Power to spare

The faithful companion of every electronics fan is his laboratory power supply. It’s always ready when you need it, it can provide the right voltage for every project, and it’s just about indestructible. The fact that a lab supply is part of the standard equipment for every workstation is demonstrated by the enormous number of products available. In this article, we examine a selection of lab supplies, describe the various options and features, and point out what you should look for when buying a power supply.
The following pages present brief descriptions of no less than 31 laboratory power supplies. What all of them have in common is that they convert ac mains voltage into a clean, well-regulated dc voltage. At least that’s the intention. It won’t come as any surprise that not all of them can do this equally well, as you can see from the descriptions.
However, capacity is not the only thing that matters in choosing a suitable power supply, although it naturally forms the starting point.