Author Topic: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer  (Read 14492 times)

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Offline HKJ

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #25 on: August 26, 2016, 12:44:41 pm »
Thurlby expensive :)

BTW: I don't like their terminals with screws. It's cleaner with just banana jacks.
But of course some people might need the screws. Still then it would be better to have them on the back.

I do not see them as that expensive and definitely not compare to the quality you get.
Screw terminals are very useful on a power supply, but their clips for 4 terminal could be better. They usual also have connections on the back.

I do have a pile of them and they have replaced most of my other power supplies, my favorite is QL355P
 

Offline Hydrawerk

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #26 on: August 26, 2016, 05:25:34 pm »
http://www.mascot.no/catalog/power-supplies/c-24/c-77
They are good at fixed voltage power adapters. But this laboratory power supply is just too basic. http://www.mascot.no/catalog/power-supplies/acdc/desktop/230v/0719/c-24/c-1318/p-235
It looks like it came from 1960's 1970's. I want separate meter for voltage and current.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2016, 06:15:01 pm by Hydrawerk »
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Offline TheAmmoniacal

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #27 on: August 26, 2016, 05:27:05 pm »
http://www.mascot.no/catalog/power-supplies/c-24/c-77
They are good at fixed voltage power adapters. But this laboratory power supply is just too basic. http://www.mascot.no/catalog/power-supplies/acdc/desktop/230v/0719/c-24/c-1318/p-235
It looks like it came from 1960's. I want separate meter for voltage and current.

Yep, they are pretty basic - and rather expensive for what they are. Would like to see a teardown though!
 

Offline Hydrawerk

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #28 on: August 26, 2016, 05:30:57 pm »
I found some schematic from 1973. I think the internal circuit is similar till nowadays.
It is basic but it might work much longer than all Rigols and Siglents.
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Offline Hydrawerk

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Offline jtu

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #30 on: August 26, 2016, 05:40:01 pm »
Not sure what you're talking about, there are various national offices and lots of distributors for American big brands like Keysight, Tek, Eaton, Magna-Power etc. In fact, it's easier to find say a Keysight representative than one from R&S.

Definitely true for UK, Germany, etc, but representation IS really crappy when it comes to Latvia :( Very small market + relatively low GDP per capita.
Veiksmi,
Jānis
 

Offline pascal_sweden

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #31 on: August 26, 2016, 06:59:14 pm »
http://operationalsmoke.blogspot.cz/2013/09/mascot-719.html

If it's that expensive, one would expect at least that it is accurate from the factory without doing your own calibration and modifications.

This design is so basic, and proofs that the company is not interested in R&D and innovation.
All they want to do is to rip off people.
 

Offline midixTopic starter

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #32 on: August 26, 2016, 08:10:19 pm »
:-DD   European manufacturer

Only job available in "Europe manufacturer " is to remove labels and glue new ones, China already dominate the world

I agree, therefore I wrote at the very beginning:

Quote
If you have experience with European manufacturers (of course, I know that they are made in China, but I hope to have at least more or less reliable circuit design and a warranty)...

So, now when I have looked at a few Mastechs available in my local shops, I noticed that some of them are actually labeled Hyelec. But seeing that on Mastech's own website there are models starting with HY (and after some search on eevblog), I found that they are (or at least were some time ago) the same factory. But that still doesn't mean anything. Real Mastech had reasonable quality (judging from some teardowns) but I have no idea about Hyelec - do they clone 1:1 from Mastech with the same quality or do they spit out the same crap as all the other <any random name here>elec do? Are Mastech labeled devices really owned and designed and QA-ed by Mastech? I see models like HY-3005E-2, HY-3005-2, HY-3005-3 but Mastech com site does not have those. Mastech Russian site, on the other hand, seems to be up to date, so I'm not sure what the real relationship is between HYelec / Mastech.

Also I have seen mentions of Circuit Specialists saying that some models are rebranded Chinese models with acceptable quality but some others are crap. So, I guess the "mission to accomplish" still boils down to this - to find a specific Chinese 30V 5A model of acceptable quality (as first original Mastechs and Korads were or close to that) branded and distributed by European company. This option might be the best way to get two year warranty and still fit my budget. Also, if I get it cheap, I won't be sad if the thing burns down, and it might happen because I'm still a beginner in electronics; I'm mostly programmer guy having fun with occasional ARM platform hardware experiments.
 

Online bingo600

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #33 on: August 26, 2016, 08:37:26 pm »
I'd suggest a used TTI also , or a used HP
I have both , and love the fanless ones (TTI) , especially after having used my HP-6632B for a while.


/Bingo
 

Offline HKJ

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #34 on: August 26, 2016, 08:47:44 pm »
I have both , and love the fanless ones (TTI) , especially after having used my HP-6632B for a while.

My TTi's are not fanless, but the fan is controlled and usual is rather quiet, especially compared to my Keithley (The Keithley is a better power supply, but due to the noise I usual uses the TTi).
 

Offline R005T3r

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #35 on: August 28, 2016, 09:32:38 am »
If you have experience with European manufacturers (of course, I know that they are made in China, but I hope to have at least more or less reliable circuit design and a warranty), then I'd be grateful for any suggestions.

Well, there is still Hameg, now sold as R&S Value Line, i.e.:

https://www.rohde-schwarz.com/uk/product/hmc804x-productstartpage_63493-61542.html

Hameg gear is made in CZ, so it's actually European made.

You could of course also go for a 2nd hand R&S power supply, which would be made in Germany.

However, while I can certainly understand your caution re. Chinese brands, I don't understand what the problem is with US made gear.
I used one of these at the university! It' amazing stuff! Unfortunately it's not that cheap, but you can't go wrong with it.
 

Offline pascal_sweden

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #36 on: August 28, 2016, 12:52:41 pm »
I think that the HMC8043 is a switching power supply, so the voltage output is subject to ripple.

Rather prefer a beefy linear power supply instead. Don't care so much about efficiency, as long as there is no ripple on the voltage output, and no spikes during turning it on and off, or when switching between ranges through a relay.
 

Offline midixTopic starter

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #37 on: August 28, 2016, 09:29:41 pm »
Yes, I most certainly will pick a linear PSU.
 

Offline petex

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #38 on: August 29, 2016, 01:21:33 pm »
http://operationalsmoke.blogspot.cz/2013/09/mascot-719.html

If it's that expensive, one would expect at least that it is accurate from the factory without doing your own calibration and modifications.

This design is so basic, and proofs that the company is not interested in R&D and innovation.
All they want to do is to rip off people.
That Mascot PSU have been working very well, and I have to add that the PSU is very old and heavily used in electronics test lab, so no wonder that the calibration is a bit off after ~20 years. But still I wouldn't recommend to buy similar just because there is a lot of PSU's with digital voltage & current gauges. In my opinion, if you buy a $125 chinese 30V 5A PSU, that's so cheap that you can buy a new one if it gets broken, with same price as you would buy one "premium" PSU. I've been very satisfied with my Mastech HY3005D, and it's still fine after 5 years and some moderate/long-term load conditions.

- The editor of op-smoke
 

Offline midixTopic starter

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #39 on: September 01, 2016, 06:29:44 am »
In my opinion, if you buy a $125 chinese 30V 5A PSU, that's so cheap that you can buy a new one if it gets broken, with same price as you would buy one "premium" PSU. I've been very satisfied with my Mastech HY3005D, and it's still fine after 5 years and some moderate/long-term load conditions.

Thank you for the confirmation that even current Mastechs can be good enough. I guess, that was the tipping point and I'm going for a Mastech (especially, since they are available at my local shop which also provides two year warranty) with a hope for at least few years of work.
 

Offline 2N3055

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #40 on: September 01, 2016, 08:17:01 am »
I think that the HMC8043 is a switching power supply, so the voltage output is subject to ripple.

Rather prefer a beefy linear power supply instead. Don't care so much about efficiency, as long as there is no ripple on the voltage output, and no spikes during turning it on and off, or when switching between ranges through a relay.

They are not, linear with switching preregulators...450 uV noise specified...
 

Offline setq

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #41 on: September 01, 2016, 09:24:24 am »
I've had a couple of Mastech supplies. Awful things.
 

Offline flash2b

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #42 on: September 01, 2016, 09:59:24 am »
Best power supplies ever are Delta Elektronika from The Netherlands:
http://www.delta-elektronika.nl/en/

or Oltronix also from The Netherlands:
http://www.oltronix.nl/en

Used ones can be found on ebay and marktplaats.nl
« Last Edit: September 01, 2016, 10:03:55 am by flash2b »
 

Offline b_force

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #43 on: September 01, 2016, 10:03:43 am »
I've had a couple of Mastech supplies. Awful things.
Velleman is 90% rebrand from Mastech and similar products.
I had a Velleman multimeter years back which broke. When I opened the thing I discovered it was made by Mastech. Only the case colour was different and the price was 3 times higher.

Offline setq

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #44 on: September 01, 2016, 12:34:55 pm »
That's about right. There are various grades and clones of mastech products and depending on who cloned them and how much they paid, they range from instant mortal risk to just about acceptable. I'd rather put down the cash for a second hand TTi/Agilent/HP supply than buy a new Mastech or clone though.

I'd even rather use a 1970s Heathkit supply assembled by a blind drunk than some of the clones.
 

Offline b_force

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #45 on: September 01, 2016, 12:58:31 pm »
For the same price you can get old Fluke 8050a or 8010 meters.
Which are a whole lot better!

As for a LAB supply, just get one of the old ones (even from Velleman).
I mean the 1970-1990 old ones.
They are simply just LM3xx's in a fancy case and they are very cheap second hand.
Another option is build one yourself.

Offline Berni

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Re: Looking for a budget laboratory power supply from European manufacturer
« Reply #46 on: September 02, 2016, 02:45:41 pm »
The one I like is the Rigol DP832. It is a bit expensive but you get 3 channels abd a good functional UI. Very good bang per buck for a brand new unit from a well known brand.

But I also got some old agilent rack PSUs that are built like a tank inside for pretty cheep of ebay
 


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