I was just curious to know if anyone can help me with this thing. It is an XPOWER Dc power supply 305d. Now, I have looked on the internet but found very little on this particular device. The instructions are clearly written by someone who does not know how to translate english very well. The device has a "+" for +v obviously, but it has a GND and a "-" which in the instructions is labeled cathode. Now i am not a pro at this, but I thought cathode was in reference to batteries? In any way. I want to use this supply to externally power a stepper, but I have other devices externally powered as well, so it all has to be grounded together. What do I do? I am thinking I do not use the GND? No?? Yes?? I have no clue.
A link to the instructions would be most helpful.
Cathode refers to the more negative terminal of a device or the terminal that electrons flow out from. The term applies to all sorts of devices, diodes, vacuum tubes, etc.
Jack, I couldn't find instructions, the paper one that came with it were horrible. Not sure what you mean about the cathode, how is that more negative than the GND?
The GND terminal is connected to the ground prong on the mains plug; it's your earth reference. The voltages on the negative and positive connections are floating and neither is in reference to GND unless you connect one or the other to it. For general use it would probably be a good idea to add a jumper between GND and the negative terminal.
The advantage of this type of power supply is that, if you have two supplies, you can connect them in parallel or serial safely for more amperage or voltage. Also, if your project needed both a negative and positive power supply, you could connect the positive terminal to GND on one and the negative terminal to GND on the other.
Hi, if you are worried about the polarity of the wires, measure it with a meter.
Yes the translation is rubbish, the use of cathode should not have been used so disregard it in this instance.
You have two wires, being DC, direct current, one wire is more positive than the other, usual terms say that that is the positive wire, the other wire it is compared to is then called negative or ground, this is the reference.
When anybody asks you what the voltage in a circuit is at a certain point, they usually mean with neg or gnd as the reference point.
In the real world you can compare it to altitude, it is measured as above sea-level, ocean depth is measured as below sea-level, sea-level is your reference or ground point.
Tom.... 
[soapbox] I hate jinglish. You would think these companies would have learnt by now. [/soapbox]
TomGeorge:
[soapbox] I hate jinglish. You would think these companies would have learnt by now. [/soapbox]
Then you will love these
That picture is awesome!!! Ha ha! That's how it looks in my manual. Thanks guys for the help. Just to verify, since all of my ext power sources are connected to arduino GND, then I guess I should do the same with the dc supply?
Let me ask this question. I'm still learning how to use this thing. When I plug a dc motor to the supply, I can adjust everything very well, volts amps, to whatever I want.
I am currently working on a project that takes several ext power sources:
A. The USB from the computer.
B. A 6v Wal wart.
C. The dc supply.
When all is plugged in (sharing ground), the dc supply does not allow much calibration, the voltage on the supply only reaches around 7volts or so. I'm thinking this has something to do with the ground?
UnoDueTre:
TomGeorge:
[soapbox] I hate jinglish. You would think these companies would have learnt by now. [/soapbox]Then you will love these
LMAO! Internet hole!