Hardkernel Launches ESP32-S2-Based SmartPower 3 Logging Bench-Top Power Supply
Offering reporting rates down to 5ms, this twin-output power supply is aimed at embedded system developers.
Hardkernel, best known for its ODROID family of single-board computers, has launched a smart bench-top power supply built around the Espressif ESP32-S2 microcontroller — and boasting detailed logging over USB.
Building on the company's earlier and since-discontinued SmartPower bench-top supply design, the SmartPower 3 is a compact design that focuses on — but is not exclusively compatible with — powering single-board computers, including the company's own ODROID range of devices.
Brought to our attention by CNX Software, the power supply has a color display and dual outputs brought out to banana plugs. Each output is capable of delivering up to the input voltage minus 1V — meaning to 18V if you pick up the recommended 19V power supply — at up to 3A, with a 50W maximum per output channel.
A key selling point of the device is its logging capabilities: A USB port on the side allows for connection to a PC as a serial device which, when logging is enabled, spits out a detailed comma-separated-values list of voltage, amperage, and wattage for the input and both outputs at a user-configurable interval of 5ms to 1s.
Oddly, though, Hardkernel doesn't appear to have made any use of the radio included in the ESP32-S2-WROOM microcontroller around which the circuitry is based. Logging is exclusively available over USB, with no option to connect via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
The company has listed the SmartPower 3 on its web store at $45, but requires the purchase of a $9.40 15V/4A or $25 19V/7A power supply to check out. More details, and links to the firmware source code and KiCad project file, are available on the ODROID wiki.