TL494

A Budget Bench Power Supply Under the Knife Finding decent, affordable test gear is always a gamble. The Hangell 60V 5A Power Supply aims straight for the budget-conscious maker, offering a chunky 300-watt footprint at an appealing price. It promises precise benchtop control without the premium price tag. Let's see if this machine holds up when we look under the hood. Controls and Output Modes This unit features coarse and fine adjustments for both voltage and current. It includes a protective overcurrent mode. When active, this safety net immediately shuts down output and sounds a warning during a spike. Otherwise, it defaults to standard constant current limiting. Up front, you also get an enable button and dual USB ports. Under the Hood Discoveries Popping the case reveals a classic TL494 switch-mode controller chip handling primary power duties. A secondary DK124 driver chip runs a separate 5-volt rail for the logic board and USB outputs. This layout poses a slight design risk. Hooking up noisy, high-current USB loads could easily disrupt the delicate control circuitry. Physical build quality shows clear cost-saving decisions. The main output rectifier feeds an completely unsupported choke. Without a dab of silicone or hot glue, shipping vibrations risk fatiguing the solder joints. On the high-voltage side, two 200-volt capacitors wired in series provide just enough operating headroom. Managing the Floating Ground Like most switch-mode designs, high-frequency transformer coupling introduces a floating ground potential. A high-impedance meter reads roughly 40 volts of leakage from the negative terminal to mains ground. To fix this, manually bridge the front negative terminal to the mains earth port. This quick tweak drops the potential back to zero, protecting sensitive electronics from high-frequency spikes. The Verdict This budget power supply delivers competent performance for the price. It lacks the bulletproof build of professional lab gear, but it gets the job done if you manage its quirks. Keep the USB ports for light loads and ground the negative terminal.