Korad KA3005P - how to find the "fixed" version?

[woof]

I am looking to buy my first lab power supply. Based on my research on different forums, Korad KA3005P seems to be a power supply that is most recommended. I naturally went to EEVBlog to see if Dave made a review on it. And he sure did! I was sad to find out that Dave was not happy at all with the KA3005P power supply as he managed to kill it rather quick. Then I found another video where it was reported that Korad had fixed the issue by making some changes to the supply.

Now, I am a bit stuck. How I am I supposed to know if shops (in my case here in Germany) are selling the fixed version of the power supply or the problematic one that Dave was able to kill? From the outside, they appear identical (?).

I found the power supply on Reichelt for €109 and on AliExpress for about €56.

Does anyone know whether one selling on Reichelt is the "fixed" version, and whether the ones on AliExpress are even to be trusted?

Edit: Fixed bad formatting, EEVblog videos:

[tunk]

The videos are 13 years old - I'd guess it's highly unlikely
that you will get the old version wherever you get it.

[M0HZH]

It's been so long that I'm pretty sure all units on the market have the fix.

It sells under many brands, here in the UK you can find these as Tenma or Multicomp, in single/dual configurations with various voltage/current versions. I've had a couple, absolutely no issues over the years (except some minor firmware bugs).

[5U4GB]

It's been so long that I'm pretty sure all units on the market have the fix.

It sells under many brands, here in the UK you can find these as Tenma or Multicomp, in single/dual configurations with various voltage/current versions. I've had a couple, absolutely no issues over the years (except some minor firmware bugs).

Multicomp is Element14's house brand, you can find a lot of rebadged stuff under that name.  A few years back they were selling rebadged OWON P4305's under that brand ("giving away" might be a better term for the prices then), the OP may want to look at that as well, costs a bit more but has a really nice LCD panel display that provides much more information than the Korad's LEDs.

[woof]

Thank you for the replies. I appreciate them.

I only just noticed that the power supply I linked from Reichelt has safety connectors instead of screw.

I also checked out Multicomp on farnell: https://de.farnell.com/multicomp-pro/mp710503/dc-netzteil-einst-1ausg-30v-5a/dp/3410526
However that one also comes with safety connectors.

I found a supposedly improved version of the KA3005P on eleshop, the KA3005PS: https://eleshop.eu/korad-ka3005ps-power-supply.html
According to the description, the interior design is better, and the fan is less noisy. Could anyone confirm this?
It seems like a good option (and cheapest!), but I couldn't find any inside photos of it, so I can't confirm if it's a linear power supply.
Could anyone shed some light on this model?

[tunk]

It weighs 4.3kg so a guess is that it is linear.

[Lunasix]

Hi,
at work, I have bought many KA3005, and recently model KA3005PS. I confirm that it is quiet and reliable (some unit powered 24/24).
I will try to do some photos tomorrow.

[woof]

Hi,
at work, I have bought many KA3005, and recently model KA3005PS. I confirm that it is quiet and reliable (some unit powered 24/24).
I will try to do some photos tomorrow.

Amazing! Thank you for the confirmation! Not easy to find information on the new model KA3005PS. Photos would be great!

[Lunasix]

Hi,
photos of the Korad KA3005PS.

[tooki]

I am looking to buy my first lab power supply. Based on my research on different forums, Korad KA3005P seems to be a power supply that is most recommended. I naturally went to EEVBlog to see if Dave made a review on it. And he sure did! I was sad to find out that Dave was not happy at all with the KA3005P power supply as he managed to kill it rather quick. Then I found another video where it was reported that Korad had fixed the issue by making some changes to the supply.

Now, I am a bit stuck. How I am I supposed to know if shops (in my case here in Germany) are selling the fixed version of the power supply or the problematic one that Dave was able to kill? From the outside, they appear identical (?).

I found the power supply on Reichelt for €109 and on AliExpress for about €56.

Does anyone know whether one selling on Reichelt is the "fixed" version, and whether the ones on AliExpress are even to be trusted?

Edit: Fixed bad formatting, EEVblog videos:

A reseller like Reichelt or Aliexpress will have a few weeks to a few months’ worth of a high-volume item like those power supplies. So any remaining “unfixed” units were sold out within months of the videos coming out. Certainly not many, many years later.

[Wirehead]

Same version here from Eleshop (KA3005PS). No complaints.

[skunk0p]

a little confused by this. i am also currently in the market for a ka3005p and one of the models that i found has "linear" in the title. it is also very cheap compared to the other ka3005p's for sale on ebay, but im assuming it is because the one I am looking at is used.

do you reckon this could be an older model and would blow up in my face?

[PushUp]

In case you want to buy from a trusted retailer such as welectron shipping worldwide, you even get the US version with safety terminals and also the P+ version with a grey-black housing, with volt in green and ampere in red, which is nearly impossible to find nowadays, as all EU versions are out of stock for ages:

https://www.welectron.com/Korad-KA3005P-Benchtop-Power-Supply-110V-US-Version

119 Euro is a fair price for an original product with guarantee, but I don't know what you have to pay in total when ordering from your country, but at the bottom of the linked page there is also a link to "Payment and Shipping Cost"...

[tooki]

a little confused by this. i am also currently in the market for a ka3005p and one of the models that i found has "linear" in the title.

Which doesn’t tell you anything, since the KA3005P is a linear power supply model, so all KA3005P’s are linear.

it is also very cheap compared to the other ka3005p's for sale on ebay, but im assuming it is because the one I am looking at is used.

do you reckon this could be an older model and would blow up in my face?

No way for us to know, since we aren’t clairvoyant. You could help by, perhaps, providing a link to the unit in question. Though even with that, it’ll be difficult to know whether it’s a pre- or post-fix version. (Though the fix was implemented so long ago that I suspect the vast majority of units out there are the fixed version.)

[RogerG]

@woof:
As said by others, today you won't get an affected device anymore when buying new.

If you don't need the memories and want separate buttons for voltage and current - what I personally prefer - then take a deeper look at the similar KD3005D. It relies on the same basic design, has the same output data. And it's even cheaper. I have two of them for years and I really like them.

[BillyO]

Why have they gone to safety banana sockets?  At 30V you certainly don't need them and you are losing a lot of versatility, IMHO.

[RogerG]

Good point. For me it's ok since I connect everything with banana cables, but they have a variant with traditional banana jacks, too.

[PushUp]

As long as any power supply has the same terminals as the one from "R&S NGE 100" you both are right, but the terminals from Siglent or Rigol with no alternatives are useless for me, because I am not able to take the same test leads as from my benchtop multimeters, which is a big disadvantage for me and a reason not to buy such equipment.

As a consequnece of this I prefer the safety terminals, which are short, thus not in the way when not in use and with less stress on the mainboard by screwing around.

[ledtester]

Hi @Lunasix,

Can you take a close-up of the PCB mounted on the side in the "Korad_5.jpg" pic.

I've circled it in red in this pic:



I have a feeling that Korad is still using discrete R2R ladders as DACs for the voltage and current settings.

[tautech]

As long as any power supply has the same terminals as the one from "R&S NGE 100" you both are right, but the terminals from Siglent or Rigol with no alternatives are useless for me, because I am not able to take the same test leads as from my benchtop multimeters, which is a big disadvantage for me and a reason not to buy such equipment.

As a consequnece of this I prefer the safety terminals, which are short, thus not in the way when not in use and with less stress on the mainboard by screwing around.

Horses for courses. 

It's not unusual for LV PSU's to not use safety BNC's especially those that also have a binding post and some with a cross hole too.
Letting your leads dictate what instruments you use seems all backwards from where I sit when retractable shroud banana leads have been around for decades. 

[BillyO]

Combo banana and binding post is a must for me, especially with the cross hole.  It's easy enough to change banana plugs on test leads to suit for a couple of dollars, if you really need DMM probes to supply power.

[PushUp]

As long as you can buy what you want, there is no need to do so, but when the "Street of Hormus" is blocked even longer, than this free will, will be a problem in the future... 

For me it is simply the better connection, which I have with safety terminals. However, compared to the model "SPD3303X" Siglent improved this point, with the newer model, so that the contacts are no longer so far back, which was criticized at 24min. 18s. in the video "EEVblog #828 - Siglent SPD3303X Precision Lab PSU Teardown".

...but to be fair, apparently no Probe Masters were used when calling this connection "loosy goosy"... 


But now back to ledtester's question, which I cannot answer, as I don't have this "PS" model by Korad:

@Lunasix:

Can you take a close-up of the PCB mounted on the side in the "Korad_5.jpg" pic?

[tautech]

As long as you can buy what you want, there is no need to do so, but when the "Street of Hormus" is blocked even longer, than this free will, will be a problem in the future... 

For me it is simply the better connection, which I have with safety terminals. However, compared to the model "SPD3303X" Siglent improved this point, with the newer model, so that the contacts are no longer so far back, which was criticized at 24min. 18s. in the video "EEVblog #828 - Siglent SPD3303X Precision Lab PSU Teardown".

...but to be fair, apparently no Probe Masters were used when calling this connection "loosy goosy"... 

Still functioning on old outdated and incorrect info ?

SPD3303X/X-E Banana binding posts were changed years ago to better accommodate substandard banana plugs.
It's been discussed on the forum at length....   

[BillyO]

...but to be fair, apparently no Probe Masters were used when calling this connection "loosy goosy"... 

For some reason the cables that I use are not loosey goosey in the Siglent.  It's amazing that if one particular person in the world has an issue with one particular combination of products, then it's deemed as "No good forever, everywhere and with everything!"

I guess I'm lucky I didn't see that video and ended up with a great power supply.

[tautech]

...but to be fair, apparently no Probe Masters were used when calling this connection "loosy goosy"... 

For some reason the cables that I use are not loosey goosey in teh Siglent.  It's amazing that if one particular person in the world has an issue with on particular combination of products, then it's deemed as "No good forever, everywhere and with everything!"

I guess I'm lucky I didn't see that video and ended up with a great power supply.

Ever tried to measure the ripple ?
Good luck even trying.....max 300uV ripple and noise is darn hard to measure with a scope....