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

[LaurenceW]

Somebody sit Dave down in a comfy chair with a nice Vegemite sandwich, before he blows his OWN fuse! (for then, somebody will have to take HIS lid off, and have a look inside...)

Hmmm.. I did look at this power supply about a year back - Lots of Buttons! (=must be good, right? Er, no). The poor manual frightened me off, and serious offers to Atten for a properly written version in exchange for a discounted unit we at least discussed, but I genuinely don't think they thought there was a problem. Which is, after all, the problem.

In the end, I spent the same money on a TTI Built-like-a-brick-dunny (AKA Shithouse) PL330TP which was new but end of line, so on offer at a most reasonable price. It's got KNOBS, and LED displays, Separate (four, in total) transformers (one for each output and separate one for supervisory stuff), no switching tap relays, no fans, but just bloody-great heat sinks. Very Old school (like me). This one will outlast me.  Will an Atten??

"Buy it and rewrite the User Interface"? WTF??? Would you buy a car and retrofit you own brakes? I think not.  There comes a point whereby, no matter how much you polish a turd, the best you will ever end up with is a turd with a suspicious looking shine to it.

I wanted to like this power supply, I really did. But it's just not finished. Maybe Rev 2.0 will be better?

[BobbyK]

Apart from the UI seems like a great product for the price. Dave, can't wait to see what's inside - especially would like to know if it is possible to reprogram the UI and reassign buttons, etc. without any hardware hacking. The only real deal breaker for me is that I love to be able to have either separate knob adjusts for voltages in each channel, or at least press a button to pick a channel, and then adjust the voltage - none of that clickety click for 15 seconds just to get a voltage 

[T4P]

That transformer is massive? Not really ...

This is supposedly a 180W transformer but it actually puts out over 360W 

[BillyD]

Good review. Personally I'd actually give that a fail. Because even if the hardware is ok, and it has those good features, it's so quirky and difficult to use that it's almost guaranteed to eventually cause you - or a colleague - to make a mistake which sends it into overvoltage or overcurrent and blow the arse out of your project. It's bordering on dangerous, except that it only outputs 30v.

[Razor512]

Really love these reviews. (Cant really think of anywhere else that will provide as much detail as whats shown in his reviews)

[senso]

That UI is really a pain in the back, and that beep-beep-beep is super annoying, first mode would be ripping that bloody beeper.

[JoannaK]

I  noticed something interesting at the video.. the bug with 1-2 channel serial connection (or was it parellel?).. When Dave adjusted the 2 channel down from 10 to 9.9-something the channel1 followed, but it halted just under 10 volts so it did not follow back over the treshold when channel 2 was adjusted back up the 10V and above ...

May well be I'm mistaken. I just wathed the video once and have no similar power supply to test. But apparently the software/firmware is quite buggy. Kinda shame, since otherwice that looks like quite nice supply.

[c4757p]

first mode would be ripping that bloody beeper.

I don't understand why so much cheap stuff beeps like that. It's like a transistor socket on a multimeter: marginally useful in theory, as long as you don't think about that theory too hard, but identifies it right away as lacking quality. Might as well throw a big sticker on the front panel: "Cheap Turd".

[Lightages]

Too bad. I was looking for another power supply but with the shitty controls it is worthless. As others have said the user interface can cause some real problems. Sorry Dave but I am disappointed that you accept this as not a fail.

[iXod]

Don't like it. UI is almost #1 in my evaluation. Specs are important, but UI should be AS important.

I don't want to spend more time operating this than evaluating the circuit it's powering!

A good design includes evaluation by PEOPLE WHO WILL USE THIS PRODUCT and watch where they get lost and frustrated. Incorporate their experience and "Bob's your uncle!".

Every manufacturer of products Dave evaluates gets a free engineering evaluation video report (you should bill each of them when they fail, Dave!).

Yeccch!

[iXod]

I suspect this PS will be one of those a lab will buy and it'll sit in the corner of the lab ... 'til it's sold at a surplus sale.

"Have you ever used the Atten?"
"I tried once but couldn't figure it out."

[komet]

I really don't understand how a product like this can even exist. UI nightmares are usually the result of the designers not understanding the needs of the end customer because their businesses are too far apart. With a power supply, however, the designers are the same people as the target market! What is going on?

The only explanation I can come up with is that the CIA have injected agents posing as UX people into China in order to sabotage their economy.

[iXod]

Dave,
I see you're favoring the Agilent DMM over the '87V more often...

A new love?

[iXod]

Dave,
It would be nice to see a comparison with the Korad triple output supply -- KA3005P-3S.

[Spawn]

As I don’t need a precision power supply since I use my power supplies for my not so precise electrical projects, but I have weak for power supplies, even I was getting annoyed when Dave was fiddling with the interface menu, give me chunky knobs to turn and I am a happy person, like my 40 kilogram EA-4000 PSU 

[casinada]

Circuit Specialists have the same power supply with their own name. Of course is an OEM re-badge but on their web site they have Manual, Drivers and control software. I wonder if their firmware is the same?

I'm sure if we can find the OEM probably can get more answers.

[Bored@Work]

Apart from the UI seems like a great product for the price.

Here we go again. It is crap, but it is cheap. So it must be good, right? No, wrong. Crap remains crap, doesn't matter if it is cheap crap. And it doesn't matter if it has potential. If you can't realize the potential with reasonable effort then potential is worth nothing.

[T4P]

Dave,
I see you're favoring the Agilent DMM over the '87V more often...

A new love?

He needs 30000 count at that moment, does the 87V have it? Nope. And this is 2013, the 87V is very very stuck in its times 

[EEVblog]

Too bad. I was looking for another power supply but with the shitty controls it is worthless. As others have said the user interface can cause some real problems. Sorry Dave but I am disappointed that you accept this as not a fail.

When did I say it's not a fail? I spent maybe 30min complaining about the bloody thing!
Will I personally continue to use it, well, yes, I've persevere because it's the most versatile supply in my lab. Just like I find my Fluke 87V defaulting to AC current incredibly annoying, but I continue to use it.

[EEVblog]

I suspect this PS will be one of those a lab will buy and it'll sit in the corner of the lab ... 'til it's sold at a surplus sale.
"Have you ever used the Atten?"
"I tried once but couldn't figure it out."

Kinda like the old Lecroy scopes!

[EEVblog]

He needs 30000 count at that moment, does the 87V have it? Nope. And this is 2013, the 87V is very very stuck in its times 

Correct. I recall needing the extra count at that point so reached for the Agilent.
But yes, it's a really nice meter, I use it a lot. I just have two Fluke 87's on the bench, so it is more likely I have one of those within arms reach when I shoot a video.
Well, actually, I have the OLED version of the Agilent too.

[EEVblog]

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

No, but I did shoot the teardown before I shot the conclusion clip, so that factored into it.
Some poor looking messy soldering inside, but apart from that, it was as expected inside and par for the course.

Dave.

[EEVblog]

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

Yes, poor choice of wording perhaps. It's fairly high end in terms of PSU specs, but bottom end of town brand and price of course.

Dave.

[EEVblog]

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.

I had the same thought, as I usually do for similar products with bad UI's that are otherwise ok in terms of functionality.

Dave.

[EEVblog]

Good review. Personally I'd actually give that a fail. Because even if the hardware is ok, and it has those good features, it's so quirky and difficult to use that it's almost guaranteed to eventually cause you - or a colleague - to make a mistake which sends it into overvoltage or overcurrent and blow the arse out of your project. It's bordering on dangerous, except that it only outputs 30v.

The OVP feature can actually make it a safer supply than better higher prices supplies that don't have that feature.
I do see where you are coming from, but no supply is idiot proof.
As always YMMV.

Dave.