I happen to have been in the market for some switching 24VDC power supplies that could source some decent current and put up with a little abuse. It turns out there’s no need to spend hundreds of dollars for one of the fancy DIN-rail mounted models when all you need is a box to sit on your test bench.

You can order them directly from Chinese suppliers, but it’s more convenient to order from someone domestic. I’ve found a good place to look is Amazon (a close second is E-Bay, but you’re really buying from China in about 50% of cases there). On Amazon you can get a 15A 24VDC power supply for well under $30:

Obviously this is a “buyer beware” type of situation, but I’ve purchased 3 similar power supplies so far, and haven’t had any problems. In one case the equipment under test shorted out due to a blown capacitor, and the power supply turned itself off until I cycled the power to the supply. It’s still working fine.

You may think that a $300 brand name power supply is what you need, but if you don’t need five 9’s of reliability then I’d like to point out you can buy ten of these cheap supplies for the same price, so buy 3 and keep 2 on the shelf, and spend the other $210 on other cool gadgets! 🙂