Best Power Supply for the Money

January 28, 2016

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Research
Laboratory Technician

Overall

Performance

Ease-of-Optimization

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Company:

Bio-Rad

Product Name:

PowerPac Basic Power Supply

Catalog Number:

1645050

Gel Electrophoresis requires a strong, constant current that is supplied by a power pack. Bio-Rad's PowerPac Basic Power Supply is one of the best entry-level power supplies because of its simplicity, durability, and pricing. Our lab runs DNA gels and SDS-PAGE gels for Western Blots using this particular power pack, and despite repeated abuse, it hasn't given up.

Experimental Design and Results Summary

Application

Gel Electrophoresis

Starting Material

Gel

Protocol Overview

Complete the circuit by connecting the red and black plugs into the front of the power pac machine. Choose your voltage or amperage, then set the time that you'd like the gel to run, and hit start. When you're done and the gel has run out sufficiently, just hit the stop button and unplug the plugs to finish.

Tips

It's best to run a gel at lower voltage to keep the bands coherent and let them fully separate.

Results Summary

Using the Bio-Rad PowerPac Basic, we have successfully run out all kinds of gels. Being able to set the voltage and the time that the gel runs allows us to easily replicate future gel runs and standardize the necessary amount of power to achieve separation between DNA or protein bands. We are able to repeat gel runs and get consistent results because of the reliability and reproducibility of the Bio-Rad PowerPac Basic Power Supply.

Features Summary

Can set constant amperage or voltage, and a timer for how long you want the gel to be run out.

Additional Notes

Check for error codes after a couple of minutes just in case something went wrong.

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Summary

The Good

Easy to use, extremely reliable

The Bad

Somewhat finicky at times, can throw error codes for seemingly no reason.

The Bottom Line

For the money, this is the absolute best entry-level power supply for a lab. It will stand up to repeated abuse and remain reliable for years to come. I highly recommend the Bio-Rad PowerPac Basic Power Supply.

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