Purchased New Bench Triple Power Supply - But is 3.5 years old

[Medtech1]

I purchased New Bench Triple Power Supply - but is 3.5 years old (old stock)? 

The box was not sealed, the calibration was done Jan 2017 (Serial numbers match on the calibration and the power supply.

I was a bit surprised and started to wonder if I should mention this to the seller??  (Electro-meters out of Canada).


 

[Black Phoenix]

NOS - New old stock probably.

The reason for the box to be open was because the shop itself just open the box to see if everything was ok with the PSU, in terms of accessories and funcionality (power on/off - firmware updates if supported).

It is very common for companies do that. We have a topic who talked about that - https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/have-i-been-sent-a-used-or-refurbished-saelig-oscilloscope/

[Kean]

Yes, I would certainly query it if they didn't mention it prior to purchase, and it wasn't marked "discounted to clear" or similar.  The age will affect validity of any calibration, and potentially the usable lifetime of any electrolytic capacitors, etc.  The seller should disclose if it was a demo unit, customer return, or new old stock.  I imagine something like that would be a legal requirement in most countries.

Although opinions differ about factory sealed packaging, I personally don't see it as an issue if the unit is otherwise properly packaged and has all documentation and accessories.  I think it is good for the seller to check the product before shipping.  In this case if they had checked it they should have noticed the calibration date and got in touch - again if that wasn't already disclosed.

What brand power supply?  I assume that if it has a calibration document it isn't a no-name brand.

[Medtech1]

it was the ITECH IT6302... This is the place it came from... which is the same company as electro-meters. It's not a crazy expensive one, but I just prefer to be told upfront if it is not recent stock.

https://www.itechcanada.ca/products/dc-power-supplies/it6300-series/it6302/

I checked its output with our DMM6500 and compared with its calibration report, is it seems ok.

I did send them an email  (waiting for a response) to ask about it being from Jan 2017, and mentioned the calibration date (also you can confirm that date on the power supply as well via a menu).

[Kean]

it was the ITECH IT6302...

OK, I have a BK 9130 which is a "rebadged" ITECH unit similar to the IT6322, but from the previous generation.  I bought it in 2008 for about USD 1000 and I really liked it.

It started playing up due to leaky electrolytics in 2015 or so.  I replaced the caps, but it continued to have problems on and off.  After another repair attempt in 2018 it now reads out current on the wrong channels!  I'm pretty sure I didn't get any connectors mixed up, in fact I am not sure that is even possible.  So it has been "retired".

I almost bought an IT6302 last year to replace it, but decided instead on the Tonghui TH6412.  It has better specs and nice graphical display, but I actually preferred the BK 9130 to use as there were clever shortcuts to control it with just a few presses on the keypad.

I also bought an R&S HMC8042 last year, but that is primarily controlled via SCPI.  I am now waiting on a couple of EEZ BB3's to add to the benches, and then I may have just enough power supplies...

[snoopy]

I purchased New Bench Triple Power Supply - but is 3.5 years old (old stock)? 

The box was not sealed, the calibration was done Jan 2017 (Serial numbers match on the calibration and the power supply.

I was a bit surprised and started to wonder if I should mention this to the seller??  (Electro-meters out of Canada).

If it's a current model and they are offering the new warranty then you have nothing to worry about

[SpecialK]

Did you pick this up in-store?  There's a chance that the retailler never had it in their posession and was drop shipped from a distributor.  If that distributor was on the other side of the border, then there's a chance customs had a look inside.

For a power supply, 3 years isn't a long time to be on a shelf.  They don't release new models often, and even then the old models are usually still very contemporary. 

[Medtech1]

The seller (elecro-meters) called me after I emailed them and offered me $100 since the calibration was so old (or to send it back to them). 

I figured that was acceptable (I think the ITECH 6302 power supply is worth $500) and I didn't need a precision ($$$$$) or higher-end power supply yet.

Electro-meters got a thumbs up this round.

[Medtech1]

Did you pick this up in-store?  There's a chance that the retailler never had it in their posession and was drop shipped from a distributor.  If that distributor was on the other side of the border, then there's a chance customs had a look inside.

For a power supply, 3 years isn't a long time to be on a shelf.  They don't release new models often, and even then the old models are usually still very contemporary.

It came out of Ontario, and I'm in BC (delivered by FedEx). They explained that it was opened for inspection, which is fine. I had more concern over the outer box being opened, and that it was 3.5 years old... but, they did address the issue so I'm satisfied