PSU Open Frame Recomendations? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: ssashton
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2023, 08:59:29 pm
content: Hi!I found the 200 watt 48V Mean Well EPP200-48 which is a 4" x 2" open frame supply that looks perfect for my product, but as a famous brand is rather expensive.Is there a standard terminology for these 4" x 2" PSUs I'm missing for searching alternatives? I can't find any others! I rather thought there would be many similar designs??Thanks for the help!https://www.meanwell-web.com/en-gb/open-frame-power-supplies/ac-dc-single-output-open-frame-power-supply-output-epp--200--24?returnurl=%2fen-gb%2fopen-frame-power-supplies%2f%23epp-200-24

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 07, 2023, 09:19:29 pm
content: You realize that Mean Wellisthe budget option, right? The top-tier brands, like TDK-Lambda, are much costlier.Mean Well has managed to make a name for itself as the lowest-cost power supply manufacturer that is actually decent. I certainly wouldn’t go any cheaper, and even so Mean Well isn’t what I would use if long-term reliability were paramount. (For example, they don’t use premium capacitors. They don’t use the worst, but not the best either.)

author: ssashton
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2023, 12:19:49 pm
content: I'm sure if you were building industrial gear Man Well would be a budget choice, but this is going in to consumer grade equipment and we know how low in the barrel that can scrape.I've actually got an existing product and useYHY PowerPSUs and they have been faultless over the last 5 years of selling it. Sadly they don't do a supply that fits my new design size requirments.But yeah, looks like Mean Well are one of the few people selling such dense supplies at consumer prices. Honestly I thought AliExpress would be covered with clones, some better some worse.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 09, 2023, 12:01:17 am
content: Quote from: ssashton on April 08, 2023, 12:19:49 pmI wouldn’t even make that generalization. If you buy, for example, an Apple or HP computer, the power supply will be made by a top-quality manufacturer, and that’s decidedly consumer gear. (For example, my HP laptop came with a charger manufactured by Lite-On, which also has made numerous Apple chargers over the years.)Quote from: ssashton on April 08, 2023, 12:19:49 pmWell it is, but you get what you pay for. Some aliexpress supplies are fine, some are dangerous trash.The thing about power supplies is that if done wrong — and the cheap Chinese stuff often is done wrong — it can be literally deadly. This is not hyperbole or exaggeration, people have been killed because of them. And since inspection for safe construction involves destroying the transformer, such destructive testing is only feasible when you can take samples of a large pool of identical units. And therein lies the rub with aliexpress: you can order the same item twice and receive two units that are completely different inside. Destructive testing of sample units is pointless because you can’t know whether you’ll get the same ones later. Or even whether all of the units within a shipment are the same.There are things where I am happy, or at least willing, to accept the unpredictable quality of aliexpress products. Power supplies are most decidedly NOT among them. Mean Well may not be a premium product, but it’s a reliably decent product that meets its safety requirements and which I do not hesitate to put into users’ hands. I would not want the liability risk, nor the guilty conscience if something were to happen, from putting random aliexpress power supplies into circulation.