Show your favorite and most used benchtop PSU

[elecBlu]

RFT 3214 after some cleaning
Old technology still rocks.

[oakkar7]

WoW ....
The whole topic looks like a power supply museum. 

I want to submit my own. I cannot effort over-killed or good quality power supply. So, I built my self.

1) Fixed, ATX Based Supply (Most hacker style   )

350W, 12V, +-5V, 3.3V





2) Classic LM317 + 2N3055 Based

0~30V, 10A

Inspired ON6MU design http://users.belgacom.net/hamradio/schemas/6-20amps_regulatable_powersupplies_on6mu.htm




Cheers,

[Oracle]

my favourite psu is the agilent U8002A: it's simple, good quality, cheap  and can do a lot of stuff and whit 2 digit of resolution I don't fed up programming the thing. One thing I don't like at all is the bloody fan: very annoyng, but nothing compared to my oscilloscope... I have to replace it, once day when the warranty time is finished..

[JeanF]

Obviously not my best PSU (in fact I still don't have a proper variable one) but I couldn't resist to post a pic of the piece of junk I threw together this morning, based on a few "cosmetically damaged" little units I had on hand (there's a power adapter from a vintage toshiba laptop, an old modem, a Canon printer, etc) so I disassembled them except one which was heavily glued in its case, and glued them on a piece of plywood. Much more practical now ; the spare ones were too lightweight and kept moving everywhere on the desk due to the weight of the bloody IEC-7 mains cables !

Now time to find an enclosure and some banana sockets...

[BravoV]

JeanF, if there are nominees list for ghetto award of bench psus posted in this thread, I think it should be in the list. , its so exciting to watch bench psu especially diy type from around the world.

Thanks for sharing. 

[mmagin]

I'm pretty happy with these older HP supplies from the 1960s-1970s.  My favorite is the bottom one.  These fairly large models (8.5 inches wide, 15 inch deep) seem to be built by a group they acquired (I believe originally known as Harrison Labs) and they work really nice.  My only complaint is that the power-on indication is mechanical and the sharing of one meter for current and voltage can be a little annoying.

The top is a cheaper model which I got because I didn't want to spend a whole lot and I wanted something with a decent amount of voltage and +/- tracking outputs for analog stuff.  It doesn't have a configurable current limit (but is current limited).

Sometime I'd like to get one of the models that's like the bigger one but which goes up to 100 volts.

One nice thing is that you can find scans of the manuals for most of these by searching on Agilent's site and thus you can better understand what you're buying on Ebay, and also determine how difficult it might be to get parts to repair it.

[SLJ]

My stack of Power Designs is now complete with the addition of the 6050A on the bottom.

[BravoV]

My stack of Power Designs is now complete with the addition of the 6050A on the bottom.

I can feel a sense of closure, aren't you Steve.   

Great collection you got there. 

[robrenz]

+1   But things are never complete are they? 

[SLJ]

+1   But things are never complete are they? 

Most likely not but I have six DC supplies, a Variac for AC, several low power DC supplies built into breadboards, and a high voltage DC supply for powering nixie tubes so I should be set for awhile.  I've been lax on replacing my stereo microscope so I have to get that done before I need it again.  Sometimes a magnifier lamp isn't enough.

[TomC]

These are my favorite PSU's. The AC Variable Power source is home built as you may suspect from the picture. Originally, when I built it in the 70's, it only supplied 0-140VAC referenced to the mains. I recently upgraded it to provide isolation for this voltage range, or to provide 0-280VAC referenced to the mains.

The XP-720 was built from a kit about 8 months ago. It doesn't have panel meters so I'm using the Heathkit multimeter on top for that function. The wires on the binding posts connect to a switch that allows me to quickly connect the multimeter's input to either supply output.

[staxquad]

+1   But things are never complete are they? 

I'd like to see a complete collection of HP power supplies.

Who's game?

 

[robrenz]

At 12 supplies I really have to stop.....  don't I....? ? ? 

[SLJ]

I'd like to see a complete collection of HP power supplies.
Who's game?
 

Here's a few pieces of HP:
http://www.kennethkuhn.com/hpmuseum/

[Shirakaba]

Scored two of these Velleman PS613 on an auction. Quite simple, fanless PSU and I guess it has been OEMd, because I have seen similar design from other brands. It uses those 270° potentiometers and doesn't even have a fine/coarse option, so they were really horrible to use. I modded them a bit and replaced the original pots with Bourns 10-turn ones. A little maintenance with the Dremel was needed to fit the slightly larger new pots, but they work like a charm!

[cubansite]

i just use an old 250w PC power supply, cheap

[Lucas]

i just use an old 250w PC power supply, cheap

That's also my solution (mainly because I'm quite low in money at the moment). I added some bananana plugs at the front, a switch on the proper turn-on wire, an LED on the proper wire, and a power resistor to simulate a small load. Added a 12cm fan on top, and we're good to go! I'm lucky because this PSU does -12, -5, 3.3, 5 and 12V Lots of combinations possible!

[84GKSIG]

this was a gift from a good friend of mine its a big heavy beast of a thing  with 2x 5v outputs and 2x20v outputs, the 20v side of the psu have been modified and are now variable from 1 - 20v
 
this has got to be my favorite shot of the thing!

I've converted  a couple computer power supplies to bench top supplies and recently got round to fixing my 13.8v 15 amp power supply which I used for bench testing car audio related equipment.

[txescientist]

These are my power supplies. First one is based on L200 with fine and coarse voltage adjust pots and selector switch to connect in series resistors for current limit in 12 steps. Also has dedicated 7805 regulator for digital electronics. The other one is also based on L200 but has continuous current limit via opamp. It has several fixed AC outputs. Schematics are easily available on the internet. I suggest this article "A DESIGNERS GUIDE TO THE L200 VOLTAGE REGULATOR" to any potential builders...

[nardev]

Hi,

This is the power supply i use most.
I designed en build this one last year and put it in one of the Cisco PIX 501 Firewall boxes.


Most of the electronic stuff i design is low power and the 30mA en 200mA
currend range is more than enough for most circuits i am testing.

And yes its stable, is uses a Apex VRE310a reference.
Take a peek @ the schematic


Regarts,
Blackdog

The most original one great idea to put it in CISCO boxes since they are good as casing

[JustinHV32]

This is my bench PSU ( don't laugh ;-) ). Its not pretty but I get by. Its based on an LM2575-ADJ simple switcher from National(Ti). Its full of bugs, but looks like they're slowly dying out.

[BravoV]

For me that psu's internal is considered very neat & pretty compared my 1st diy bench PSU built years ago, I bet you will catch a nightmare even you took a quick glimpse at it. 

[AmmoJammo]

Bench power supply what? 

Four Meanwell 40amp, 20volt power supplies bolted together...

Currently have a resistor on the feedback circuit so they can be changed from about 12.5 to 14.5volts for car audio stuff, but can easily enough change the wiring around for +-40 volt rails for testing amplifiers and such.



I've measured about 180amps from the four in parallel 

I really need to make an external voltage reference circuit so I can easily adjust the voltage of all four at once

[JustinHV32]

I've been wanting to replace it for a while now. This is a prototype I've been working on for some time. Just been trying to improve home PCB fabrication up to a level im happy with before producing the latest version. The firmware is broken at this time.
Also shown is the front panel of the previous PSU. The case was recycled from a function generator project I did back in 98.

[VintageTekFan]

My most used is a Tektronix PS503A.


But my favorite is an HP 66000A mainframe.  Found it without the keyboard in the trash.  Took me 10 years before I got a keyboard for it - and come to find that the thing works perfectly.