Talk:Open Source Benchtop Power Supply
An advantage of such opensource instruments over buying a used proprietary instrument on ebay or whatever, is with proprietary instruments usually communications ports (e.g. RS232, USB, ethernet, GPIB, CAN bus) are all usually optional add-ons for additional cost at manufacture (non-standard), and such an instrument might not have any means of interface with a computer. And if they do, their functionality may be limited:
- e.g. only telemetry available is what is currently displayed on the display panel of the device
- e.g. only voltage measurement not current unless button is pressed to measure current, or annoying remote mode toggled
- and at e.g. only 1Hz vs 4-60Hz readings. Aside from accuracy specifications, there is a difference between models/brands in how many times per second you're able to get a measurement.
There are also often other optional features available for additional cost at manufacture/order time. There is a lot of functionality lacking in the cheaper ($400ish programmable DC power supply $400ish programmable DMM) proprietary models (both new and used) in comparison with more expensive models.
Those are I think lesser known advantages, not immediately obvious to someone not well-versed with such instruments, so I mention them here. There are of course other invaluable advantages with open source hardware and software.
For electronics development I think the EEZ Studio is really top notch, for running experiments, automatically recording results, etc. Typically labs make their own in-house means of achieving such work.