Which High Current 20A+ Variable Bench Power Supply

[JayDee]

Hi Guys,
Looking for a sensible priced 'Reasonable' quality high Amperage power supply.
20A or greater
Variable Output Voltage between 6V to max.
Ability to set current limit before applying output power.
Switch mode or Linear ??

EA ELEKTRO-AUTOMATIK  EA-PS 3016-20B 16V/20A  GBP£330+VAT

Digimess SM3040  30V /40A  GBP£329   (not sure you can preset the current on these...hmm)
Digimess HY3020   30V / 20A  GBP£229
Any other ideas?


 

[HighVoltage]

Look at the older HP power supplies, they are sometimes cheap on ebay and very reliable.
They come in all different sizes and for different voltage and current ratings.

Here are two, I am using all the time.

[tszaboo]

Delta
http://www.delta-elektronika.nl

[JayDee]

yeah...scanning ebay already.   
Detla stuff looks very nice; I'll ask, but suspect its a touch above my price bracket!
cheers though.

[Vgkid]

Look into the Lambda models as well.

[nctnico]

That EA PSU seems to be limited to 160W (=10A at 16V)
I'm also not so sure about the Digimess power supplies. 30V at 40A is 1200W and that seems a bit much for that amount of money. Can't find the max. power of those though.

[tszaboo]

That EA PSU seems to be limited to 160W (=10A at 16V)
I'm also not so sure about the Digimess power supplies. 30V at 40A is 1200W and that seems a bit much for that amount of money. Can't find the max. power of those though.

Not that you mentioned it, it has regular banana outputs for 40A? Not that is something you dont see every day.

[Vgkid]

QUESTION
Why do you need such a high power adjustable power supply. You would greatly increase your choices by using a lower powered adjustable power supply, and a high current fixed power supply.

[TopLoser]

That EA PSU seems to be limited to 160W (=10A at 16V)
I'm also not so sure about the Digimess power supplies. 30V at 40A is 1200W and that seems a bit much for that amount of money. Can't find the max. power of those though.

Not that you mentioned it, it has regular banana outputs for 40A? Not that is something you dont see every day.

They are labelled as:
"Monitoring Terminals 3A MAX"

Big connectors on the rear.

[kony]

+1 for Delta! I've seen them in numerous ATE setups and used them in lab at previous employer as well. Lovely pieces of kit - if you can score them at reasonable price from ebay, do it.

[HighVoltage]

Yes, the front terminals of the older HP power supplies are for monitoring or a maximum of 3A.

Here are some pictures of the back, with the real connection.

[HighVoltage]

Agilent also makes some real deal new power supplies.
Actually, they are all made by TDK Lambda, but they are Agilent /Keysight branded.

I just finished a project where I needed to charge up some single Maxwell Super Capacitors with 100A up to 2.7V
This Agilent N5741A was perfect for it.
Even connecting two of the Maxwell Super Capacitors in series and charging them up to 5.4V at 100A constant current was something really cool to watch. The current did not even fluctuated 0.1A.

Here are some pictures of my N5741A. Notice the huge wire connections in the back with real M8 size screws.
And this one has GPIB, LXI and USB

[TopLoser]

That N5741A looks familiar!

[tszaboo]

That EA PSU seems to be limited to 160W (=10A at 16V)
I'm also not so sure about the Digimess power supplies. 30V at 40A is 1200W and that seems a bit much for that amount of money. Can't find the max. power of those though.

Not that you mentioned it, it has regular banana outputs for 40A? Not that is something you dont see every day.

They are labelled as:
"Monitoring Terminals 3A MAX"

Big connectors on the rear.

OK. Terrible Farnell datasheet is terrible.

[HighVoltage]

That N5741A looks familiar!

Jup, that one is in my lab with tanks to you.
At first I did not know what to do with it but suddenly there was the perfect application.

[mos6502]

A 100A PSU with ethernet? Oh, the things a hacker could do with that

But seriously, are there any security features? Does it talk SSL/SSH? Does it even require a password?

[JayDee]

Woah Guys..   
 the Lambda, Agilent, Delta are real nice kit but unless something comes up on ebay.. that'll be well over a £1000GBP.
It might not be Lab grade but the basic EA kit seems to be the route to go for mid range.
I was involved in a project earlier this year running 30 or more of the 40A 16V units and our crew only blew two up    
Lithium car batteries plugged in the wrong way around !! doh.. made the mechanic jump though