Diode for Switching Power supply

[TXShelbyman]

Sorry but I am electronically challenged. I have a switched power supply that has individual settings for amperage and volts. To set the amperage it says to short the positive and negative terminals then set the amperage. It also says I should have a diode in line to protect the power supply. It is a 50v 20a power supply. What kind of diode should i use? Thanks!

 

[crutschow]

Protect the power supply from what?

 

[TXShelbyman]

The instruction manual says: It is highly advised to have a diode put in line with your load (connecting to the positive terminal of the power supply) to prevent the current flowing in the wrong direction and causing damage to the power supply.

 

[Vizier87]

Well.. make sure you put the diode in the right polarity!
Here's some example products:
**broken link removed**
SB200-05R pdf, SB200-05R description, SB200-05R datasheets, SB200-05R view ::: ALLDATASHEET :::

 

[crutschow]

The instruction manual says: It is highly advised to have a diode put in line with your load (connecting to the positive terminal of the power supply) to prevent the current flowing in the wrong direction and causing damage to the power supply.

That's only a problem if you are connecting to a load that can somehow generate a current by itself.

 

[Damo666]

This sounds like a real strange psu to me. Never, ever have i heard a suggestion of shorting the + and - together to set the max current. Most decent psu's would automatically go into " short circuit protection " mode at this point. My 13.8v 40A linear psu sure does anyway. I should hope so too, as it's powering some real expensive RF gear.

Sorry but I am electronically challenged. I have a switched power supply that has individual settings for amperage and volts. To set the amperage it says to short the positive and negative terminals then set the amperage. It also says I should have a diode in line to protect the power supply. It is a 50v 20a power supply. What kind of diode should i use? Thanks!

 

[MikeMl]

This sounds like a real strange psu to me. Never, ever have i heard a suggestion of shorting the + and - together to set the max current. Most decent psu's would automatically go into " short circuit protection " mode at this point. My 13.8v 40A linear psu sure does anyway. I should hope so too, as it's powering some real expensive RF gear.

Those supplies that have separate knobs for setting the short circuit current and open circuit voltage are indeed designed to be "shorted" while setting the current limit knob. HP cant be wrong. I have several of their supplies that work this way.

You only need the diode if the supply is being used for battery charging, or if the "load" has lots of capacitance (1000's of uF).