Used power supplies in Europe - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: fretless
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2014, 04:59:52 pm
content: Hey,now once in a while you see a thread about power supplies and somebody mentions HP's E3610A's for $50-$100. Now I know you can get all kinds of old test equipment in US cheap, but what about Europe? I'v been searching for a while for the HP E36xx and all of them are above $120. Are there any Europe-specific brands that I should look for or just forget the idea of cheap equipment?

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 05, 2014, 05:08:31 pm
content: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AGILENT-HP-6632B-Bench-DC-Power-Supply-0-20VOLT-5-AMP-Programmable-/350957363663I got one. It's brilliant.

author: fretless
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2014, 05:13:59 pm
content: Doesn't seem to be the cheaper kind and smaller kind, so shipping to Lithuania will probably cost half of its cost.

author: Dave
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2014, 05:17:18 pm
content: Yeah, you are not going to find E3610A power supplies for cheap in Europe. Even if you ordered one from USA, you couldn't convert it to 230Vac without replacing the transformer.But you could build one just like it yourself.

author: Simon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 05, 2014, 05:25:01 pm
content: Not sure about your budget but how about an EP 925 3 - 15 V 25 A they seem a bit expensive at the moment considering I bagged one of £50 but then it had been poorly advertised so I was the only bidder.

author: sync
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2014, 06:09:09 pm
content: Even in the US E3610A are sold over 100$. I don't know the situation in Lithuania but here in Germany you can get a good price/ bargain if you are really patient (waiting for month). For exampleeBay auction: #271324382546(I paid considerably more for mine). The older HP supplies with analog meters are usually cheaper than a E3610A.Regarding other brands. I don't have first hand experience with them (expect a Voltcraft VLP2403 which is a piece of shit). I'm a HP lab power supply fan. But I would consider Rohde&Schwartz, Gossen, Philips.

author: fretless
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2014, 06:20:04 pm
content: Oh, trust me, the situation in Lithuania is horribad. People are asking up to $150 for single channel 5 MHz soviet analog scopes.

author: KJDS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2014, 06:32:13 pm
content: Shipping of a large box, ie a HP6632B or an oscilloscope to Lithuania from the UK is only £26+VAT.

author: bingo600
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2014, 08:43:08 pm
content: I have 2 of the 6632B PSU's and absolutely love them.The only downside (my wife says) is that the fan is a bit loud , but more silent than my Rigol Scope.I'd say get one while they last.Another cool thing is that the meter readings are almost as accurate as a 5½ digit DMM , meaning you dont need to measure voltage or current , just read it off the meters./Bingo

author: Dave
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2014, 01:08:26 am
content: The fans are a bit on the loud side, yes, but you can manually set them to a lower speed. IIRC, you can access a special menu by pressing 0 and 9 simultaneously. You then need to set the fan mode to manual and set the speed to a desired value. Unfortunately setting it to 0% doesn't actually stop the fan, just sets it to a lower speed. Still, better than nothing.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2014, 11:00:37 am
content: Quote from: fretless on January 05, 2014, 04:59:52 pmI just have to mention the dutch firm:Delta electronicsreal good power supplies

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2014, 12:25:30 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on January 06, 2014, 11:00:37 amNice indeed. We use them in our company, but they are expensive as hell and hard to get second-hand.As for the OPs question: get over it. I'm pretty sure that here in Poland we have similar situation as you do in Lithuania. Forget Agilent. Buy a Korad or similar thing. I've been looking for brand name stuff too, but it's next to unobtanium. And it will be for a good time, because companies will rather recycle old but working stuff than sell it on the open market (to avoid paperwork, taxes etc). And it's not US where a private person can afford a $300 JBC soldering station (aside from the fact that the same station costs ~$500 in EU), so a second hand market is tiny to non-existant.Other option is to make one yourself if you are shooting for high power. Big transformer can be obtained by getting a bigass toroid from decomissioned halogene lighting. You need to unwind the secondary and wind a new one. With toroids winding wires by hand is horrible work, but doable. Otherwise a custom 400VA transformer can be had for around 50-70€ shipped. Other than transformer everything can be pulled out from electronic junk: heatsink, pass transistors (and those are not expensive new anyway), bulk caps. It does not have to pretty, it has to work