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Inside the new Korad KA3305P linear PSU

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FlyIt!:
Hey Torch,

Thanks for being an Early Adopter on this one. 
I've been waffling on this one for the last two days, but your review has pushed me over the edge.  Ordered one just now.

The quirks you pointed out are duly noted (again, Thanks!) but all things considered, the Korad KA3305P certainly seems to offer a lot for the $'s. 

Personal 'clincher' for me?  I couldn't find any other supplies that offered the USB (and RS232) control and logging options, without going to crazy dollars.  I need these features for some upcoming test/optimization/validation tasks, which ideally can be automated.  At the price, I see ways to save myself many, many hours of hands-on testing and logging.

Back to your review: I do hope they give us a firmware update option to allow longer timeouts on output adjustments.  As you described the 'flow' and timeout, that could be a bit annoying (or potentially "Magic-Smoke-releasing"!).

Thanks again!

torch:

--- Quote from: FlyIt! on September 05, 2015, 12:26:55 am ---Personal 'clincher' for me?  I couldn't find any other supplies that offered the USB (and RS232) control and logging options, without going to crazy dollars.  I need these features for some upcoming test/optimization/validation tasks, which ideally can be automated.  At the price, I see ways to save myself many, many hours of hands-on testing and logging.
--- End quote ---

I played very briefly with the software this evening. There's two modes, one a virtual control panel with separate knobs for voltage and current for each channel (ie: 4 knobs) that can just be "turned" with the mouse at any time. Plus a virtual version of all the other buttons. The second mode executes a programmed sequence of voltage/current settings for both channels. IIRC, you can change the start and stop, duration and also the number of loops. It all seemed to work correctly -- I didn't have a load on things but the relays clicked and clacked and the displays changed to reflect the virtual display.

There's a graph of each channel running alongside the interface window, a logging on/off "switch", and a file-folder icon to set the file path. The graphs jumped around each time the settings were changed -- either manually or as the sample default program executed.

For some reason, the software doesn't like the resolution I'm running on that old laptop. Or maybe it doesn't like Win XP. Some of the programming related text boxes are crowded and hard to use, and I can't resize the windows. I need to do some tinkering there, maybe try it on my Win 7 laptop.

I was actually kind of surprised it installed on XP, considering this is a "new" product. I'm guessing it's left-over software. Don't hold your breath waiting for firmware upgrades if that is the case!

Oh, and I don't think it's a native USB port. I think it's a serial port with a USB to serial adapter built-in, based on the drivers I saw it installing. On the plus side, there were no glitches or problems with the installation.

That's as far as I got. I haven't even looked at the PDF guide on the cd yet -- I have 3 very active grandsons sleeping over tonight, so Poppa's focus has been temporarily redirected.  ;)  But hopefully it will do what you need.

torch:
Update: the supplied software is not by Korad. Apparently they licensed it from "National Instruments" and it's called "LabVIEW 2014". www.ni.com/labview. And it seems to run fine on this Win7 laptop.

There's also a PDF list commands and syntax in case you want to write your own scripting. No idea how to do that, through a terminal emulator perhaps?

Salas:
Good value for money new Korad PSU package. Unnecessarily bigger than its contents as you say though. I wonder, would it keep a straight enough rail line on the scope at 200mV per division resolution AC coupled when powering a high current dynamic load? Not necessarily a punishing pulse test. More life like things like a loaded audio power amplifier pulling strong amperage on a few kHZ sinewave for instance. We haven't seen such testing even on Dave's usually more expensive PSU models videos I think.

torch:

--- Quote from: Salas on September 05, 2015, 05:46:49 am ---Good value for money new Korad PSU package. Unnecessarily bigger than its contents as you say though. I wonder, would it keep a straight enough rail line on the scope at 200mV per division resolution AC coupled when powering a high current dynamic load? Not necessarily a punishing pulse test. More life like things like a loaded audio power amplifier pulling strong amperage on a few kHZ sinewave for instance. We haven't seen such testing even on Dave's usually more expensive PSU models videos I think.
--- End quote ---

Sounds like a great test. I'm certainly willing to try but unfortunately my days of loud music are long past.

Hmmm. I do have an ARB function generator (hantek 3x25) and a few big IGBTs (g4pc40u). And some old transformers for a load. It should be possible to construct a simple amplifier around those, right? I am not an electrical engineer so I would need some help designing said simple circuit. Or some alternative ideas.

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