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S-1500-60 switching supply with adjustable current / voltage - I am lost

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ProfLinux

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Nov 21, 2022
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Hi there,

I bought two S-1500-60 "men well" 1500W / 60V switching supplies from aliexpress, which according to the seller should have 5V adjustable voltage and current.
The 5V controllability was actually a add-on, originally they are shipped with potentiometers instead of the connectors (image attached). There are no datasheets or further information unfortunately :(

They seem to be solid built, but I don't get how the control voltage should work.
The connectors are labeled "VS+ / VS-" and "VCI/VC0", yet the connectors have three pins, which have actual voltage.
When initially turned on there was very little idle voltage, but measuring between the pins VS+/- seems to be enough to change the output voltage - I can slowly see how the control voltage drifts between 0-5v caused by the current of the DC meter, and that corresponds woth the 0-60V output as expected. This made me believe I understand what is going on, so I connected an adjustable constant voltage source to the VS+/-, but that didn't work.

Measuring from the middle pin of the VS+/VS- connector to the "left" one seems to reduce the voltage on the output (while the voltage on the control pins slowly increases), while measuring from the middle pin to the "right" one increaes the output voltage. I can't help but somehow it seems like this is no real 5V voltage controled input, but rather instead of the potentiometer a socket has been soldered in - with the 5V usually applied to the potentiometers.

I am a bit lost, any ideas how this could be supposed to work?

Thanks & best regards, Clemens
 

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Last edited:
John Frum said:
Meanwell has a diagram and doco for each of the pins.
Click to expand...
the problem is it is a fake. I thought they were just using the name, however in case there a corresponding "original" mean well product with the same design, this would be helpful.
 

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sunshine_eggo said:
Pretty sure you just need a POT on each.

With nothing on the VS+/VS-, do you get 60V at the terminals?
Click to expand...
I guess a POT would work, but I ordered exactly this type with promised 0-5V control for both current and voltage, so I could control it via an Arduino / ESP32.

With nothing connected, I get very 3-4V on the terminals. they way it behaved when measuring with a DC meter makes me think it works like a voltage divider with some caps behind (e.g. exactly what the POT would normally do).
 
The seller was helpful and provided me with some pictures, where to connect 0-5V. However polarity was not clear in those pictures, so my first attempt led to 120V at the switching supply output connected to the inverter (0-96V). The inverter shut off with DC high warning - hopefully no capscitors went half-dead during that few seconds.

Actually the left-most pin is reference ground, the mid-pin is the actual control voltage and the rightmost pin is some 5V reference. Connecting an external source to ground reference with ground and the mid-pin with plus works as intended.
Current control works the same way.

Running some tests with a 1200W/900W (PV/Battery mode) SoyoSource inverter showed results which were in-line or even a bit better than what I had hoped for. The whole system (AC->DC->AC) has 80% efficiency when running between 500-750W - which makes sense with both the inverter as well as the switching power supply specified for about 88-89% effciency :D
I don't want to advertise the switching power supply, but since I had a hard time finding one where I could control voltage and current via raspberry pi, maybe it can be helpful in case somebody has comparable requirements: 1500W Switching Power Supply Aliexpress
 

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Looks good :)

The 0-5V control makes sense now looking at the original arrangement of two trimpots.

How long did it actually take to arrive? Ali is saying nearly 2 months delivery to Thailand :(
 
crossy said:
How long did it actually take to arrive? Ali is saying nearly 2 months delivery to Thailand :(
Click to expand...
It took about a week until the parcel was on its way.
However I chose "cainiao heavy parcel" because it was the cheapest option which took almost 6 weeks, with weeks with no tracking updates at all.

Looks good :)
The 0-5V control makes sense now looking at the original arrangement of two trimpots.
Click to expand...
There are a few sellers selling the same device, I wonder who actually makes this device.
 
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