On Thu, 13 May 2010 09:08:10 -0400, JW wrote:

On Thu, 13 May 2010 12:51:27 +0000 (UTC) Meat Plow
wrote in Message id: :

On Tue, 11 May 2010 12:05:53 -0700, David Brodbeck wrote:

On May 10, 7:33Â*pm, Meat Plow wrote:
If you have some way to limit current, use it. I have a supply that I
can dial in from 0 to 35 amps and it comes in real handy

Will do. I don't have a variable-limit supply, but I do have one with
a fixed 1.5A limit that I plan to use for initial low power transmit
testing.

That will help you not fry some of the bigger stuff but there is nothing
like a 0 to 15 volt, 0 to 35 amp supply with volt/ammeter.

Even better if it has OCP. If the current drain reaches a user
programmed setting (IE those BJTs are about to blow!), the power supply
will shutdown its output completely, instead of just dumping continuous
current to whatever the current is set to.
I have an Agilent 6643A which does this. While they cost $3K new you can
pick 'em up for a 10% of that on Ebay. I paid just a bit over $300 for
mine.

http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/product.jspx?
id=839301&pageMode=OV&pid=839301&lc=eng&ct=PRODUCT &cc=US&pselect=SR.PM-
Search%20Results.Overview

That's great if you know within a decent tolerance how much current what
you are working on draws at inrush or at an idle.