B&K Precision1692 Switching Digital Power Supply, 3-15VDC, Output Current 40A

Purchased elsewhere, but thought a review was in order after a quick tear down. What a disappointment for the price. The designers could have produced a decent product if they would have just added a couple a bucks to the bill of materials. Instead, they filled the unit with ticking time bomb Capxon capacitors. These are truly garbage caps. I have replaced many of these over the last few years. They will last through the warranty period and then fail. You can bet on it. Check it out on badcaps.net. It will not be easy to replace these capacitors either. Because of the construction, removing the PCB will be difficult. If this was a sub-100 dollar unit to be used intermittently, it may be forgivable to build such a throw away product, but not for this price. Do try to use this supply for any continuous duty application, even at light load. It won't last.

Compared to other supplies I've used, it's extremely light, has a lot of output current, and is priced very nicely. It doesn't have current protection, and the output can't go all the way to zero, but something that does will be a lot heavier and cost around $1200.

it's a good solid power supply....it would have been a five-star rating, if it had had a (green) earth-ground terminal on the front.

Works great; does not generate a lot of heat; no RFI. :)

We tested B&K 1692 at 13.5 volts with loads down to 1 ohm and also with shorted terminals. This is a very well-behaved supply.1. At 1 ohm, it behaved nearly like a battery except for a ½-volt deep "notch" that lasted a few ms after the load was applied. A direct short caused the output to instantly drop to 7A for a few 'uS, then output 42A for about 500ms, and then 500ms later it would drop to 7A again where it would stay. However, as soon as the short was removed, the voltage returned to normal within a few milliseconds, even with a 1 ohm load (13.5A). In other words, it doesn't crowbar.2. A 200,000uF 16V capacitor across the output terminals eliminated all the transient notches and dropouts. Behavior when alternating between 1 ohm, a direct short, and back 1 ohm showed no abnormal effects. It also seems to pass the "shorted rasp test" just fine.3. Overall, the addition of the 200,000uF capacitor made the PS behave like a battery that had a soft cutout relay set at 42A.4. It is a very light-weight power supply, making it much easier to move around than one of those old iron-transformer jobs.5. Volts are displayed in green, amps are in red, making it very easy to read what's going on.6. The main power switch seems like "just a suggestion" to shut down the supply - after the switch is turned off, the PS remains on for several seconds. This makes high-power smoke tests on your bench last a little longer. But that's what Halon extinguishers are for.Overall, this supply works fine simulating a 12V battery with the addition of the 200,000uF cap.