Recommend a bench power supply

Question

Hey all, 
 I am interested in a bench power supply (I think that's right?), I am often working with electronics, such as repairing tile tags, game consoles, phones, computer kit, working with microcontrollers and I would benefit from having a power supply that I can use for this. 
 I had intended to modify a pc atx power supply, but I simply haven't gotten around to it and I'm often in the position where I want a tool, not a project. 
 Bonus if it can do usb-pd. 
 Any recommendations? I'm not a professional or run my own business, so it'll have to be something available to a consumer in England. 
 Thanks.

michaelkellett · Answer

PC ATX power supplies are no good for repair work. 
 You need a supply with adjustable voltage and current limit and continuous current and voltage monitoring. 
 Linear supplies are much better (generally lower noise, better transient performance with sudden changes in load.) 
 Make sure you get one with an output on/off switch and where you can see the current limit on the display for setting (usually when output is off). 
 Huge price range - look at Thurlby, Thandar (now Aim TTi) - new ones are nice: 
 EL301R at &pound;253 is a good pick. 
 TS3021S is an older model, several on Ebay some under &pound;60. 
 Some of the cheap Chinese ones aren't bad. 
 usb-pd is a specialised thing - I don't know of any adjustable bench power supply that can do usb-pd (although I think it would be nice and would probably be happy to pay for it). 
 There are power supplies (pretty much all form China and lacking detailed specs) which are, themselves powered from USB - which seems pointless unless your application needs battery power from a power bank. 
 I've been using Thurlby (Thandar et etc) bench supplies for a long, long (50years) time - the only bad word I have to say about them is the name changes, (but I suppose three in 50 years is no worse than HP - Agilent - Keysight.) 
 MK

strb · Answer

I have a Siglent SPD 3303C (the older model with 7 segment display, no need for fancy LCD display) and I'm pretty happy about it. My favourite feature is the integration of relays that allow to set the two main channels as series/parallel internally without messing up with cables.

I had some TTi supplies at work that were nice, offering 4 wire sensing as an option (can be useful sometimes).

No USB-PD for both of them.

Recommend a bench power supply

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