Author Topic: Atorch DL24MP : a flaw or a strange strategy?  (Read 1727 times)

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Offline Filippo52Topic starter

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Atorch DL24MP : a flaw or a strange strategy?
« on: January 22, 2023, 10:42:28 am »
This is not a product review but just an observation about a strange thing.
The DL24MP model, as anyone who owns it knows, uses 4 MOSFETs instead of one. Unfortunately there are small heat sinks and therefore the ability to disperse heat is not very good. However the MOSFETs share the work and the probability of burning even at startup when the heatsink is cold is much lower.
To balance the load between the 4 MOSFETs Atorcho has adopted the solution of putting a low value resistance to level the inevitable differences between the mosfets as well as obviously driving the gates of the MOSFETs independently. On paper, an excellent performance. However, looking closely at the resistors, I noticed something very strange.
On one side there are two resistors with the inscription 0R22 and on the other side with the inscription 0R25. The measurements, made with an LCR such as the DE5000, confirm that there are 0.22 ohm resistors on one side and 0.25 ohm resistors on the other.
I thought of a strategy and then did some miduras under load. These measures confirmed the fear. By giving constant DC 4 Ampere, MOSFETs with 0.22 ohm resistances draw a little more 1 A and those with 0.25 ohm resistances a little less. Nothing serious but why??
I can't think of anything good and I ask you.
Seems to me either a mistake or worse I ran out of resistors by one value and they used the closest ones thinking no one would notice the difference. But if so, does the vaunted attention to quality disappear due to a trivial mistake or the lack of a component?
I am attaching two photos to document, only one of the resistors on each side can be read very well but I think it is sufficient.





 

Offline dougbert

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Re: Atorch DL24MP : a flaw or a strange strategy?
« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2023, 11:38:06 pm »
Consider that would be happening if the DL24MP was being supplied with 12 volts at a 4 amp setting: each MOSFET (and the resistor in series with it) is getting about 1 ampere at 12 volts, so
the total resistance is 12 ohms.  Thus, the 0.03 ohm variation in per-MOSFET resistance is totally insignificant.  At the lowest reasonable input voltage (I found that my unit handled 1.5 volts at 4 amps ok),
each MOSFET would have a resistance of about 1.5 ohms, but since each one would be dissipating only 1.5 watts, so there is no way that a ~3% variation in current would harm them.

I suspect that the resistors are needed only prevent a sudden spike of voltage from harming the MOSFETS when they are fully turned on.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2023, 11:42:22 pm by dougbert »
 


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