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troubleshooting: Agilent 3616A power supply

I'm only asking as maybe this is a common failure mode somebody has seen.

Got an actual Agilent badged 3616A power supply, one of the half-rack width deals with the LED voltage and current display and a single 36volt

1.6A output.

Out of the blue, the current meter seems to read strange phantom currents that decrease slowly, like you're charging a large capacitor. It also seems to have a lag when measuring real currents. The lag is at least several seconds.

I just recall this thing being a hassle to work on before. Opened it once to swap power receptacles because of the shock hazard recall.

If not, I'll report back with what I find at some point.

Reply to
Cydrome Leader
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That set of HP's half-rack series of power supplies is actually easy to work on, IF you have a schematic.

But the schematics that I've seen don't detail the 3.5-digit panel-meter wiring. If the problem is simply a matter of faulty readout, and the supply is working properly, then you have a bad DVM IC circuit. Get the ADC-display-driver IC's part number, and its datasheet will show typical wiring. Either there's a wiring failure (connector) or a bad IC.

--
 Thanks, 
    - Win
Reply to
Winfield Hill

Well heck, that was easy.

Disconnecting and reconnecting the 11 pin connector between the board and display seems to have "fixed" it. I did run through the calibration steps in the Agilent

E361xA 60W BENCH SERIES DC POWER SUPPLIES OPERATING AND SERVICE MANUAL FOR MODELS: (bunch of serial numbers)

It was necessary to pry the double stack PCB display board out of the front panel. It's two plastic tabs you can sort of get to from the top of the power supply if you slip the cover off. Gently press those, and wiggle the display board out by pulling on the sides.

Oddly, only needed a spudger and fine screwdriver for adjusting some mini

10 turn Bourns pots. The design is nicer than I recalled, and the mostly tool-free design reminds me of Motorola back when they were in business and made good radios and cell phones.

Writing inside the cover indicates I replaced the AC receptable in 2008.

Any opinions on "keysight" design, build or service since the rename?

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

Service policy depends on model number. info on website.

For data loggers it invlolves a complete swap +$ ~retail cost of an uncallibrated replacement. . . .

So you might as well fix it and get a local lab to calibrate, if you need traceability.

RL

Reply to
legg

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