Power supply!! QUESTION (PC)
 

CAn i use a PC Power supply for my charger? i know some Power supplies have the wire and yea help me out
Details please
I dont want to spend around 80 bucks if i have 20 power supplies laying around

Yes. You can.

Give uncle Google a shot. You'll get more hits than you would think at first. :)

-Eric

Sorry, I couldn't resist..........
do you really have to ask that question what with you being a clairvoyant you should just know:lol:

Yeah uncle google is your friend. It is easy enough if you know what you're doing to modify the PC supply, but it is in depth and would take far too much to describe it in detail. Not to mention, I haven't done it because I'm afraid of blowing something up, hahaha. I just buy a "meanwell" power supply from ebay, cheap as and works flawlessly.

Yeah, it's possible. Despite appearances, PC power supplies are actually pretty high quality due to the fact that computer components are very sensitive to fluctuations in voltage. They also tend to have built in current protection.

First thing to check is the amperage on the 12v rail. It's usually specified on a sticker on the side. You'll need a PSU which supplies enough amperage to your charger.

ATX PSU's have a soft switch - they turn on when they detect a load. You'll need to wire up a resistor to force it to power up.

Finally, you need to solder some connections to the 12v lines.

Here is a good article with step by step instructions. Here are more details about the one I made.

I'm not guna lie if thats all the work you have to do then...... yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa lol i know alot about computers and all but not how to do all that i thought i can just get my power supply and then put some connectors and boom done

instead of a resistor can you not just hook the Green wire to a ground and it works? I have read that in quite a few instructional pages on making these

I've done it. It's not a bad job. Most Pc power supplies have excellent votage regulation and very clean dc rails. The only draw back is. If you need more than 12 vdc(ie 13.5vdc). Most PC power supplies won't go this high. But for the higher end chargers 12 vdc @ 10-11 amps is plenty.


Pass you soon...

i have this charger SEc

http://cgi.ebay.com/Poli-B6-6-cell-L...item2304c1d30e

That is the EXACT one i bout off ebay LMK GUys!
what i need ty

I been using two PC converted PSU's for almost a year now. They have not skipped a beat.

My brother brought me a cpu power supply home today from work cuz I told him what I wanted to do with one so he got me one. going to have two 12V outputs on it. Got all the excess wires shortened some(left enough so if I need them in the future they are still useable) tucked them neatly out of the way and got the wires I needed together. tomorrow I am going to drill my holes out for my female banana plugs and bolt them up then be set to go!

Ive been wanting to try this for awhile now, been researching alot so was exciting to make it finally!

It's putting out 15A which is plenty enough for both my chargers since one will at MOST pull 6A and the other will use 1.6A when charging my Lipo's and since they wont be at full Amps the whole charge I think I'll be good to go. If it does well I plan on getting quite a few more and making some for some of the Local guys I race with if they want some

CPU Power Supply = FREE
wire connectors,banana female plugs = $8
Electrical tape and shrink wrap = FREE(have tons of it already)
Building your own PS and saving $100 = PRICELESS!!!

haha sorry had to do it

i just did it FREE FREE FREE
i put the - and + on a screw and then its ownage
lol

on a screw?

question for those that use the banana jacks.... What jacks are you using? now that I think about it and search more I dont think the jacks I bought are going to work? they dont have an amperage rating on them and am afraid if I hook them up and turn it on I could mess something up?
LMK ASAP please

I used the dual jacks from Radio Shack for a chassis mount. If you mounting them in the PSU just make sure there is no metal to metal contact from your jack to the chassis. Works like a charm.

JB

some work some wont. some need that resistor to hold it on. i did an antec a few years ago that was fine just grounding the green wire. got a newer one now that needed a resistor on the 5v side (red)to hold it on.

It is not hard to do at all. I did one recently and it was a piece of cake. Works really well too. The track I race at doesn't have power, so I bought a deep cycle boat battery at walmart for race day charging. That works well too. But the PC power supply is what I use at home next to my beautiful Bulldog 45A powersupply. I'll never get rid of that one. I'll probably have it buried with me.