For testing power supplies, batteries and accumulators, an electronic load is a very useful tool. Such a load not only imitates a fixed resistance, but can also act as a constant current or voltage load and can even switch between different load values. The Siglent SDL1020X-E offers a whole range of such possibilities and is suitable for voltages up to 150 V and currents up to 30 A, with a maximum dissipation of 200 W.

When designing or testing a power supply circuit, it is important that the power supply remains stable under various types of load, reacts quickly to load changes and outputs low levels of interference. In recent years there appears to be an increasing need for a device that can load a power source in different ways and especially with Chinese manufacturers of measuring equipment we see relatively many new "electronic loads" appear. Siglent has also had a series of electronic loads in its programme, the SDL1000X series, for less than a year now. In this review I have tested the SDL1020X-E. This is the smallest version that can handle a maximum power of 200 W. There is also a 300 W version and of both versions there are types without the -E suffix that offer a higher reading accuracy.

Solid case

When discussing Siglent equipment, I mentioned earlier that it is usually equipped with a robust housing and that is also the case here. It's even more striking here that the cabinet is quite long, namely 39 cm. If you want to put the device on a shelf, you have to make sure it has enough space.
 
The case is a lot deeper than most other Siglent devices.

The front panel contains all control buttons, two heavy-duty connection terminals and a 3.5" large LCD display showing all information. Below the screen there are 5 buttons whose current function is shown on the screen.

At the rear we find the power connection, a USB, LAN and RS232 connector and two BNC sockets that provide a measurement signal for the voltage and current of the load (for connection to an oscilloscope, for example). At the bottom is a connector block with a whole series of terminals of which I will only mention the most important ones here, the sense inputs and the trigger input. To the left are air slots for cooling the large cooling tunnel that runs internally almost the entire length of the device and at the front is a temperature-controlled fan. At smaller loads, the SDL1020X-E is therefore virtually silent.