LED's as test load?

I'd be very careful powering diodes directly from such power supplies. The often DO have output capacitors after the current limiter, and although these are typically small, they could fry a diode.

If you want to power the diode directly, set the power supply to zero first, make sure the output voltage is actually zero (multimeter), then connect the diode and ramp up the current and voltage.

of course... nobody is gonna risk $40 diodes hooking it up to a PSU directly. I just wanted to see how stable mine was and it powered up a phr 4 times safely so i stopped. and of course with any testing procedure, you always start at 0V and ramp it up slowly. mine does a very good job at fine adjustments, about 1/10 of a turn will give 0.1 volts. but anyways...i never hooked up a diode to it again, it was just out of curiousity and boredom really... besides, i can risk a $5 phr, but a $40 445 hell no! always through a driver.

Benm said:

I'd be very careful powering diodes directly from such power supplies. The often DO have output capacitors after the current limiter, and although these are typically small, they could fry a diode.

If you want to power the diode directly, set the power supply to zero first, make sure the output voltage is actually zero (multimeter), then connect the diode and ramp up the current and voltage.

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