General questions about the 6632b lab psu - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Hagrid
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2014, 10:30:18 am
content: Hi all,i have already seen some topics about the 6632b lab psu, but those are mostly teardowns or people with problems asking for help.I am thinking about to get one of those as my first lab psu.Does somebody own one of these? Are you happy with it?I couldn't find any information if or how far it overshoots if it is powered on.I hope my english isn' that bad..Greetings, Hagrid

author: AndyC_772
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2014, 01:07:42 pm
content: I have several, they're great - provided you don't mind the size and weight, and the fact that the terminals are on the back.Start-up and shut-down behaviour are exemplary - linear, monotonic, and no overshoot whatsoever.

author: nowlan
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2014, 02:05:21 pm
content: I have seen one at school. They take up a lot of shelf space, have a fan that i cant comment on at the moment. May be an issue in a home office. And as mention, cables connect the rear. You can run leads to a break out box at the front.The pluses, can be had cheap if you are lucky. Can dial the voltage/current set via keypad.

author: babysitter
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2014, 08:40:55 pm
content: Although I also have one broken atm, I like them, have two working, one borrowed to workplace

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2014, 08:58:54 pm
content: I don't like HP PSUs as they are because of their loud fans. I modified all my HP PSUs so all have temperature controlled fans.

author: BillyD
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2014, 09:01:22 pm
content: I have one but tend not to use it often because(a) it's too bulky(b) the fan is too noisy, even when overridden to its slowest speed(c) it doesn't remember its settings when powered off.Have a look around for a Thurlby Thandar power supply, these regularly appear at reasonable prices on ebay. Basic but rock solid.

author: G0HZU
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2014, 09:30:50 pm
content: Quote from: BillyD on October 20, 2014, 09:01:22 pmAll three of the above issues are dealbreakers for me. The 6632 is primarily an ATE PSU and in this role it is a fabulous PSU with very high performance.But if you aren't planning to be using it for remote/ATE purposes then for most users it will become an annoying liability for the three reasons given by BillyD plus the fact that the output connections are at the rear.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2014, 12:00:59 am
content: I like to have potmeters on my PSUs as well so the setting is retained when powered off. I have added a switch to short the voltage potmeter in order to disable/enable the output. Outputs on the rear are usually easy to modify with a couple of banana posts.

author: senso
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2014, 12:29:58 am
content: Mine always starts at 542mA current limit, I tough it was some hidden setting that would make her remember the last values, but its probably the way they are, I love mine, putting the front banana jacks is easy and there is even a 4 pin connector to add the front bananas, I just grabbed a pluggable terminal block and it fit there perfectly.The fan is on the annoying scale however, but so is the DS1052E fan, and I always power them up together, so meh, I got used to the jet engine background noise ..But its a pretty nice supply and having built in current measurement and voltage its a plus for me, would love to have money to buy a couple more, as my other bench power supply is an ATX stuffed in a box(cringe worthy I know).

author: mzzj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2014, 06:27:25 am
content: Quote from: Hagrid on October 20, 2014, 10:30:18 amI have 6 of these at home and a few at work. Plus I have sold metric ton of these to others when I got a bigger batch.+ really accurate. You can check/calibrate your basic low-cost DVM with these!I have checked like over 50 units and all of them were still well within 1. year accuracy specifications despite being ages old.+serial port/GPIB+ works as a load too!+ I like the enable/disable feature, no need to turn off the entire power supply all the time.+VFD display+easy to modify for front connectors, 15 minutes mod and you can vacuum all that dust in the same time.+ easy to repair if necessary, good schematics available from agilent. (just don't break the VFD display)+Low output impedance+++These have been available here in Europe for like 150 euros, really best bang for buck at that price!Why buy just one, buy at least 2 so that you can use another one as a load. Or run in series/parallel if you need more voltage/current.-Loud-Heavy-Front panel kind of flimsy design, easy to break the VFD display in transport or with careless handling.-insanely expensive if you buy new one (~2000 eur)-runs hot and uses 100W without load. (not really that much problem, unless you try to use 8 of these to power 3.3v 40A load in a small room)-current limit is slow to react-more prone to oscillate with nasty load than some others.

author: VK5RC
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 21, 2014, 10:30:22 pm
content: I have 2, have survived years of abuse at the hands of others, I use the recall state mostly, and have my common states (V/I) pre programmed in, fan a bit noisy but reminds me to turn it off! Good value for money for the quality of supply.