DP832 have 3 channels (I have a DP832 for about a few years)
- CH1 is a 32V/3.2A, isolated (floating), can be wired externally in series or parallel with CH2 (+/-32V or +64V) but there is NO sink current capability (all 3 channels are working in FIRST QUADRANT ONLY, positive voltage, positive current)
- CH2 is a 32V/3.2A, have an internal common ground (by design) with CH3
- CH3 is a 5.3V/3.2A, common ground with CH2, by design
- Each channel can be operated independently
- CH1 and CH2 can be set in tracking mode or independent
- can be unlocked for internal voltmeters to display mV and mA resolution (without upgrade the resolution is 10mV/10mA) and other fancy software features
- has CC/CV mode
- linear power source (no SMPS inside)
- fan is a little noisy for a quiet room at home, OK for a lab at work
- very cumbersome software menu/submenu for more complex features
- very good and very handy physical buttons, easy to control frequently tasks like setting voltage/current, etc., has digital keypad too, just that the number are placed in circles, which is funny but easy to use. I appreciate a lot that it has distinct buttons for V, mV, A, mA (the arrows around the main knob)
- SCPI over LXI or USB
- a few digital i/o for trigger/automating testing
- loaded with SW features when unlocked
!!! It happened to me once to see it reset and reboot out of nowhere, at a total load of about only 60W, just because I was constantly reading the voltage and current by LAN, using SCPI, for logging purposes
!!! It's big and heavy (almost half a meter deep, so plan for the workbench real estate)
!!! It has some problem with the common ground between channels, a voltage drop somewhere on the ground path between CH2 and CH3 IIRC, can be a problem at high currents, can be fixed by simply putting a thicker wire inside the DP832 case, near the front connectors, never bothered me but the issue is there, some design/manufacture flaw. Easy to fix but needs to remove the seal in order to do it.
Hard to beat DP832 at the price/features ratio. Good quality overall (for the money), but has some childish bugs and design flaws: i.e. mine has a few 10s of mA or mV erroneous display only when close to zero, otherwise is more or less OK (but the accuracy and precision are NOT 1mV/mA, only the resolution is that good)
TL;DR
Overall:
- Great for the money in an average lab, horrible and unreliable if you look for metrology grade equipment.
- Don't know about the Voltage noise/stabilization, didn't really needed that thing at home tinkering.
- Will I buy that again? Yes, for my needs, in a home lab, is great. (In fact, for the next one I will look for a 4 quadrant model, in order to avoid buying an extra instrument for a controlled load, but that's just me)