Atten PPS3005S, Ran Five Mins, DEAD... WTF?

[kb0nly]

Hey everyone, longtime lurker and Youtube watcher, first post on here.  Been reading the forums for a long time and watching Dave on Youtube! 

So anyway... Now that the hello is out of the way...

I bought an Atten PPS3005S off eBay, brand new sealed box.  I know they aren't that stellar but i see a lot of posts of people owning them on here and they seem ok for basic stuff.  All i really needed/wanted it for is testing breadboarded circuits before i fire up the CNC Router and mill a PCB to make my design permanent.  I was doing it before with a butchered ATX power supply and a couple meters, which then died catastrophically one evening, it was an old old old ATX supply and just gave up the magic smoke.

So anyway fast forward to this evening, i unboxed the new Atten and powered it up, like some have posted on here its a little slow on the button presses but hey it works, the output voltage when set to 5.00v was showing 5.01 on my trusty old Fluke 87, so thats not too shabby i thought.  So i flipped the output back off, set it to .500 mA and connected it to a circuit i was testing, total current requirement should have been less than a half amp so no worry.  Turned on the output, everything working, looking good.  Phone rang, walked away from the bench for about five minutes, came back and the circuit under test was no longer powered, indicator LED was off, then i looked at the supply, it shows 0.21v and 0.266 mA, the CC light is on, i thought uh-oh something in the circuit went kaput and the supply went into CC mode.  Well ok so i disconnected the circuit under test and checked everything but everything looked completely fine!  So i powered the Atten back up and the display showed 5.00v and .500mA so i figured ok its gotta be the circuit under test right.. Wrong.  Even without anything connected to the output terminals when i tap output to enable it the display quickly changes to 0.21v and 0.266mA, no matter what you set it to for voltage or current.  I tried setting it to max, 30v and 5A, still when i tap output it goes down to .21v and 0.688mA, its almost like there is a short on its output?

I suspected the cap across the output terminals because a few have posted about that cap being a total POS.. So i pulled it apart and desoldered and removed that cap, tried it again, same thing still .21v and 0.266mA when set to 5.00v and 0.500mA.  So i soldered in a brand new Nichicon cap, same result.  I have checked all the voltage regulators, mine is the later revision with the machine wound current shunt and silkscreening on the top of the board.  The 5v reg is 4.99v, the 12v reg is 11.99, and the other labeled test points are as they should be matching the voltages silkscreened on the board.

I checked everything i could think of, but i can't get it working again.  Any suggestions guys??

[cs.dk]

I have no suggestions for finding the failure - But if it is brand new, why the heck replace parts inside it? Return it under warranty, and get a new one.

[kb0nly]

Because i have a vast amount of parts available here and i needed it for some projects this weekend!!

At the bare minimum its going to take two weeks turnaround time to get it replaced from the seller that i bought it from, ship it back, wait, ship new one back to me, wait.  If it was something simple that i could fix in under an hour then why bother with all that.  And whos to say the replacement is going to be any better??

I had a poke around in it today again, i can't find any obvious faults.  So i might just send it back for a refund and order a different brand/model today so i can reduce my wait to one week or less.  Everyone selling these things on eBay use the slowest mule shipping available.

[JSnyder]

Try this if your willing, power up the supply while holding down the "recall" button, after it's fully powered on, release the recall button, and measure the output voltage with your meter, it should be somewhere around 30vdc, power it down after taking the measurement. (don't press any other buttons besides the power switch) Holding recall during power on puts the supply in the first stage of it's cal mode. The reason why I'm curious is that the symptoms you listed sound like what happens when you (badly) mess up the calibration. 

[marshallh]

Throw it away and get a Hakko, unless you're fine with having a potential fire hazard lying around.

[kb0nly]

Try this if your willing, power up the supply while holding down the "recall" button, after it's fully powered on, release the recall button, and measure the output voltage with your meter, it should be somewhere around 30vdc, power it down after taking the measurement. (don't press any other buttons besides the power switch) Holding recall during power on puts the supply in the first stage of it's cal mode. The reason why I'm curious is that the symptoms you listed sound like what happens when you (badly) mess up the calibration.

Ok i tried that, still no output, the display now shows 31.00 volts and 5.100 amps.  I tried tapping output for the heck of it, shows 0.21 volts and 0.688 amps.  Thats all it will do.  I didn't do anything to the calibration, is there a way to get into that and see if it could be recalibrated then?

[kb0nly]

Throw it away and get a Hakko, unless you're fine with having a potential fire hazard lying around.

Sure why not, lets just toss money in the garbage, i mean we all have unlimited money to spend on $1000 power supplies because we feel like it right??

I have quite a bit of Atten gear here that hasn't given me a problem over many years of hard use.  I have two of their temp controlled 60w soldering stations, the 936 clone, i have one of their desoldering stations, and a hot air rework station with 60w tweezers as well.  They all work fantastic and without them i wouldn't even be able to afford to tinker and work on stuff.  This is a hobby, its not my primary source of income when i sit at my workbench, i don't have a five digit budget to toss into bench gear like some people do.  Even tossing a $100 power supply in the garbage would be hard for me. 

So if i can't figure out its problem i will send it back for a refund or replacement and try it again with another cheap one.  Or i will get another ATX power supply and use that, i really only need 3.3, 5, and 12v, but it would have been convenient having an adjustable supply with memories to flip between quicker and also digital volt and current meters.

[amyk]

Throw it away and get a Hakko, unless you're fine with having a potential fire hazard lying around.

A Hakko... power supply?

There's a schematic here which could be of use:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/playing-with-the-atten-pps3005s-dc-power-supply/

[kb0nly]

Thanks for that link i was just reading through that thread this morning.

I saved and printed a copy of that.  The problem is i don't think the issues this one is having is in the analog side of the supply but in the front digital control board as all the voltages are present and as they should be but the controller is just wigging out and not.. well controlling... it as it should.

I will go over the board one more time with the schematic see if i missed anything and if not toss it back in the box and wait for a replacement.. Ughhhhh 

[Armxnian]

If you have a vast amount of parts available why didn't you just build one? Or at least gotten a dp832 

[kb0nly]

If you have a vast amount of parts available why didn't you just build one? Or at least gotten a dp832 

Already went down that road, lasted years, but i don't feel like dedicating the time to building again, i got enough other crap on the bench to build and repair.. LOL

That DP832 looks nice... But $450 is crazy if i win the lottery some day money.  My max budget is $150, if i can't do it for that i will just get by somehow.

[kb0nly]

ITech IT6720. 60W, 60V, 5A PSU. Fully digital controlled. BK has one identical one, which is OEMed by ITech.

Thats a nice looking supply, but the cheapest i can find them is about $285 and its a month wait from China.

[Armxnian]

If you have a vast amount of parts available why didn't you just build one? Or at least gotten a dp832 

Already went down that road, lasted years, but i don't feel like dedicating the time to building again, i got enough other crap on the bench to build and repair.. LOL

That DP832 looks nice... But $450 is crazy if i win the lottery some day money.  My max budget is $150, if i can't do it for that i will just get by somehow.

Pretty much all the power supplies in that price range are atten rebrands like the mastech ones on amazon. They actually look like a good value if they work. Keyword if. I ordered the dp832 for $400, looks like the best value.

I would go ahead and return it and threaten a bad review if they refuse. The Chinese sellers take it seriously.

[kb0nly]

That was three years ago no wonder....

I had a few guys that told me to get the updated version of the Korad that fixed all the problems Dave found, i think he said originally they were under $100 US, now those too are more, cheapest i could find shipped to my door was about $130.

I didn't check any particular distributor... I checked eBay, Amazon, and Google searched for a while.  That was the cheapest shipped price i could find on your $170 now $284 power supply.  If you can point me to one cheaper i'm all ears.

[kb0nly]

Just waiting on the seller to get back to me, its got ebay buyer protection, so one way or another i will get a refund, no worries.  Just have to find one to take its place now.

Whats the deal with the Korad supply?  I watched the review, teardown, and followup video as well as the other followup video from the supplier that Dave got his from showing they fixed the initial problems.  But now they seem to be selling them under a different model number, so they look exactly the same??

The current ones appear to be the KA3005D

They were the KA3005P

I contacted a US seller on eBay that has both in stock, he said the D model just says digital on the box, the P model says programmable.  But, they both look and function the exact same way.. 

The D model has the preset programming and all the same features and specs.  I guess they changed the model number to get out from under some bad reviews of the earlier flawed units.  Now they are calling it the KA3005D Digital Power Supply, before it was the KA3005P Programmable Power Supply... Darn crazy chinese marketing.

[kb0nly]

Ok i sent another email to suppliers i checked with on this...

I guess its really not a "newer" version as some sellers on Amazon and eBay are implying...  Its actually just a version of the 3005P that doesn't include the USB/Serial interface...

Why oh why can't these sellers just state that instead of hyping it to be a "new" model??

Ughhh...

[mikerj]

Throw it away and get a Hakko, unless you're fine with having a potential fire hazard lying around.

Do Hakko make bench power supplies?  I've never seen one, and Google doesn't seem to know of any.

[leppie]

I have a Atten APS3005S. Worst 'PSU' ever. Still have buyer's regret.

Cannot power it on with anything connected due to massive 150-200V spikes on startup.

Extra loud fan comes on after a few minutes drawing just over a single fuckin watt.

[nanofrog]

Do Hakko make bench power supplies?

No.

They focus solely on soldering equipment to date.

[kb0nly]

Well the seller agreed to send me a replacement, so i said yeah what the heck send me a replacement.  So the second one gets here and i open it up, first off missing power cord from the box, power supply isn't in a plastic bag like the first one was, and this one has priority mail stickers on the outside of the box, obviously a return that he then resold?

I figure what the hell might as well put it on a protected supply in case it tries to burn the house down.  Turn it on, seems to work, but set the output to 5v and turn the output on and it goes to 18.11v.... WTF..

So i try other voltages, setting it to 20v gives an output of .23v, setting it to 31v which is its max output gives me 3.67v when the output is enabled.  And its all over the damn place, the output voltage jitters around like someone on crack. 

I give up, will return this turd in a box and just build something again, will look ugly as hell but at least it will work.

[GoneTomorrow]

I've had good luck with my Tenma 10480 bench PSU from element14. It's basically a 3A version of the Korad 3005, but after tearing it down, actually has quality Rubycon caps. Voltages are all within spec, and was still happily chugging away after I left it at max load for hours.

[kb0nly]

I would like 5a minimum, but i will take a look at the Tenma branded units.

The only thing i don't like about element 14 is thats the new face newark electronics hides behind... shudders at the thought....

[VK5RC]

When I was building a purpose built psu,  30v 15a, the most problematic parts were the big pass transistors,  one would sell out dumping load on others,  if I wasn't quick they would join in,    if you still have the remains I would check them out.

[nanofrog]

Well the seller agreed to send me a replacement, so i said yeah what the heck send me a replacement.  So the second one gets here and i open it up, first off missing power cord from the box, power supply isn't in a plastic bag like the first one was, and this one has priority mail stickers on the outside of the box, obviously a return that he then resold?

I figure what the hell might as well put it on a protected supply in case it tries to burn the house down.  Turn it on, seems to work, but set the output to 5v and turn the output on and it goes to 18.11v.... WTF..

So i try other voltages, setting it to 20v gives an output of .23v, setting it to 31v which is its max output gives me 3.67v when the output is enabled.  And its all over the damn place, the output voltage jitters around like someone on crack. 

I give up, will return this turd in a box and just build something again, will look ugly as hell but at least it will work.

I would suggest returning it and getting your money back, skip the cheap Chinese branded supplies entirely, and get a quality used unit from eBay instead. 

For example: Power Designs 3650-S Power Supply 0-36V @ 0-5A. Seller has it marked “Tested & Working” with a 14 day return policy. 

If you can adjust your specifications a bit, there are more possibilities available. I find that the dual and triple output models offer more value for money. You can also really score on the "for parts, not working" listings as well if you're careful (honest sellers that don't have a clue will do this with perfectly functional units). Even the broken ones can usually be fixed (electrical fault, not run over, beaten with a sledge hammer, ...), so can still be worth buying at the right price.

Just a thought if you want to stop screwing around with dud Chinese made crap... 

The only thing i don't like about element 14 is thats the new face newark electronics hides behind... shudders at the thought....

Actually it's the face of Farnell in the US.   

[kb0nly]

Requirements..

0-32v 0-5a digital meters, programmable memories for quick changes, OVP, OCP... Been looking through used stuff on eBay for a couple days now, there is some but none that meet the budget around $100, $150 max..

Element 14 says right on it Newark Electronics.  Not Farnell