Bit the bullet and bought myself one of those 0-30V 2.5 amp power supplies from DSE. Nice unit, but two problems I didn't anticipate.
- It has a power switch on the front panel - just on/off. Doesn't seem safe to me, as switching it on with an unknown voltage setting while connected to one of my TTL/PIC projects might result in tears if the adj knob was jarred etc while the unit was in the off state - and it seems silly that I have to either disconnect projects every time I switch the PS off, or fit a 7805 etc on every board.
- The voltage control is rather 'iffy' in that it is difficult to set the output at (say) exactly 5.0v - a twitch and its 4.5, another twitch and its 5.6 (get the drift) fiddle some more and get 4.9 or 5.2 etc etc. I realise some variations may not be a problem, but I don't like it. Life should be easy. V should be easy to adjust
So, I am thinking of
- Fitting a load on/off switch - possibly by fitting a mains power switch to the rear of the case, and using the current front panel on/off sw as a load switch
- If I can, changing the voltage adj. pot to a multiturn pot, assuming I can find one that will fit in the original pots space - bit doubtful there, but there is not really enough room on the front panel to fit another (fine control) pot.
Any comments? Ideas? Anyone else done these (or other) mods?
David - who knows the mods will nullify the guarantee, but these PS's should be easy to fix, so...