I know its been done before, I've heard of it on here and random other places on the net, but for the life of my I can't find what is actually odded to run stereo equipment off one. Anyone have a pic or could give me a quick description of at least a direction to go?


*why...I'm using some car audio in a old stereo I rebuilt, and currently only running a 3 amp dc power source. While the source surprisingly does a good job, I worry about constantly running it at full capacity. I figure the computer powersupply should give me a little more buffer room.

 

I did this over the winter, worked ok, but it grounded out on me and fried.

my power supply was for an ATX board.if you hold the clip that goes to the motherboard with the clippy thing up, starting from the left top: find the 4th and 5th pin from the top left, us a paper clip and conect those two together(the forth should be green, 5 is black). once thats done, it will turn on and off with out a second switch. then all the yellow wires are 12 volt, black ground. u gathered all the yellow except one. that one i used as a remote turn-on. i will try and get a pic of it if i can find my digi. oh and i ran a lil 300 wms amp off of it, and the voltage dip was HUGE. i musured it all the way down to 9.56 volt.

 

Would it not be easier to use an AT-Power supply? You can pick up a cheap AT at MemEx on 32nd for $10 or so.

 

dont know. i got my ps brand new for 12 bucks. so its not that bad. sry, cant find digi

 

thanks for the description WD21, I'll give that a shot, except Im thinking I'll use a different wire, like the floppy drive power or something as the remote turn on.

And whats the difference between an atx and an at powersupply? I should probably pick up an extra supply at MemEx anyways since the one I'm using now was free and I'm sure its decently old.

 

oh and it'll run your amp at 11.8 volts, not a true 12.

 

when i said i used all the yellow wires, i meant i used ALL the yellows that came out of the PS. not just for the motherboard. there is also another wire that goes to CD drives HD and such. it puts out 5 volts, maybe 6. my amp wouldnt turn on with it, yours might tho. [img]graemlins/thumb.gif[/img]

 

ohhh thanks man

I'm pretty sure it won't be enough to get the remote power for the amp, so I'll use this one on my headunit, the constant power source it wants is pretty low.

Thanks for the help!

 

Im not sure what you have in mind for modding a supply... but changing out the transformer for a larger one with more current capacity and a slightly higher rail voltage is probably where I would start...

FYI, You can put computer supplies in parrallel for extra current, but I would recommend putting a diode inline with each supply's output. A single 100w supply should be good for a system of roughly 100-150Wrms IF you have a battery in the loop (which I also recommend).

 

^if your going to go that far, just build your own power supply.