpowersupply.com/dc-power-supply/linear-power-supply/mastech-linear-dc-power-supply-30v-3a-hy3003f-3-triple-outputs/prod_7.html


http://www.mastechpowersupplies.com/mastech-adjustable-power-supply-hy3005f-3.html

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[SaintGimp]

The 3005f-3 was my first first bench supply and I still have it.  It's not bad for the money; I eventually outgrew it (added a Rigol DP832) but it got me started.  The design is copied a lot so the quality you end up with depends on who actually manufactured the unit you purchase.  I think mine actually came from Mastech but some of the clones can be pretty horrible, I hear.

As for whether you need the 3A or the 5A model, that just depends on what you want to do with it.  If you're doing digital electronics, you almost certainly won't need more than 3A, and if you do occasionally, you can join the outputs together in parallel to get 6A.  If you're driving audio amplifiers or largish motors or long LED light strips then you might find the 5A model more useful.

[ocset]

They weigh 25 pounds, and id just get a cheap, light  smps based one if i was you.

[nes999]

They weigh 25 pounds, and id just get a cheap, light  smps based one if i was you.

I will go research some smps. I honestly never thought to look that route.

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[Kilroywashere]

I got this one https://www.amazon.ca/LETOUR-Variable-Regulated-Adjustable-Alligator/dp/B01MQWQTI4

[SaintGimp]

A switching power supply can definitely be cheaper and ligher than the Mastech that you're looking at, but the low-end models can have really big problems with ripple and other noise.  That's not a problem if you're going to feed it into a secondary linear regulator or something like that, but if you're looking for a bench supply that you can feed directly into sensitive circuits, you need to be a little careful with your shopping.  That's not to say that all switching supplies are terrible; just that the low-end ones are sometimes terrible.

[rstofer]

^^^^  Pay attention to SaintGimp's comment re: noise and ripple on SMPSs.  For a bench supply, I would scratch them off the list right away.

3A is a LOT.  Sure, there might be audio projects that take more, but I would suspect a dedicated supply would be used.

Most microcontroller and transistor projects are going to take far less than 1A, probably around 100 mA.

So, of the two, I would probably think about the 3A but if I could still get the 5A for $30 more, I guess I would do it.  If I had to pay $400 for the 5A Mastech, I would buy the Rigol DP832 - which I have.

It's too  bad the 5V is fixed.  There is a tendency to run microcontroller projects at 3.3V.  Yes, another regulator on the prototype board will work but it's not as cool as an adjustable 5V supply.