Products > Test Equipment
Siglent SPD3303C Series Programmable DC Power Supply, Siglent fails to respond
cos:
Ref.1: Siglent SPD3303C Series Programmable DC Power Supply Quick Start QS0503C-E01B dated 2014.
Ref.2: Siglent SPD3303C Series Programmable DC Power Supply Quick Start EN-02A.
Ref.3: Siglent SPD3303C Programmable DC Power Supply Service Manual SM0503C-E01A dated 2017.
Ref.4: Siglent SPD3303C Firmware Revision History and Upgrade Instructions, Revision History page 1of 1.
Below are my observations and questions I sent to Siglent regarding this power supply. Despite several promises that they would come back on this, it is now December 2023 and up to now they failed to respond. That's no good service.
I purchased a SPD3303C in november 2022.
Checking the mains input I found a quality control issue. Furthermore the HW version is not marked on the unit, there are documentation issues and I found a software bug.
Having sent these and other observations to Siglent.eu on 13 december 2022 and having asked about the progress twice, now more than half a year later they still have not provided any answer to my questions.
My observations and questions are shown below, maybe they are of some help for other users/prospective buyers.
Power Input
The unit was set for 220V mains voltage, I changed that to 230V.
However the active fuse was T6.3A/250V which is for 100V/120V mains voltage.
I would expect that when set for 220V, it would also have the associated fuse installed which was clearly not the case.
Maybe this was caused by confusion as the fuse labeling on the rear panel of the instrument has no clear division between the mains voltages and the fuse ratings, see attached photo "Fuse Selection".
A vertical dividing line might solve this.
Although chapter "General Safety Summary" of Ref.1 enclosed in the packaging box has a section "Use the proper fuse", specifying the correct relation of fuse values and mains voltages there is no check for this in Chapter 1, section "Safety Considerations" para "Input Power Requirement".
Note: The same applies for Ref.2.
Anyway, the spare section of the fuse holder contained a T3.15A/250V fuse. I swapped both fuses and will replace the T6.3A/250V by a second T3.15A/250V fuse.
Please advise whether a unit set for 220V should be equipped with two T3.15A/250V fuses.
I checked the voltage and current outputs for CH1 and CH2 per Ref.3 and they were well within limits.
However I failed to notice tests for CH3 and the later added OCP function.
Please advise whether this is correct.
Hardware (HW) and Firmware (FW) identifications of the unit
The Firmware Release Notes on the Siglent site consist of a Revision History (1 page), see attachment (Ref.4).
According to this document there are two hardware versions V1.0 and V2.0.
Please advise the differences. Are circuit diagrams available?
As the units leave the factory in a fixed HW configuration, why is that not shown on the unit?
Firmware version 1.02.01.02.02 only supports HW V2.0. According to step 1.C. Apparently the "NO.1~5" button is used to determine whether the HW is V2.0.
No explicit mention is made however what the display looks like when the HW is V1.0. Please advise.
It is also not clear whether the EasyPower P20 version is needed to detect this "NO.1~5" button function. Please advise.
Note: This "NO.1~5" button function is not mentioned in refs 1 and 2.
I used the EasyPower P20 version without problems but is it to be used with older FW versions? Please advise.
Note: later I reverted to P18, just to be sure.
Using EasyPower, two commands are available to find configuration data:
- SYSTEM:VERSION? = Query the software version.
Before I updated the firmware it showed: 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R9 and there after: 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R10.
- *IDN? = Query the manufacturer, product model, series NO. and software version.
Before I updated the firmware it showed: Siglent Technologies, SPD3303C, SPD3EEEX6R1140, 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R9, V1.3 and there after: Siglent Technologies, SPD3303C, SPD3EEEX6R1140, 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R10, V1.5.
The hardware cannot be changed by the update and these additions do not show up in the results of the software version queries.
Please advise the meaning of the additional V1.3 and V1.5.
Please note that in the Easy Power CmdControlDlg display for the two queries shown above the left/right and up/down arrows do not function, the PC mouse has to be used in the shown text (I did not try the other possibilities).
Please advise why 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R9 is not shown in the ref.4 revision history. Are there other missing versions?
Over Current Protection (OCP)
According to ref.1.4 this function was introduced with FW update 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R10.
It gave meaning to the "----- Long Push" text above the CH3 voltage selection slide switch of the unit.
Ref.1 does not mention this function, Ref.3 does.
Please advise whether this function was already present in FW version 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R9 (the "----- Long Push" text is on my 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R9 unit) .
The description in Ref.2 does not fully describe the limitations of this function, my observations are as follows:
1) the OCP function only works when the set OCP value is less than the set CC value.
2) the OCP function does not limit over current in amplitude but only in time: it switches the output OFF after a delay of several hundreds milliseconds (observed up to 410 ms), during which the CC current flows.
E.g. when CV and CC are set @ 32.00V and 3.00A and OCP @ 0.9A and the output is switched on into a 1 ohm load, the output capacitor(s) rapidly discharge, yielding a spike of 6.28A where after the 3A CC flows for approx. 325 ms as measured over the 1 ohm load, see attached DS1Z_QuickPrints 77 and 78.
3) OCP settings can only be made when both the CH1 and the CH2 are OFF. Then a long press of the "A" button yields OCP in the voltage field of the selected channel and the OCP value can be set using the rotary control.
When in that situation the selected channel is changed the OCP value can be set for the then selected channel. When ready, a long press of the "A" button cancels the OCP setting mode.
4) when OCP has activated due to an overload, the display shows "O.L" (overload).
5) When upon selection of the OCP mode the "A" button is held, the OCP setting display and "A" button illumination start cycling OFF/ON as long as the button is held.
6) When in OCP setting modus CH1 and/or CH2 is/are selected ON, the OCP setting mode is cancelled and the display returns to normal.
There is however a situation in the OCP setting function which I consider to be a bug.
When the "V" voltage selection button is illuminated and the "A" button is pressed until OCP shows up on the display, the "A" button does not yet illuminate (for that it must be held significantly longer) and the "V" button remains illuminated. When then CH1 and/or CH2 is/are selected ON, the OCP setting mode is cancelled but the rotary control now adjusts the CC current of the selected channel while the "V" button still is illuminated!
This remains so when the output(s) is(are) switched OFF and can be solved by selecting the other channel or selecting the "A" button.
This may be solved by ensuring that when the OCP setting function activates, the "A" button illuminates simultaneously.
Default Display Settings
Refs. 1 and 2 note under "Safety Considerations" para "Electrical Check" step 2 that the system must return to the default settings after a while.
I failed to find the default setting however.
Please advise where these default settings are shown and how they depend on the FW version.
Note: After installation of FW 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R10, I find the following: "CH1" and "V" buttons illuminated, displayed values 5.00V and 0.40A.
If I remember correctly, the latter were 0.00V and 0.00A with FW version 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R9.
No Load Display Behaviour with Current set to 0.00
When the current of CH1 and CH2 has been set to 0.00 and the outputs are switched ON, CH1 voltage and current go to 0.00V and 0.00/1A respectively, CC light ON.
However for CH2 the voltage initially drops to zero (CC light ON) but then increases towards the selected voltage again, CV light on.
This difference may be confusing.
Am I correct to assume this is normal behaviour and implicitly covered by refs 1 and 2 step (1) of "Output voltage checking"?
With FW 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R10 default current values are 0.40A, so there it should be less of a problem.
Output OFF voltages
When the outputs are not on, the following values are measured:
- Voltages:
CH1: -14.886 mV; CH2: -14.454 mV; CH3: -0.22 mV.
- Currents:
CH1: -15.3uA; CH2: -14.9 uA; CH3: -0.23 uA.
Is this correct? Having no circuit diagram, I can't verify whether this is normal or not.
Error in Measured Voltage Values
Although it is within the specified accuracies, I noted the following (CH1 and CH2 outputs switched ON, no load).
1) When the output OFF voltage has been set to 0.00V (current set to 0.1A), the CH1 displayed output ON voltage becomes 0.01 and cannot be reduced to 0.00 using the rotary control (the actual output voltage was -3.4 mV).
2) with 0.10V/0.10A set and the output then switched on, the CH2 displayed voltage became 0.09 which agreed with the measured output voltage (93.3 mV). Turning the rotary control 1 fine step up increased the measured output voltage to 103.4 mV which is good but the displayed value remained at 0.09V. Increasing one more fine step the measured output voltage became 113.4 mV and the display jumped to 0.11V. So it skipped 0.10V at the first fine step.
Similar behaviour of the displayed output voltage was noted at other set voltages.
Is it correct to assume that this falls within the + 2 digits display accuracy specification?
Transformer stepping
Sometimes the steps of transformer switching are not visible in the output voltage, sometimes they are. See see attached DS1Z_QuickPrints 57 and 61.
Please advise whether this is normal operation.
Reduction of Max.Output Series Voltage
Ref.1 was provided with my SPD3303C unit which had FW version 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R9.
With FW version 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R6 the maximum series output voltage was reduced to 60V.
However in ref.1 the maximum series output voltage is still shown to be 64V.
Mains Hum
With no significant load the unit sometimes hums (not very loud). I assume this is the power transformer.
With no loads applied and the unit turned on, I varied the voltage 230V + 10% from 207V to 253V.
The input current varied from 55 mA to 63 mA, input power from 9,16W to 12,00W.
Please advise whether these are normal values or is there some core saturation?
7thSenpai:
Reviving this issue apologies to all,
I made the mistake to update my firmware to 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R10. I too had 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R9. R10 does not recall last state after power cycle. I am now downgraded to R6 to retain this feature, unfortunate.
Does anyone have 1. 02. 01. 01. 03R9 firmware for download somewhere? I am also trying to contact siglent to get my original firmware revision back but I really can't count on them seeing how these updates are just bogus - introducing bugs rather then fixes!
cos:
I am afraid that we have been supplied with a unit that had unreleased software.
Version 1.02.01.01.03R9 is not shown in the Siglent SPD3303C Firmware Revision History, see attached pdf.
They jump directly from 03R6 to 03R10.
Wonder whether there are also units around with 03R7 and 03R8.
Even when not, they should all be listed in the revision history and marked appropiately.
Assume Siglent doesn't bother supporting their previous HW-version units. But as the HW-version is not marked on the unit and they are apparently still on the market, one should be very cautious when considering buying a SPD3303C.
7thSenpai:
I'm fairly certain that the new hardware version is detectable by holding the no.1~5 button. The new hardware will indicate 2.0 whereas hardware version 1 will not do anything. Firmware incompatibilities will mean vise-versa meaning unlikely any new hardware revision boards will have 1.02.01.01.xx firmwares. But yes if you are on the market for one of these PS probably is wise to make sure its hardware version 2
cos:
Definately. The issue is that when one orders this unit, there is no way of finding out whether it is an old or a new HW-version.
It is not discernible from the identification of the unit.
For that it has to be unboxed, powered up and then holding the no.1~5 button. Seems like a great task for the sellers. But then it is an open box unit.....
Looks to me that Siglent has to improve their configuration control.
If they want to sell various HW-versions under the same model #, they should provide support for all those versions.
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