Over the past couple of years, I'm seeing a lot of dead Tenma linear power supplies coming in to my shop. By a lot, I mean seven that I'm staring at, all unrelated, all coming in from different labs. But they're all the 72- series:
72-7245 72-6905 (x 2) 72-6615 (x 2) 72-8700A (x2)And I've gotten reports of another six or so dead that haven't come in -- n ot sure if they're all 72-series. The ones in my shop seem to have failed in seven different ways, but three of them failed high -- output went to ma x voltage -- thus destroying the very expensive microwave amplifiers they w ere powering. So it seems the supplies don't have crowbars. And on at lea st two of the supplies that failed high, the culprit wasn't the traditional shorted pass transistor, but something broken in the feedback circuit.
Anyway, be warned. And it's a shame, because these supplies feature a gorg eous, massive toroidal transformer. But don't use them to power anything t hat can't tolerate an overvoltage.