EEVBlog #439 - Atten PPS3205T-3S Triple Output Power Supply Review

[BravoV]

If Atten released the mcu programming to public, or "leaked"  for a complete tweaking or even better re-doing the UI, I'm guessing this thing will sell like a hot cakes since the underlying power/analog part is quite good isn't it ?

Love it Dave, the detail performance review and the torturing too ! 

[konfu]

What about your rule "Don't turn it on - take it apart!"?? I'd love to see the PCB, Transformer, input protection and so on. ;-)

But seems like a nice little chunk of equipment.

[BravoV]

What about your rule "Don't turn it on - take it apart!"?? I'd love to see the PCB, Transformer, Input protection and so on.

Its way too long for single episode, imo that review it self shows in details how to test & torture a psu, love it. 

Maybe at next episode.

[peter.mitchell]

not at all! I was expecting it!

[EEVblog]

What about your rule "Don't turn it on - take it apart!"?? I'd love to see the PCB, Transformer, input protection and so on. ;-)

I actually shot the teardown after the review and before I shot the final conclusion. So my rating is also takes into account the internal construction (some poor soldering, but otherwise ok), but I forgot to mention that :->
Teardown is already uploaded, coming tomorrow. 45min worth!

Dave.

[EEVblog]

Its way too long for single episode

I thought this episode was also way too long, and there is already some stuff left out. I didn't want to spend the time to edit and refine further.
The teardown is an additional 45min, and includes some extra testing. I had to re-shoot almost the entire thing, wait for the rant in the video...

Dave.

[Rerouter]

so to kill the gap, was it high side or low side current measurement, or some combination?

[BravoV]

Its way too long for single episode

I thought this episode was also way too long, and there is already some stuff left out. I didn't want to spend the time to edit and refine further.
The teardown is an additional 45min, and includes some extra testing. I had to re-shoot almost the entire thing, wait for the rant in the video...

Dave.

Even its 1 or 1.5 hours is still fine, IMO.

Also merging it with a tear down part might "dilute" the quality weights of this kind of highly technical review video, again, maybe its just me. 

[Psi]

I wonder what it would do if ch 1 was shorted to ch 2 in reverse polarity.
Then let the current limit on each channel fight it out.  %-B

[Ketturi]

If it has some generic MCU, the firmware could be hackable. If someone have too much time on their hands, it could be possible to reverse engineer the original FW, and fix those annoying bugs and issues, or completely rewrite FW and include more options and better user interface. Too often the case is that UI sucks in cheap equipment, even tough usually it is most important part. Does designing cost that much? Is it reason why professional devices have so high price? Maybe in future we have same hardware in both price ranges, but supplied software is different. And at same time we have superb open source software that costs nothing...
 

[EEVblog]

so to kill the gap, was it high side or low side current measurement, or some combination?

I didn't investigate that far. To take the boards out would have required stripping the whole thing.

Dave.

[biot]

I have the 3A version of this (PPS3203T-3S). One of the major reasons I bought it was for the serial programmability, and as Dave noticed, that doesn't work at all. The download for the 3203 was a broken link, and the 3205's software just didn't work.

It looks like somebody sat down with some VB or similar GUI design tool, dropped in some windows, and shipped that. I'm not even kidding: I ran this in a VM, selected the serial-USB port and told it to connect while sniffing USB traffic going through the VM. It doesn't touch the serial port at all; not a single USB packet. FWIW I do this all the time on that VM; the method works, the software does nothing.

I sent a mail to Atten, but received no reply of course. Not that I was expecting anything there. The distributor where I got it (TME) also declined to reply. It looks to me like Atten simply did not implement the programmability feature, but is still selling it that way. Very, very questionable.

I had a look inside. The separate serial board goes to an MCU board, centered around a chip labelled STC 89C58RD+. A quick google turned up a datasheet that contains a few package outlines and no text whatsoever. Good luck getting it to work by reverse engineering that.

I didn't actually get a sheet with serial commands with the unit, only the manual. Dave, any chance you could post this? I'd really like to see if it's at least implemented in the firmware.

[Dr_Welt]

First of all, I'm new here.

So hi Dave, hi to all.

I saw the review, and it made me smile. Actually I have the "ISO-TECH 3202". The Atten PSU seems to be very simmilar, if not in some parts the same. Have a look at the (same annoying) user interface.
Actually mine can't be programmed in the same way, and my knob cant be pushed. *BUT* I can save and recall channel configurations.

Here are some pictures I made the day I got it from ebay.

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A45oqs3qdVAvn

BTW. mine has a "secret" menu, which I found. By pressing shift-"." you can enter "calibration mode"

Thanks for the nice review,
Ole.

[nitro2k01]

Teardown is already uploaded, coming tomorrow. 45min worth!

It's a good thing you 'straighans live in the future, so Tuesday typically means "late Monday" to the rest of the world.

[firewalker]

Nice review.

I actually believe it's normal not to be able to change channels synchronously when in series mode. If so it wouldn't be possible to produce asymmetrical voltages (e.g. +5. -10), or odd voltages (e.g. 45 volts) since only ch2 is settable. Set channel one, select series mode, set ch2 turn outputs on.

Alexander.

[Bored@Work]

What did Dave say in the intro "a pretty high-end bit of kit"? That train wreck passes as high-end? Muhahahahaha     

[firewalker]

Dave, did you had a peek inside before the review?

Alexander.

[c4757p]

Am I the only one who's really, really horrified by the display? As in, "no way in hell would I ever buy it" horrified? The almost-white-on-slightly-less-white is ghastly. I think I would spend as much time squinting at it as I do operating it!

[Rufus]

Am I the only one who's really, really horrified by the display? As in, "no way in hell would I ever buy it" horrified? The almost-white-on-slightly-less-white is ghastly. I think I would spend as much time squinting at it as I do operating it!

I think you would need to see it in the 'flesh' to judge. I have a cheap Chinese electronic load with white on blue LCD and its fine. I only skipped through the video and didn't notice if Dave tried adjusting the contrast.

[AndyC_772]

Am I the only one who's really, really horrified by the display? As in, "no way in hell would I ever buy it" horrified?

Nope. There's really no excuse for such a cheap, nasty display, especially in a piece of otherwise (apparently) well constructed equipment.

It doesn't seem inappropriate given the quality of every other aspect of the UI, though.

I can think of quite a good project for anyone with some spare time on their hands, though. The hardware in the box seems OK, and the whole thing is serial programmable, so I wonder whether it might be possible to build a dedicated external controller for this thing with a better LCD and front panel controls? It could be quite a good "my first PIC" project; rather than building a power supply from scratch, just make a relatively inexpensive off-the-shelf one usable.

Of course, the first problem is how to power the PIC...

[jancumps]

... wait for the rant in the video...

Yeah!

[johnnyfp]

Dave,

Where did you buy it from?

[Pilot3514]

Dave,

Did this give you any ideas for features to add to you Micro Power / USB Power supplies?

Given that you have a processor/controller with a UART already, seems like serial control is a good feature.

The UI may not be everything but as you have shown, it can take a really nice bit of kit and turn it to piece of ****.

[lewis]

 

[nixxon]

Hey, at least the USB connector is connected to the inside circuitry. Unlike Atten's AWG's...