Korad KA3005P V1.1 Firmware Problem - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Mike Warren
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 11:23:53 pm
content: After seeing how the modified Korad power supplies no longer blow up I thought I'd get one. I use 13.8V, 9V, 5V and 1.5V regularly and the 4 memories would be perfect for my non-critical use.I received it yesterday, programmed the 4 memories and then fiddled around with it. That's when I discovered that some of the memories were set to different values than I had set them.A bit of investigation revealed that simply adjusting the voltage or current immediately overwrites the memory. It is not necessary to hold the memory button down to set it. There is no way to operate it outside a memory location.That makes this power supply close to useless for me. A non-programmable power supply is quicker to adjust on the fly than this.What a stupid design mistake.

author: DavidDLC
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 11:30:25 pm
content: Exactly.What I do is to set M2 - M4 with the values I want programmed, and then use M1 for any other voltageAnnoying but it is a turn around.David.

author: Mike Warren
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 14, 2013, 11:35:45 pm
content: To me it completely defeats the purpose of a "programmable" power supply.

author: Mike Warren
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 10:14:20 pm
content: I got a reply from Krissy at Korad saying their engineer will look into it. Also, I think Charles from Trio SmartCal is testing a machine there to see if it exhibits the same behaviour.

author: DavidDLC
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 10:26:28 pm
content: Mike, please let know to whoever maybe interested, like myself.Thanks.David.

author: David_AVD
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 10:38:35 pm
content: Mike, I tried mine last night and I see the same thing. Adjusting the parameters changes the memory location data straight away.I also noticed that it always defaults back to M1 on power up. At least the output is off, but could be bad if M1 was higher than required and you didn't notice. (unlikely I know, but...)

author: Mike Warren
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 10:45:16 pm
content: Quote from: David_AVD on January 15, 2013, 10:38:35 pmI only see three choices there, and I think defaulting to M1 is as valid as the others. My personal preference would be for it to remember what it was set to when switched off. But it's imperative that the behaviour of powering up with the output off remains.

author: UPI
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 11:22:24 pm
content: Mine has V1.3 and it exhibits the same behavior.*IDN? returns the version as KORADKA3005PV1.3It was purchased in December from SRA on Amazon.

author: Mike Warren
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 16, 2013, 10:44:21 am
content: That's no good. I'm surprised it wasn't fixed.

author: Mike Warren
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 06, 2013, 05:13:37 am
content: Update:Korad have now told me that it's a mistake in the manual.Quote from: KrissyTrio SmartCal have kindly offered to take it back, but I'll keep it. For the money, it's not worth the hassle of sending it back. I'd only need to buy a non-programmable one to replace it anyway, and that's effectively what this is.As someone who specialises in user interface design, I can't begin to understand what would be going through the mind of someone designing a device to operate like this. I have seen a lot of stupid usability design mistakes with products over the years, and this would have to rank up there with the worst of them.There is no reason for this to be designed like it is apart from designer stupidity. It would cost no more to produce and would have taken no longer to program.The thing that fooled me was Dave indicating that holding the button was how memories are stored, but looking carefully at the video again, I see that even his one behaved like this.Crazy!I will never buy or recommend a Korad product again, especially after the way dismissed me. In fact, I'm going to make a point of warning everyone in the industry I talk to about Korad's poor design/rant

author: David_AVD
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 06, 2013, 09:53:43 am
content: I found the buttons and general operation of it to be fairly clunky. I guess it's to be expected for the price, but even so I doubt I'd buy another Korad product now.