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I recently purchased a very compact and portable (~1kg) 30V 10A adjustable switching bench power supply. It's the Tekpower TP3010E costing about $130 on Amazon and distributed by KaitoUSA. Even though I knew it would be small because it's a SMPS, it's significantly smaller than I expected. It seems to be somewhat higher quality than your usual no-brand made-in-China PSU, but I thought I'd give this a go to see but I certainly wasn't expecting too much. I thought some folks here might be curious to what a low-mid range adjustable switching supply might be like.
TDLR: A very compact, portable and lightweight switching power supply that has good internal construction and certainly a good value for money compared to other brand-name supplies twice its price.
>> I also made an in-depth video review. Please see [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEYRNnYGo0M] for more information. Would appreciate any feedback you might have or mistakes I made.
Summary:
This is a switching power supply (versus linear supplies) and its main benefit are significantly smaller size and portability (even while being quite a beefy 300W power supply). I was slightly skeptical at this supply at first because of the low cost (about half the price of comparable supplies from Instek or BKprecision which are usually about $250 to $300+), but I was pleasantly surprised after receiving the unit.
For external construction, it is extremely compact (about 8.75x3.25" footprint) and was finished both inside and outside with a nice powder-coated finish, which should be more durable than the usual painted galvanized finished for cheaper products. Otherwise it's what you would expect from a supply like this with both course and fine control knobs.
Internally, the layout is very tidy and professional and definitely looks one level up from the conventional cheaper Chinese no-brand supplies. The layout looks exactly in line with what one would expect and reasonable power components were used (see video above for teardown).
Some users noted a problem with the LCD display turning off. I contacted KaitoUSA and they were very helpful. After discussion with their engineers, I was able to fix the problem by simply removing 4 small components ( R21, R22, C8, C11) from the front-panel PCB. KaitoUSA is now aware of the problem and I believe all shipping units should come with the problem fixed. The LCD no longer turns off and the unit works great! Regardless, the repair is straightforward enough.
As for regulation and ripple, my measurements indicate that the unit is more or less operating within its paper specifications. I would not expect it to perform as well as a linear supply, but is in line with most switching supplies of this class. This supply will also be a good complement to a precision linear supply.
To conclude, for users who frequently need a high power yet portable supply for driving heavy loads such as battery charging for RC hobbyists (e.g. charging batteries out in-location), powering fans / motors / bulbs etc, I would recommend this unit!
Ultimately it's a nice little supply which has found a place on my electronics workbench.
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Teardown / Review: Tekpower TP3010E Switching Bench Power Supply
