good lab power supply

[DanV]

hello, i am just getting into electronics theory and design.
i am setting up a little workbench and i am trying to decide on a good lab power supply. i will mainly be developing audio circuits. i would like to get something that is versatile enough so that i don't end up having to get another one once i take on slightly larger projects - but also not something insanely over featured. is it important to have a bench power supply that is both ac and dc capable?

suggestions and opinions very welcome.

thanks!

 

[bcarso]

This has been discussed in The Lab recently: see http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=7241

When you say "ac and dc capable", I assume you mean having such outputs? If so, the overwhelming majority of bench supplies have only d.c. outputs.

 

[electronaut]

For AC power, a variac is a pretty helpful tool. You can find one on ebay for pretty cheap. ($40 or so.)

If you're going to be experimenting with tubes and need a high voltage supply, you might want to check out this thread also:

http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=5244

Good luck!

E.

 

[kkrafs]

If you want to build your self bench supply i would sugest the
Lm317-337 regulators, they are old as hell but still quite nice
you can have variable voltage down to 1,25V up to 37V.

That will cover low voltage digital, 1,5v 1,8v-3,3 3,6v 5v etc as well as
the usuall 15-30v opamp supplies in standard mode, however since
you can float this particular regulator you can also build tube regulators
up to several hundred volts with them! No need for TPS regulators!

For high current use simply shunt the reg with a pass power
tranny, there are many sugestions in the datasheet.

If you want even better performance the very old and farty LM723
is a good bet, despite its anicent design, however a bit tricky
to design with but its used in many comercially available bench
supplies!

reg
kkrafs