Power Supply Unit Issues

[JAW911]

I hope someone can help please. I started nickel plating recently with great success. However, I had issues yesterday using copper wire which tainted the plating finish so I tried today to plate a largish steel nut using titanium wire but I could not get any current out of my power supply unit and, since I know less than nothing about electricity, I was hoping someone could help please. I could get a voltage output but no amps. Is it because it was just a single nut being plated? The letters CC came up on the unit…..what is CC mode please? Is the supply unit faulty? Thank you. John

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

No the PSU (Power Supply Unit) is not faulty. The load, your plating bath, is drawing too much current so it has gone into current limit at whatever Constant Current (CC) to which the PSU is set. It looks as though you can adjust the CC current with the lower knobs on the PSU. I would hope the middle display - A - would show what the limit is being set to as you adjust it but that may be a enhancement too far and it only shows the load current. BTW what is that current?
NB: The PSU output current may not be just the plating bath but any current path from the positive to the negative terminals, in other words if you have an inadvertent short circuit then the PSU will go into current limit.
Have fun.
Martin

 

[JAW911]

Thank you for the reply but I really don’t understand that. How do I make it so it will create a current so I can plate again please? There are no short circuits as far as I know.

 

[nickds1]

Note the red led illuminated by the CC label. I suspect the the current limit is set very low (anti-clockwise).

Turn up the current limit knob until you get the current you need. Don't worry about the volts dropping off - as long as the current is correct, that's what you need for plating.

If the current doesn't get to where you want and the volts is still showing 5v, then you can wind up the volts until you hit your required current.

The idea of CC vs CV is that you will be on CV until you hit the set current limit, after which the current will remain constant.

If you want CV, then set the current limit to a suitably high value and the PSU will operate in CV mode.

To set the current limit, turn the coarse and fine current limits right down, set the volts to about 12, then short the outputs if the PSU.

Wind up the coarse and fine current limits until you get the value you need, e.g. 150mA (or whatever you want).

Now, connect the PSU leads to the electrodes in your bath. The current will top out at the value you set when you had the leads shorted. If it's not reading high enough, wind up the voltage a bit.

 

[JAW911]

Thank you - I’ll try that tomorrow.