Re:load 2

(25 Reviews)

The Re:load is a lightweight, affordable constant current dummy load for testing power supplies, high power LEDs, etc

Designed by Arachnid Labs in United Kingdom

2014-01-27T17:51:58.025Z-P1010320-001.JPG

2014-01-27T17:51:58.025Z-P1010317-001.JPG

$19.99

Out of Stock

Sold out since Mar 16, 2016

The Re:load is a lightweight, affordable constant current dummy load for testing power supplies, high power LEDs, etc

We're moving our stock off Tindie and on to Crowd Supply. Please go here! Want something more powerful or featureful? Check out the Re:load Pro! Re:load 2 is a simple, robust, affordable constant cur…

Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (4.42)

Documentation: (4.00)

Shipping: (4.33)

Communication: (4.00)

Ludvig | June 10, 2015

Great product!

The load works fine, i bought two so now i can load my dual power supplies both voltages at the same time.
I also added possibility to modulate the load with squarewave or sine, works great!

Matthew | May 5, 2015

Great device! Super fast shipping.

Using this load to test switching PSU's, works a treat! Shipping was super fast. Would buy from again.

David | April 15, 2015

A simple idea that works very well

I bought this item as I had some systems to stress test. This involved loading both the online and offline power supplies to the rated limits for 24 hours. This test was followed by overload testing to see just how far we could push the system.

We built the Re:load2 into a metal box with an inline digital ammeter. We also have output to a logging system. The heaksink was coupled to the box side to improve thermal coupling although we were not overloading the unit - just good practice we think.

Alexander | Feb. 26, 2015

Recommend witout any reservation

Well designed, well documented, delivered promptly when the product was back in stock. Works reliably without any problems. Hopefully better stock management will enable shortening of the wait time.

Jack | Dec. 2, 2014

Arachnid Labs (order 20070): Missing 1 pcs of BTS133 MOSFET

Hi,

We have received the 2 x Epic Re:load (AL-RL-20W-6A). However, there was 1 pcs of BTS133 MOSFET transistor missing. Please send that missing pcs of transistor to me asap. Thank you.

Jack Ng

Response from Arachnid Labs | Dec. 17, 2014

I'm really sorry about the trouble. For anyone reading, I posted out a replacement the next day. :)

David | Nov. 20, 2014

Very good value for the money. Think no more and get it!

The Re:load product comes as a kit, but the only think to assembly is the MOSFET+heatsink, and the connectors.
It takes no more than 5 minutes to get it done.

First observation that I would make is that is smaller than I thought, which is a nice thing.
Second thing that surprised to me is that it doesn't get as hot as I supposed. My first test was 5V @ 2A, that after 1min took the heatsink to a slightly warm state.

I recommend the product, it does not deserve a second thought for the price: works like a charm and has the features that you need.

PROS: Price, form factor, functionality, good dissipation
CONS: The holes for standoff mounting are not very well placed as the head of the screws overlap a bit with some components.

Jake | Oct. 31, 2014

Fantastic

Great little board. See picture - I put the transistor on some thick wires so I could mount it on a huge heatsink. Replacing the pot with a nice 10 turn one gives you easy 1mA precision and with an external supply, you can load things down to 0V instead of the quoted 3V (I found anything less than 4.5 would cause the current to drop). Very useful tool. Review Image

Alan | Oct. 20, 2014

Works

It does the trick.

Jorge | Oct. 19, 2014

3A 12W version

Review: http://jmnelectronics.com/archives/312 (spanish)

Guus | Oct. 8, 2014

Very useful

Easy to assemble and work with.

David | Aug. 29, 2014

working great and solid items.

Overall working great....
come to notice that the MOSFET is not BTS141 as stated in the website. the one i got is BTS133.
is there any reason behind this change? bts141 seem to have a better power rating compare to bts133

Response from Arachnid Labs | Aug. 29, 2014

Thanks for the review!

The BTS133 has lower maximums, but is more than sufficient for the 6 Amps that the Re:load can sink; we've chosen it as a more affordable alternative.

Can you let me know where you saw mention of the BTS141?

Nick | July 30, 2014

Does the job and an excellent value

When it came time to test my own Pi Power product, I went to the electronic store and bought a selection of 10 watt resistors. I quickly discovered that they're frankly not very precise, and switching them in and out - particularly after they've spent a half an hour dissipating 10 watts and are ROCKET HOT - is fairly inconvenient, not to mention not terribly flexible.

So I bought a 6 amp ReLoad. It took some time for it to ship, but not an inordinate amount (I'm not counting the transatlantic transit time - just the time it took between ordering and shipping).

I chose to assemble it the simplest way - bolting the transistor (if that's what it is) to its heatsink and soldering it onto the board. This could have been regarded as a tactical error - when that heatsink starts to get hot, the adjustment pot is a bit too close for comfort.

I made use of the option to measure the current via the voltmeter connection on the side of the board. I didn't attempt to calibrate it precisely, but out-of-the-box it's accuracy was adequate for my purposes (within a few dozen mA so far as I can tell).

I did notice after buying my ReLoad that the seller has a "pro" model in a case with a display. The lack of a provision for a display is one comment I was prepared to make in my review before I discovered this. Since I already have the unit in hand, and because I'm handy, I may cobble together a little throwaway voltmeter dedicated to being the current display for my unit. It won't be as pretty as the pro version, but it'll fit right into what my bench looks like most of the time.

The only other thing I might nitpick about is that I might have chosen a multi-turn pot to make dialing precise values easier (particularly when you're trying to be precise without burning yourself on the heatsink), but, of course, there's nothing preventing one from going out and buying your *own* multi-turn pot and making the switch.

But on the whole, the value is the most compelling argument in favor of the ReLoad. It's a great deal on a very, very helpful piece of gear.

Javier | April 15, 2014

it works great

Easy to assemble and it simply works

Nigel | March 31, 2014

Great little tool

Great little tool and good value although could really do with a panel mounting pot. so that it can be case mounted with a fan, but otherwise very good, easy to put together, most is pre-assembled. I did have to find an insulating washer to put under the clamp nut of the positive socket to insure the metal washer did not cut through the pcb coating and short to ground.

Derek | March 25, 2014

I don't think I've found a more useful tool

I bought the 6A 20W version of this just over a year ago. It's stayed
basically in the middle of my workbench since then, which attests to how
often I use it. For the price, I don't think I've found a more useful tool.

Raivis | March 13, 2014

Does exactly what it says it does.

Turns electrical power into heat in controlled manner. Hard if not impossible to beat price/performance ratio Re:load provides. Recommended for all low power power supply hackers.
NB! Heatsink can get really hot, don't blame anyone if you touch it when it's been sinking 10W for a while.

Christoph | March 11, 2014

6A, 20W Version

The kit works as advertised. It came well packaged with just a little room for improvement (screws and terminals don't belong in the ESD bag with the board). Shipping to Austria was incredibly fast and Nick was a nice contact, keeping me up to date the whole time.

I tested the thermal shutdown, short circuit, reverse polarity and ESD protection features on and off board. I didn't expect to be disappointed but before I hook up a prototype that cost me time and money, I want to be confident in the BTS141. Now I am!

For the price there isn't really anything to complain about! Even accuracy and temperature drift were better than expected. But I'm a very nitpicky person, so here is what I don't like:

- Cheap binding posts
- Single turn pot (with a ten turn pot I could achive 1mA resolution or better)
- Bad placement of components (binding posts can get in the way of two of the mounting screws, pot is placed between heatsink and binding post)
- Board gets needlessly hot because it's not decoupled from the heatsink
- Calibration pot just out of range for perfect calibration (at least in my case, YMMV)
- Useless below 2.5V input (better than the quoted 3.3 but still, noting a boost converter or different regulator couldn't solve)
- Regulator current bypasses the shunt resistor (good if externally powered)

Ended up using a fan cooled heatsink that had no contact to the board other than the leads on the BTS and powering both the fan and the board externally. Might use a beefier shunt resistor in the future.

I feel sorry for this long negative part. It might convey the wrong impression. The Re:load is a useful tool and I'm glad it exists. Buy it! I'm looking forward to get the pro version, when it comes out. Thank you Nick!

Response from Arachnid Labs | March 11, 2014

Thanks for the honest and thorough review!

Some of the stuff you address is a necessary evil because of the constraints of form factor and size - you simply can't get multi-turn potentiometers with large knobs that are PCB mount, much less affordable ones - but you raise several good points that I'll definitely tackle in the next board revision.

Eric | March 5, 2014

Very useful item!

I bought the 6 amps 20 watts version and changed the pot for a digipot connected to an arduino. I now use Reload as a constant power load, which makes it even more awesome. Coupled with a CPU fan, it can operate slightly over 20W.

Fast shipping, easy to assemble, easy to use. I only wish it could dissipate more power.

Gary | Feb. 19, 2014

Great USB burn-in load

This device works great for exercising USB charging devices.
We produce these and this makes a wonderful burn-in electronic load. AFFORDABLE!

Chris | Feb. 16, 2014

Excellent product, great performance!

I purchased the 6 amp, 20 watt version of the Re:load 2 so I could do some load testing of some DC to DC converters as well additional experimentation.

I found that the kit was very easy to assemble and operate, however with a burn-in test of 5 volts at 4 amps I found the Re:load 2 to get too hot to handle by the heatsink, even for a second. Be sure to place it on your bench where you want it first, otherwise you'll be fumbling around to grab it by the (very cool) PCB.

I left it operating for about 5 minutes without a thermal overload occurring, so I consider it a very successful burn-in at the full 20 watts. Thank you for the great product and I look forward to seeing new ones in the future! Review Image

William N | Oct. 31, 2013

Awesome little kit!

This is one of the most useful kits I have built. It works perfectly, and it paid for itself the first time I used it. The kit is very well designed and goes together quickly and easily.

Curradi | Oct. 25, 2013

Excellent!

Too easy to assembly, too easy to work with. Worth the money, I like it!

Joost | Oct. 4, 2013

excellent

Clear assembly instructions and the tool does the just fine!

Terje | March 12, 2013

Works as advertised

This isn't a terribly complicated kit, but it does what it's supposed to, and it does it well. That's exactly what I wanted from a dummy load, and it delivers.

I've been using it only for a few days, but it's already helped me identify and resolve an issue. A regulator wasn't performing well under peak loads (which I could simulate in a more steady way with the load). I added some extra output capacitance, and the load let me verify that it did indeed keep better regulation after the fix.

Well worth the money, and highly recommended.

Ed | March 12, 2013

Re:Load (0-1A configuration) review

Kit arrived yesterday, built last night, calibrated and working today. No issues whatsoever.
Would note that it could do with some additional mounting holes so it can be mounted securely in a box, but I don't think it will cause too much of a problem.
Also intending to add a digital panel meter (several suitable available on Ebay) which will give me a very useful 0-1A digital load for an incredibly low price.

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$19.99