TACKLIFE DC Power Supply Variable, Adjustable Switching Regulated Power Supply 30V 10A with Course and Fine Adjustments, 4-Digits Display, Data Hold - 115CM Alligator Leads Included MDC02

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.  I recently added this TACKLIFE MDC01 DC Power Supply to my geek shop and I'm very pleased with it so far. It is compact, easy to use, quiet, and is very accurate.I wasn't really sure I would like the single selectors for the voltage and amperage adjustments that require you push to select between "course" and "fine" adjustments, but I found changing the voltage and amperage outputs very easy and accurate using the push selectors.Instead of my normal wordy reviews I added a video to show you the operation. I hope you find it informative.

This is a great little, versatile, power supply. It covers the common low voltage DC needs (< 31 V) and a reasonably high current (< 11 A). Yes, although rated at 30V and 10A, the adjustments go to 31V and 11A. Maybe someone is a fan of Spinal Tap.The product write-up isn't as clear about some features as it could be, so let me clarify.The output on/off switch allows the power supply to be powered on but have the output disconnected. It powers on (rocker switch on the back of the unit) with the output off. To me, the real value of this is that you can see and adjust the voltage and current limits before enabling the output. This avoids the unhappy surprise of turning on the supply to find it set differently than you expected and zapping your load because you left it connected. (With some other inexpensive supplies, you have to manually disconnect the load and you can't even see where the current threshold is set without connecting a dummy load.)The adjustments are fully digital. There are 20 clicks per turn and each click adjusts by 1.00 in coarse mode or 0.01 in fine mode. Push the knob in to switch between coarse and fine.When the output is off, the limit is displayed and adjusted. When the output is on, the display normally shows the actual voltage and current draw. When you adjust the limit, the display briefly switches to show the limit you are changing, so you can see your selection, and then switches back. For example, assume it is operating in CV, the current limit is set to 1.00A, the output is enabled, the load is drawing 0.50A, and the current limit is in fine mode. The display will show 0.50A. When you turn the current limit knob, it will show 1.01A, 1.02A, 1.03A etc. while you are turning the knob. The digit you adjust will flicker to make it obvious what you changed. When you stop turning the knob, it will switch back to 0.50A.The output voltage and current agree with my BK Precision multi-meter within 4mV at 30V which meets the spec. I didn't record current and ripple but they were also low and within specification. As a stress test, I ran a 12V compressor at about 9A load for about 10 minutes. The cooling fan came on as expected and the supply held fine. (This is about half the wattage limit of the power supply but I didn't have a better load handy.)I have a few really small complaints. A couple of times when I turned an adjustment knob very slowly it adjusted in the opposite direction for a click. This didn't happen much and is easily avoided by just turning full clicks. But I'm accustomed to my other supply with an analog dial and turn very slowly out of habit.Second, the fine adjustment is really fine. If you want to go from 1.00V to 1.50V, that's 50 clicks or two and a half turns. The precision is wonderful, but it does mean more turning.Third, in at least one case I found that the indicators for CV and CC did not indicate which mode the supply was really working in. During the 12V load test I would increase the load on the compressor and saw the voltage drop while the CV light was still on. At first I thought it wasn't holding the voltage properly. But, with a little analysis, I found that the load hit the the 10A current limit set and the supply switched to CC, only the CV light was still showing. Since the outputs were correct, this was only very close to the crossover, and it was operating near the design limit of 10A, I don't consider this a significant problem. But it was a little surprising.As others have noted, the included leads are only rated for 6A. This seems odd for a 10A supply, but the instructions are clear about this.It is a great supply for the price.

Im hesitant to give a glowing review before owning this for some time since so many of these entry level supplies prove to be sketchy and unreliable, but Ive had good luck with Tacklife products and I like this item so much I had to give some initial impressions - so far after a day or so evaluating the supply inside and out im really very impressed with its performance and overall build quality (so far) and I like it very much especially since its not a virtual carbon copy of all the other budget beige boxes with one of a dozen or so odd brand names that seem to come from the same equipment farm in china. Im sure this one does too, but the overall thought in design is more professional looking design and build quality seems a touch better with a lot of small indicators that tell me time was spent in design & seems it was indeed designed for Tackllife to their specs and a bit more more attention seems to have been paid in both design and build quality. I love the switch that allows turning off the output jacks without turning off the whole unit, the case has plenty of air vents with a very nice looking textured vinyl finish that gives it a much better look than just paint - it goes together nicely with very good fit and finish including the plastic front control panel bezel and its not a total flexible flyer when the cover is off. I found no intrinsically bad wiring or overly sloppy work inside the unit, everything is properly grounded, wiring is heat shrunk at the terminals and there are large heatsink plates both in the middle of the main ps board where the thermal overload is mounted and another mounted for the voltage regulator on the case bottom that extends heat removal duties from the large heatsink plate into the case bottom itself, and its just a small touch but the exhaust fan in back has a nice chrome wire grille thats more flow-efficient and professional in appearance than just crude holes punched into the sheet metal, and again theres a 6A 5mmx20mm glass fuse in the AC plug socket but be aware this unit is not switchable for 120v/220v its 120 only - but again there are small touches that to me hopefully all indicate an eye towards decent overall design & build quality. The controls work perfectly as designed with a nice quality feel no roughness or looseness and its reasonably easy to dial in most any setting with the push to change control design. I also like the fact it has a four digit display, some budget units only have three and the display is crisp and clean with no readout issues on my example and the readout values match my Fluke meter almost exactly throughout the range. If I had any real complaints it would be the main power switch is on the back, but thats a small nitpick really since theres a button to turn off the outputs if desired. One negative to me the capacitors are as seemingly always of the questionable "Cheng" brand and of chinese origin, but one could change these if desired for name brands it would be easy to do in this simple build design - however they are 105*C high temp caps so they say. The grounded PC style power cord seems huge in scale compared to the small case of the unit itself--very thick, safe and heavy duty looking but in reality its a standard 18 guage wire which should be more than adequate for this power level and its grounded with a 6A 5mmx20mm fuse present in the plug-in jack with what appears to be a place to mount a spare. I was please also that this unit has not only a common terminal but also a green grounded terminal for applications that require it. Ive already beat this to death, but I want to stress how nice the case design fit and finish is, except for the small size it does not have quite the cheap cheesy feel one might expect based on others ive seen, its very nicely constructed for the price and the unit presents itself well on a bench, appearance wise its nothing one feels like apologizing for-lol Its a switching design and traditionally they are considered more "noisy" than more expensive transformer based designs and the manual claims less than 3mV of ripple, but so do other makes so this may or may not be a bit optimistic, but I knew this going in and unfortunately I have no way to measure it but I know its good enough for my simple purposes - but one should always be aware if your working with overly sensitive electronics you may want to spend more and get a tranformer based linear style power supply as these designs are always quieter than switching designs, just depends on what your needs and budget require. At this moment I have say I have no reason not to recommend the Tacklife MDCO1, so far I feel ive gotten my moneys worth considering its a low budget item to begin with. The way I see it this one is a breath of fresh air in a sea of beige box clones and im hoping its as good as other Tacklife gear I own, if so I may buy another. So far highly recommended.

The power supply works as intended but the test leads got almost too hot to touch above 7 amps. Thinking about returning. Could be a fire hazard when drawing high current.Edit 1/13/20 I am very impressed with Tacklife's customer service. They reached out to me after my initial review. We corresponded back and forth, and they were very nice and accommodating. I would rate their customer five stars. Their instructions does say that the provided test leads will only handle 6 amps. So if you plan to use it for applications requiring higher than 6 amps, you should plan on buying a higher gauge test leads separately to sufficiently handle the larger current.

this item is not ul certified for use in North america.. you cause a fire and your insurance is void.. its not even legal to import into Canada.