Building a bench power supply with DPS5015 + extra features

I’ve got my DPS5015 and Dell EPS-470 (48V DC server power supply) ready to go.

But first I’d like some input from more experienced electronics folks, regarding on a couple ideas I was thinking of implementing.

I frequently use several voltages for the following uses:

  • 3V, 0.01A – testing to make sure a LED reflow is good, using a non-lethal power.
  • 3.7V, 1.0A – testing a driver/connections to a driver
  • 5V, 1.0A – Various stuff with USB
  • 12V, (?)A – seems like 12V should be included, but I can’t say I actually use it that often.

My thought was to have dedicated binding posts for at least one or two of these frequently used settings, to avoid needing to frequently change the setting on the DPS5015. Is this a good or bad idea?

My idea is that in addition to the DPS5015, I also get a couple of the cheap ($3) CC/CV modules and wire them up next to the DPS5015. So the DPS5015 would have its display and binding posts, and they are of course completely variable. And then right next to that, have a couple sets of binding posts that are labeled, and are always the labeled output.

Doing a Google Image Search reveals that maybe I’m not the first person to have this idea. This is similar to what I had in mind, he’s got two variable supplies on the right, and three fixed supplies on the left:

Thoughts?

Also, what are your favorite banana plugs and binding posts?

Bump. Any input?

I finished mine not too long ago. I put it in an enclosure with a current meter connected to a four port 4amp USB port. The meter side can use the same input with copper plate jumpers added or it can be isolated and use different supplies. The USB port can be bypassed as well so the current meter can be used from direct input and output terminals. I’m really liking it but the meter needs to be calibrated yet.

There’s no reason adding fixed voltage binding posts would harm anything. One thing to keep in mind is the the dps5015 has user definable presets so you could essentially have digital binding boats for your top used voltages. This give easy current setting as well but gives the flexibility to modify current and or voltage. However, wth binding posts you will be able to use more than one voltage at a time.

Fixed voltages can be very useful, but I do not like having a common ground. Maybe it is not even common, but some modules has a small current sense resistor in the ground, making it impossible to mix the voltages in the same construction without some side effects.

Which voltages do you find most useful?

I’m still pretty inexperienced at the electronics hobby, so I’d appreciate any and all advice you’d care to share.

Thanks for the point about shared grounds.

Good idea to put actual USB ports in. Now should I put them in either in addition or in place of 5V binding posts? Hmm

I have an ATX power supply with a DP50v5A installed in it and I have connections for 3.3v, 5v and 12V direct to the ATX. I find that I never use them as they are not all that useful for me. The only time I have found myself using them is when I wanted to run a 5V fan while using it for other items.

The far more practical option that I found was to simply have 2 adjustable power supply modules, having the meters on them to show the voltage, current ect is invaluable for what I use the bench power supplies for.

After adding it all up the cost to get all the meter setup separately was only slightly cheaper then an entire second module, so I instead did that and am VERY glad I did.

Plus the smaller dp50v5A has a more stable output with less ripple which is nice for some things.

They have a buck / boost module now that offers lots of options with an ATX power supply.

You’ve really got me thinking, maybe two variable outputs would be better. It certainly would be easier to hook up /build.

Maybe even use the less expensive 3005 if I really want to save a buck. Edit: dps50v5a is only $0.50 more than dps3005,no reason not to get the 50v5a I guess.

The nice thing about the smaller 3005 is that it has less ripple on the output. My DP50v5A has around 10-12mv of ripple vs the dps5015 which has around 130mv. This is to be expected with higher current supplies and is not an issue in most situations but if getting a second unit might as well get something a bit different unless you think you will need 15A on both of them.

I can’t think of a situation where I’ll need either dual 36+V, or dual 15A, but you never know… lol.

I like the idea of one of the 15A and one of the 5A.

In post #6 you said the dp50v5a has less ripple, and in post #8 you said the 3005 has less ripple - I guess you just mean the 5A units in general have less ripple than the 15A units? (Not the 30V or 50V in particular?)

Correct, I have not tried the DPS3005 myself but from talking to the designer I believe it has similar ripple as my dp50v5a. It is the nature of the beast. To get more current you have to use parts with worse tolerance (or spend a LOT more money).

I much prefer the DPS firmware setup.

The 50V could possibly have slightly worse ripple then the 30V model but it will not be as big of a difference as the current. Still, I would go for the 3005 if I were doing it over again.

Ah yes, now I see (remember) the difference between DP and DPS firmware.

So you would take the DPS3005 over the DPS5005? May I ask why? (the cost difference is $1.01 more for the DPS5005: $27.84 vs $26.83)

Well I personally rarely need more then ~20-24V anyways so the extra voltage would be wasted on a second unit and in theroy the lower voltage version will be slightly more stable (less ripple) but not enough to really matter. Either will work perfectly fine, just a matter of what you need.

Very nice, I ended up going with an acrylic laser cut version myself: Bench power supply DPS5015.08" / 2.2mm thick Acrylic case by Texas_Ace - Thingiverse

Mine will be acrylic, but hand cut.

What kind of plugs are those? Designed to accept sheilded test leads? Do you like that better than standard banana/binding posts?

Which brand/style/type of connection I wanted to use was still something I was debating.

edit: I read your description on thingverse where you said you didn’t like those plugs. What did you wind up using?

Talking about mine? I found that the normal banana plugs while they have a wide range of uses are very high resistance. I only use them for low current items now. The picture in my thingiverse item is of my last model before I realized this (the design is of the updated version though).

I now have my main leads directly connected to the output of the DPS via 12AWG wire. This handles 90% of my needs and works great with only .025v of voltage drop per amp over the 1.5M wires.

I also have standard banana jacks for general usage and an XT60 jack for custom leads.

Got it. Thanks.

Umm thank you, this explain my problem