HP 6038A Power Supply

© Brooke Clarke 2009


Shown powering MR16 lamp.

Nov 2009 - there are a number of things that my existing bench power supplies can not power.  For example an MR16 Lamp or the CF-28 Toughbook laptop computer.  I'm looking into an adapter for the 5590BA that would power an MR16 Lamp or the CF-28 Toughbook computer and wanted to see what their I-V data looks like so needed a power supply that could provide 50+ Watts.

Specs:

V	Amps	Watts
60	3.3	198
40	6	240
20	10	200

The stock version has a front panel, but the option 001 version has no front panel and can only be operated by means of the HP-IB interface.

The OUTPUT ADJUST knob can be used for either voltage or current.  It's the common HP optical shaft encoder, not a pot so when the power switch is turned off you loose the setting.  After power on if you try to increase the voltage it will not go far until you press the button and then increase the current.  To see the current setting you do NOT need to short the output, but rather just press the DISPLAY SETTINGS button.

HP 59510A Relay Accessory is an On-OFF switch that connects to the output and also switches the sense lines.

HP 59511A Relay Accessory does all that the 59510A does and in addition allows reversing the output polarity.

Westinghouse, EXN50W12VUFL, SR02, Lensed Flood, Halogen, 2000 hours, GU5.3 Base, UPC 3072104756 5, item# 04756, 50MR16Q/FL/LN/CD

Volts	Amps	Watts
0.99	1.28	1.27
1.89	1.69	3.19
3.0	2.11	6.33
4.01	2.44	9.78
5.0	2.72	13.6
6.0	3.0	18.0
7.01	3.25	22.8
8.0	3.49	27.9
9.0	3.72	33.5
10.01	3.93	39.3
11.0	4.15	45.7
12.0	4.31	51.7
13.01	4.51	58.7

Volts	Amps	Watts	Description
15.6	0.02	0.3	Power Off - both batt charged
15.6	0.75	12	Power Up - screen off
15.6	1.5	23	Power up - screen on
15.6	1.8	28	WIN XP running
15.6	1.06	16	"
15.0	1.09	16	"
14.0	1.3	18	"
13.0	1.25	16	"
12.0	0.61	7	"
11.0	0.01	0.1	"

As the external voltage falls below about 13 Volts the internal batteries take over.
When the external voltage is increased from zero while the CF-28 is running on battery power the Battery and MP (battery) LEDs come on at about 10.85 Volts input indicating that the batteries are being charged.  The exact voltage probably depends on the state of charge of the batteries.  At 10.85 the input current is now 0.01 Amps.  At 11.3 V it's 0.3 A, 11.5 V @ 0.5 A, 11.9 V @ 1A, 12.2V @ 1.3A and starting at about 12.6 volts the current decreases as the voltage is increased.  Then again it seems to increase with voltage, i.e. 14.16V @ 2.14 A, 15.6 @ 2A, current is decreasing with time, maybe charging the batteries over time. Yes, the MP LED is orange now.  When the screen saver comes on the current increases to a little over 2 A.

Installing the WiFi PCMCIA card adds about 0.2 amps.
Running the update function in Microsoft Security Essentials does not increase the current.