Power supply's

[shane_95]

Does anyone have any links to a guide or kit for a lab power supply (preferably adjustable) that is suitable for a beginner? 

[Jad.z]

Hi Shane

When you say guide do you mean somthing like this?

1- Power Supply Guide, BK-Precision.

2- DC Power Supply Handbook, Agilent.

[FlyingBrickyard]

I'm not exactly sure what you're after, and as a beginner myself there may be better advice, but I've built a couple Elenco XP-720 kits and have been pretty happy with them.

That's not my page or build in the link, but on my second build (which I just finished today) I made most of the same modifications shown on that page.  My first one was built completely stock and is really just fine as is, but I liked it so much I thought having a more precise, "ultra durable" (the caps I installed are rated for 7-10k hours @ 105C vs the likely 1k hours @ 85C included in the kit) upgraded version would be nice, hence the second build.  Besides, power supplies are useful, right?

The kit can be picked up from Amazon (in the US) for $50-$60, usually, so it's not too bad, especially since it provides for an afternoon or two of fun putting it together if you don't rush it.

[shane_95]

Hi Shane

When you say guide do you mean somthing like this?

1- Power Supply Guide, BK-Precision.

2- DC Power Supply Handbook, Agilent.

what I mean is a guide on how to build a power supply

[Rerouter]

http://www.ladyada.net/library/equipt/diypsupp.html

this is a basic lm317 supply, you would want 35V rated capacitors instead, (this was made for borderline 9V battery) (always good to overrate capacitor voltage)
the design is good for 1.25V to about your Voltage in - 1.25V, (40V input maximum)

for a beginner it is hard to pass up the lm317 people may um and ah about it, but its where most people would have begun,

here is its datasheet, https://www.national.com/ds/LM/LM117.pdf

a few things of note:
without a heatsink, it is only good for about 1.5W off dissipation, so if you want 4.5V from a 9V battery, you can only pull 1/3rd of an amp, (V*I=W)
the package is thermally limited, so its output voltage will start to go funny if you overload it,
and if you want a bit better performance out of it, have a look through the applications hints in the datasheet, it will also help you to understand it a bit,

[Pickers]

Check out the playlist "How to build power supplies!" from Afrotechmods on youtube https://www.youtube.com/user/Afrotechmods/videos?view=1. Also look at the data sheets for the various components as they often contain example circuits.

[LEECH666]

A few links to LM317 / LM337 based power supplies:

I wouldn't really class these as (super) rugged LAB PSUs but rather general purpose, easy to build and widely applicable PSUs.

Jumper One has a two part video tutorial on how to set up a LM317 PSU.
You can find it here : http://jumperone.com/2011/08/lm317-adjustable-psu/

Variable Dual Lab Power Supply
http://sound.westhost.com/project44.htm

My version of Project 44 (see attached pictures).

Cheers,
Florian