I’ve been in need of a bench supply for a while, up to this point I’ve been using little buck/boost boards with a multimeter to get the voltage I want when working on a project. The limitations of that started to show though, so I was after a more ideal solution....
The small supplies are nice for size, but tend to have more noise than the big linear supplies. If you’re working with low-precision DC circuits, or even stuff up to audio frequencies (basically still DC) it’s not likely to be an issue. If you’re working with RF circuits it’s more likely to be an issue, though of course if they’re not too close to the switching frequency it’s easy enough to filter the output.
The “isn’t huge” is the issue. Linear supplies need a rather big transformer to work with 60Hz mains instead of chopping it up at 20kHz or more like switchers do. I’ve got a Siglent SPD 3033X-E (decent, reasonably cheap) and a BK Precision 9201 (better, more expensive).
Bought my first "bench" power supply 😁 (images2.imgbox.com)
I’ve been in need of a bench supply for a while, up to this point I’ve been using little buck/boost boards with a multimeter to get the voltage I want when working on a project. The limitations of that started to show though, so I was after a more ideal solution....