What manufacturers are good for external power supplies? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: yami759
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2018, 10:53:31 pm
content: Sorry if this kind of question has been asked before, but I need a 5V power supply that can provide at least 3A. As I'm still fairly new and the circuit I'm making is a gift for a loved one, I don't want to deal with mains voltage and would get something off the shelf that I know will work good and be safe. As such, I was looking for a traditional wall-adapter type power brick. In my search, however, I realized that I knew almost none of the companies listed after filtering my search criteria, and as such I don't know which ones I can trust. Prices range anywhere from $12 to $80, and I have no idea how much I should pay to get a "good" power supply. If anyone has experience with these companies or can recommend a decent power supply, that advice would be very helpful. Also, I only have looked on Digikey, but if someone can recommend a better place to get power supplies (in a reasonable time) I'd definitely give it a look.The only company I recognized, which was omitted from the list above, was Adafruit, who has a10A power supplylisted for $32.

author: Old Printer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2018, 01:52:54 pm
content: You don't give us much to go on as far as what this PS needs to do beyond 5V & 3A DC output I assume. Here is a basic wall wart style charger, likely surplus, but this is a good dealer and they have dozens of power supply's. I buy a lot from them.http://www.mpja.com/5-Volt-DC-Plug-Power-Supply-4A-Regulated/productinfo/18520+PS/

author: jeremy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2018, 02:25:18 pm
content: If you can live with 2.5A, I usually just use a raspberry Pi power supply:http://au.element14.com/stontronics/t5989dv/psu-rpi-5v-2-5a-multi-plug-blk/dp/2534971Has all of the various international adapters, international standards marks, and costs something like $10.

author: flynwill
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2018, 02:36:32 pm
content: I've used numerous CUI ones with no issues at all.

author: dmills
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2018, 02:47:29 pm
content: We tend to use a mixture of Meanwell, XP and TDK at work depending on the price point, got thousands of Meanwell GSTs in the field which are not tending to come back, so I take that as being a reasonable indicator.Regards, Dan.

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2018, 02:54:36 pm
content: I have had good results with LiteOn

author: cvanc
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2018, 02:55:20 pm
content: I also have used several from CUI with good results.Suggestion: Filter your Digi-Key search for units rated for 'medical' use... these are generally higher quality. Good luck.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2018, 10:18:10 pm
content: TDK-Lambda and Delta are basically the Rolls-Royces. Mean Well has a quite good reputation and is cheaper.

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2018, 01:32:12 pm
content: Quote from: cvanc on March 09, 2018, 02:55:20 pmThis is actually a very good and clever suggestion.You'll pay a little more, though.

author: Karel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2018, 02:30:10 pm
content: Quote from: schmitt trigger on March 13, 2018, 01:32:12 pmI use medical approved wall adapters all the time. Imho they are worth the extra couple of dollars for several reasons:* no auto-certification, they must have done all laboratory testing for EMI/EMC and safety* much lower leakage current, very nice when doing sensitive measurementsDo a simple test. Take an ordinary powersupply without ground terminal (like most wall adapters) and connect it to the wall socket. Take the floating output cable connector in one hand and touch the metal of the connector. Now, with the other hand touch something that is electrically connected to ground.Warning! It's not funny! It can hurt a lot!This problem is much less with medical approved powersupplies.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2018, 07:25:48 pm
content: Quote from: Karel on March 13, 2018, 02:30:10 pmI suppose everyone has a different pain threshold. I've done that before and can feel a slight tingle, but wouldn't describe it as painful.Fortunately, it's possible to avoid that. Take an ordinary, two pin PSU and connect the 0V side of its output to mains earth, via a couple of Y capacitors: one for the +V and another for the 0V.

author: Langdon
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2025, 08:38:56 pm
content: Quanzhou Smarts Elelectronics is a lesser-known manufacturer, but they only make 12V.Just use a 2A Apple charger.It should handle 3A.What's the input voltage, BTW?

author: Langdon
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2025, 09:14:16 pm
content: MEAN WELL makes power supplies that are more efficent than Delta, for about the same price.Why not?Several manufacturers make only 12V-48V5V power supplies are rare.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 14, 2025, 09:46:30 pm
content: It could be cheaper to just add a small dc-dc converter circuit that would be able to convert 9v - 20v down to 5v at 3A ... a circuit like that would cost you maybe 50 cents in parts.For example AP63300 is 35 cents on LCSC :https://www.lcsc.com/product-detail/DC-DC-Converters_Diodes-Incorporated-AP63300WU-7_C2158012.html?s_z=n_ap63300inductor's another 10-20 cents, and the ceramic capacitors another 10 cents or so.You want 5v up to 3A ... that's 15 watts... so a 12v 1.5A or a 20v 1A or whatever gives you more than 15 watts would be plenty.With 3A of current, you're also dealing with losses in the cable between the power supply and your device and you also have to deal with the risk of someone plugging the wrong adapterfor example in europe tme.eu has adapters at 5 eur + shipping9v 2A 18w :https://www.tme.eu/gb/details/posc09200a/plug-in-power-supplies/pos/12v 2A 24w :https://www.tme.eu/gb/details/posc12200a-h/plug-in-power-supplies/pos/and around 5-6$ for 18-20w power supplies on digikey, if you get 10 :https://www.digikey.com/short/b87hm7j9

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 15, 2025, 12:52:50 am
content: Quote from: Langdon on February 14, 2025, 08:38:56 pmWhy did you need to necro this thread from 2018? OP hasn't been here in 5 years.No a 2A apple charger is not suitable for 3A use.

author: Langdon
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 15, 2025, 02:25:09 am
content: 'Cause this is on the first page of a Google search.This is being read by quite a few people.