What if a price is too good to be true?

[tedmich]

So I've been pricing some power supplies, since I live in a state undergoing a "green revolution"
I had been impressed with some of the reasonably priced constant current (CC) units from Taiwanese Mfg. Meanwell and being sold through Mouser/Digikey etc
This is there biggest unit specifically for LED lighting
HLG-600H-54B Mean Well | Mouser

Mouser quotes 10 units for $237.60 each

Going through the SEAsian web sites Dealextreme and Alibaba I've found a distributor whose quoted me a price of $200

for 10 units (!)

=$20 each

Granted he didn't include shipping but if the ePack is under $2176 its a better price than I can get here. Spidey senses tingling but they have no minimum order so I'm going to see if he'll rush ship me an engineering evaluation unit, realizing that rush in this context means <4 weeks.

Food for thought the Aussie distributor for Meanwell has this posted:
Watch Out for Fake Mean Well Power Supplies! | Mean Well Australia

[Enzo]

600 watt, 54v, 11A? Wow, completely foreign to me.

Have you explored the surplus markets?

Would 48v work? There are plenty of high current 48v supplies on the surplus market. Telephone system supplies.

[J M Fahey]

A single output 600W SMPS is VERY expensive at > 230U$ .

No different technically or in parts count/cost than, say, a 600W computer CPU supply ... and you know for how much they go.
As in $60 at Newegg ... in single units.
CORSAIR CX series CX600 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Newegg.com

Constant current or constant voltage is basically the same at hardware level, the controller either keeps output voltage constant or keeps voltage constant across a sensing resistor (which can be a piece of 16ga copper wire).

Whether they are "true" or "fake" is no big deal, both are made in the same Country under basically same conditions, using basically same parts.

If anything, I'd mistrust the "expensive" one.