Review of DP50V5A & DPS3012 bench top power supply modules, best bang for the buck around!

Thank you for your suggestion. about this question, I can’t solve it . there is a way to let your output voltage higher to make up the voltage drop. or or you can let the wire more thick and shorter…
those are only ways
thank you

if you want to buy AC-DC power supply , I always use MW MeanWell power supply , you can search it on eaby or aliexpress
you can use it with my products DP or DP power supply . if you want to buy, you can go to my shop, you are from BLF, i will give you some discount about DPS5015 or others
thank you

—— if you use my DP or DPS power supply , you don’t need to care about whats’ the anodizing . because my product has contant current and constant voltage function . so don’t worry about this
http://rdtech.aliexpress.com/store/group/DPS-Programmble-control-power-supply/923042_508466030.html?spm=2114.10010108.100008.8.UKWwhJ

Probably was, there aren’t any reviews out there for the 5015, and only a couple for the smaller units. Found a pretty good YouTube review for one of the smaller ones.

As far as the dual input V input you suggested, a different option, that might be easier to implement, would be to have a fine adjustment pot for the voltage output. That way you could wire up any type of leads you want, and adjust the voltage until it matched what you actually have at the cable ends. That would work for a lot of different wire sizes and leads, because everyone’s is going to be different in a project like this where you have to make your own. And for those that don’t want to, or aren’t comfortable with adjusting it, it could simply be set to read at the unit from the factory, that way it’s essentially be unchanged from how it works now. But it’d be a great benefit for those who are comfortable tweaking it a little.

Does that sound like something that would work or that could be implemented by the manufacturer?
about DPS5015, there is only some test video on youtube - YouTube . but there is video to make real power supply to use DPS3012 Самодельный лабораторный блок питания. - YouTube
you can see .
about your plane to use a meter and some DC-DC power module to make power supply . I cam say it is hard to make a better one . I know there are some video for this power supply on youtube ,. but some are too simple , some are less function…
our DPS power supply is very cheap to get those powerful function…
if you want to my DPS power supply , you can get the discount .

Hello All,

I’m wondering if I can use this unit (DPS3012) as a led driver for 4 XML leds in series (input will be a lipo pack 5s or 6s) ?

Thanks,

Richard.

Yes, you could do this easily, although I would get the 5015 version for the extra $3 (the designer is offering a discount for BLF members here: Budget friendly adjustable bench Power supplies perfect for testing LED's and other uses!). Gives you room to grow later plus 4x XM-L’s could easily take the full 15 amps it offers. Be sure to add a fan blowing over it if running it at high amps for extended periods.

If you will be setting of some kind of “permanent” LED lighting where you do not need easy adjustability then honestly you do not need something this fancy. I would get an analog power module like the one I posted in the OP. it works great if you take the time to set it up and then never touch it again. You will still need a fan to cool it though.

Hello,

thank you very much for the answer. I will buy the 5015 as you recommend.

My project is a DIY bike light based on 4 Cree XML2 wired in series, that I want to drive at 3 Amps.

At the beginning of my project, I was looking for a step-up (boost) converter, to use small batteries like 3 or 4 cells lipo pack.

But I really like the display for easy setup and monitor live the amps given to the LEDs, and also the Vin to alert me when my Lipo pack voltage will be too low.

Unfortunatelly, it is a buck converter, so Vin must be greater than sum of LED’s forward voltage (about 14 volts for 4 LEDs), so i need to use “big” battery 5 or 6 cells.

My initial idea was to have 6 Cree XML2 in series, so a total forward voltage of 21 V and so a power output of 63 Watts !

Unfortunatelly, I do not find any cool boost module (except hbflex from taskled) with good specifications and display (voltmeter, amp meter,…).

Perhaps the solution will be to connect in parallel 2 clusters of 3 XML2 in series to the 5015 ? In this case I will have to setup the 5015 to output 10.5 volts and 6 amps, should it work ?

Thanks again

I would not recommend this power module for a bike light simply because it is so large. It will work but there are much better options.

Honestly for a bike light you could very easily use a simple flashlight driver to do what you need at a fraction of the weight and size.

There are lots of drivers that will do what you want, just search around.

A driver such as my own Texas Avenger series (see my sig) would provide all the output you could want in a compact package. It includes low voltage protection as well.

If you want simple I would just use a few 18650 batteries in parallel for runtime.

The batteries will be the largest part except for the heat sink you will need for the LED’s. 4 XM-L2 driven well will overheat in a hurry, so you will need a good sized heat sink for sure. You can also add as many 18650’s as you want in order to get the runtime you want as well. I am pretty sure there are some nice bike light builds on here, I would read through those. It is not my thing personally so I don’t know what others are doing.

Hi Texas_Ace,

First of all, I do not have the skill and tools to build by myself a driver like the one you have designed.

About the size of the driver, it is not an issue, I already made some lights based on 4 Cree XML, and I use some metallic boxes (20 cm x 10 cm x 5 cm to give you an idea) to put heat sinks, fans, and have enough space to do nice wiring. It allows me also to use large carclo optics of 26.5 mm diameter.

About the batteries, I do not want to use 18650, I have already a ton of different Lipo batteries (from 3S to 6S, up to 8000 mAh) that I used to fly my RC helicopters and drones.

My previous lights work fine, no overheat issue, and I drive the LEDs at 3 Amps each time for several hours.

Why I am interested by this device, it is just the nice display to see live the parameters (current, voltage, power, Vin…), I like this. And because it is all integrated, no exta effort to do to connect by myself a voltage/current LCD display.

May be I can use the DPS5005 instead, it will take less space.

I do not want to ignore your advice, I’m here to exchange with skilled people, so I carrefully take in consideration your message, and now I don’t know what to do…

Many thanks to take time to read me and answer, I really appreciate.

I hope my English is not too bad…

Regards,

Richard.

I have to agree with TA. For a bike I would think you would want a $1 driver like this that will regulate your 3 amps and take up to 35 volts:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LM2596S-Buck-Converter-DC-Step-Down-Adjustable-Power-Supply-CC-CV-LED-Driver-UK-/291831584070?hash=item43f2849546:g:DFkAAOSw-YVXmu3F

Then for like $1, you can get a voltage display for the input voltage.

Yep, there are lots of options such as that, they would all be much smaller and simpler. For a voltage warning they sell lipo balance monitors on ebay for less then $2. You simply plug it into the balance port and it keeps track of all the cells voltage and sounds an alarm if they get too low.

^ Yes, good idea. TA is talking about something like this that you just connect to your pack's balance harness. I have a couple. They work great. Displays Total Voltage, Voltage of each Cell/Bank, and sounds alarm if you wish at voltage level you specify. Word of warning, the alarm is loud. I about cr_pped my pants the first time it one went off on me.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-8S-Lipo-Li-ion-Fe-Battery-Low-Voltage-Meter-Tester-Buzzer-Alarm-Hot-DP-/112070335396?hash=item1a17e99ba4:g:-GgAAOSwARZXlhG1

Hello,

OK, I will listen to you, but I will not take this one, because its specs are too close to the maximum I want to use it (3 Amps), I prefer to select something that could manage more Amps (at least 5 or more) to use it safely. Honnestly, I do not trust a lot this cheap products, I prefer to pay more for a reliable and proven driver, I do not want my lamp to stop working when I am in the middle of the forest…

So you convince me, so I will go back to my intial choice of a boost converter, to use my smallest and lighter batteries, 3 or 4 cells, and not limit my lamp to a maximum of 4 XML but 6 as I initially planned.

Can you suggest some boost driver of good quality ? in my radar, I have the HBFLEX from taskled, which seems to be the reference, but difficult to buy for someone like me living in France.

And so, I will plug an external voltmeter and amp meter, grrr, more work for me to connect and solder all this in the correct way…I immagine that I should connect the voltmeter to the 2 wires from the battery before the driver, and the amp meter at the output of the driver (if I want to measure simulteanously battery voltage and current pushed to the LEDs), is it rigt ?

once again, thanks to all of you for your patience and advices.

Kind regards,

Richard.

It will be really hard to find a single boost converter with enough amp capability for what you want. The better idea is to use several boost converters and connect one to each LED.

Several smaller boost converters would also be more reliable since if one fails you still have the rest that would work.

Hi Texas_Ace,

I like your idea to use independant boost driver for each led, but in this case it makes it impossibleto connect a single amp meter…

Do you think the selected boost driver below can manage alone my 6 Cree XML2 at 3 Amps ?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019W4C5IE/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=dp059-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B019W4C5IE&linkId=bdb0fd8cf8b561b9b012d591fabdbd14

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008NKNHSG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B008NKNHSG&linkCode=as2&tag=dp059-20&linkId=4FBDGVVPTBXFEGS4

Thanks

Hi,

when I look in detail these 2 products, I think only the 1st one is capable of constant current (mandatory to drive LEDs), I can see 2 potentiometers to adjust output voltage and current.

The second one has only 1 potentiemeter to adjust output voltage.

Do you confirm my understanding ?

Thanks

Yes, that first converter appears to have the correct specs and should work, although I have no experience with them. I would mount it to a heat sink of some sort as it looks like it will get hot with high outputs.

Other then that though, it should work well based on the specs.

With a dual voltage input, it would make a great internal resistance mearuring tool as well.

I just bought this enclosure. Hope it’s not too big?

It should work great, just make sure you get a 5V fan and install it somewhere blowing over the board along with exhaust holes as well. You can tap the fan into the existing fan output.