25A for $12.00 for xtreme members... [Archive]

zippyc

06-15-2003, 05:10 AM

Finding cheap power for power-hungry pelts has been a challenge.

I found an el-cheepo 400W computer power supply from Powmax that claims 25A on the 12V rail. Theorretically one would be sufficient for powering a single 226W pelt.

The good news is that I found them for $12.00 ea. here....

http://www.dealsonic.com/pow40sinfana.html

Even if I don't get 25A from them, I could run them in parallel (after a chassis isolation mod on one) to make sure I'm getting enough power.

I had purchased a 25A 12V power supply for $59.00 from radio shack (discontinued and on sale for $59.00 from $119.00), but that sucker is going back and I’ll get four of the “el-cheepo’s” for the same money, and I’ll make a power supply tower for them which should push plenty of air through them.

I can also stack two if I need 18v or 24 v, so this should give me a lot of options.

If anyone elso knows of other insane deals like this for power, please post here...I'm sure the forum members will benefit.

100A of 12v regulated power for $63.00 to the door. Wow.

TheDude

06-15-2003, 05:24 AM

I just bought a model 240 meanwell on ebay for $19:D

zippyc

06-15-2003, 05:27 AM

That is a super deal you got on the meanwell. I have been looking (and bidding) on e-bay for the last two weeks and no deals like that have popped up 4 me.

The nice thing about the deal I found is that it is instantly repeatable for other forum members, and it is new product with warranty.

No doubt you got a good deal though, thanks for sharing!

TheDude

06-15-2003, 07:43 AM

The nice thing about the deal I found is that it is instantly repeatable for other forum members, and it is new product with warranty.

Absolutely....great find!:D
:toast:

gouda96

06-15-2003, 01:02 PM

Originally posted by TheDude
I just bought a model 240 meanwell on ebay for $19:D

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek::eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek::eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek::eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek::eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek::eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek::eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek::eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek::eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek::eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

TheDude

06-15-2003, 03:12 PM

LOL
It was a great deal but I was looking to buy the 320w.:D

With those $12 PSUs, you can hook them together and have 100amps for $50! :D

zippyc

06-15-2003, 04:02 PM

Yeah Dude,

I said "100A of 12v regulated power for $63.00 to the door. Wow."

$63.00 was for exactly four units and shipping to Texas....I'll post pics of the "TOWER OF POWER" soon.... (like that's original at all..)

These things are so cheap I just want to buy a couple extra to use as paperweights or bookends. I hope they hold up. We'll see...
:p:

Holst

06-16-2003, 11:08 AM

Those cheap PSU will blow up at 25amps, but two of them might work.

zippyc

06-16-2003, 08:34 PM

I figure I can run one 226W pelt per supply and probably be ok with good air cooling. I'll let y'all know how it stacks up against an Antec Truepower 430 that rates at 20A on the 12 and another (510) rated at 28 A.

Tedinde

06-17-2003, 06:49 PM

I've been using these same one's as cheap PS for folding@home rigs. They are ok for that. But i doubt they will ever hold up "single" to power your 226 watt pelt.

I tried using one of these in my Dual AMD board 1700xp"S @ 2350mhz on a asus 266-d, it got hot, and smoked after 6 hours, loud pop and dead.

Dont skimp on powering pelts using cheap PS's, Same dual AMD rig will run no problem with a 300 watt antec. And stay cool.

They only good thing about these Powmax's is they run Hot volts, usually 12.5 and above from the door. I have one that runs 13.2 powering my Swifty mcw-50 80 watt tec on my GPU.

wouldnt trust it on a 226 watter though. Maybe if you strung 2 together.

zippyc

06-24-2003, 05:01 PM

I put these supplies on the bench, and side by side they out-performed a Pyramid Desktop 20A 0-15V regulated power supply powering a 226W pelt (colder temps from better amperage).

On the pyramid at 12V, the meter showed a maximum load of 12-13A, one half of the rating for the supply, so I think powering long-term if should not be a problem.

I bet $5.00 that a dually 1700 setup (like referenced above)oclocked to 2.3Gig pulls more power than a single 226W pelt does. The manufacturer even does not recommend the supply for that use.

I'll post long term results after a month or so to confirm.

Weapon

06-25-2003, 01:46 PM

super PSU I got on ebay:

Lambda LFQ-30-1 industrial wattbox
it has 2 separate 5 v rails (one can pump out up to 120a)
and 2 separate 12v -15v @20-25a rails.
capable of 1200watts continuous.

retail cost: $1200 USD (confirmed with industrial supplier)....got it new in box with manual for $98.

:banana:

repeatable? no. :(

gouda96

06-25-2003, 04:02 PM

Originally posted by Weapon
super PSU I got on ebay:

Lambda LFQ-30-1 industrial wattbox
it has 2 separate 5 v rails (one can pump out up to 120a)
and 2 separate 12v -15v @20-25a rails.
capable of 1200watts continuous.

retail cost: $1200 USD (confirmed with industrial supplier)....got it new in box with manual for $98.

:banana:

repeatable? no. :(

That is one sweeet find:exclamati

I stopped watching ebay for stuff when i got all of mine (except for the mcw50-t which nobody is selling :( ).

Are you going to use that psu for your gpu and nb? I am waiting to see pics of your setup in another thread :D.

Weapon

06-25-2003, 06:50 PM

Originally posted by gouda96
That is one sweeet find:exclamati

I stopped watching ebay for stuff when i got all of mine (except for the mcw50-t which nobody is selling :( ).

Are you going to use that psu for your gpu and nb? I am waiting to see pics of your setup in another thread :D.

For the time being I am just playing with the lambda. :D
for example, I hooked 15 120mm San Ace fans to it the other night. damn that was funny...the wall of air. some were ran off of the 5v rails and others off of the 12v rails.

other than that, I have been using it while testing my evil waterchiller scheme. I am still a few parts short of finishing it but it is nearing the finish line. I am down to trying to decide if I want to try to get it powerful enough to cool all of the components on the two systems in my office. well, it wouldnt be all of the components because the main box has vapochill action.

I will get some pics of the progression of this insanity posted before too long. :)

gouda96

06-25-2003, 07:20 PM

Originally posted by Weapon
For the time being I am just playing with the lambda. :D
for example, I hooked 15 120mm San Ace fans to it the other night. damn that was funny...the wall of air. some were ran off of the 5v rails and others off of the 12v rails.

other than that, I have been using it while testing my evil waterchiller scheme. I am still a few parts short of finishing it but it is nearing the finish line. I am down to trying to decide if I want to try to get it powerful enough to cool all of the components on the two systems in my office. well, it wouldnt be all of the components because the main box has vapochill action.

I will get some pics of the progression of this insanity posted before too long. :)

sounds pretty sweet. I can't wait to see the results of the finished product, i bet it will be killer!

zippyc

06-27-2003, 07:53 AM

Dammit! I knew it was too good to be true.

The Power Supply was driving a 226W pelt. Made it through 12 hrs of continuous use (12-14A load) yesterday, but after being turned on for only an hour this AM, the predicted failure (predicted by Tedinde) occurred.

It was only $12.00, so I can’t really be upset about it. But I do want to make sure I did not mislead anyone on the quality of these supplies. I knew they were cheap to begin with, this just confirms my suspicions that the manufacturer specs were more than a little exaggerated.

I’ll take the remaining three supplies and hook ‘em up in parallel, and I have decided not to load them up with more than 280W of pelts.

I hope my little experiment will be helpful to the other forum members here!

Look for the brown spot next to the left heatsink on the circuit board next to the resistor. Looks like there was too much heat for the heat sink to dissapate safely.

Holst

06-27-2003, 06:42 PM

Hehe I knew it would fry it :D :D

myabee you could swap those diodes out with some bigger ones and try again ?

Tedinde

06-28-2003, 06:47 AM

Mine went up right next to me when i got up that morning 6:00 am, caught the flash of lightning in the corner of my eye, then some blue smoke. Once you let all the blue smoke out stuff never works anymore,

The problem is they get so hot. Stock fan is crap.
I bougt 5 of these, when SVC was selling them for $4.99 which they do from time to time.

http://www.svc.com/psuvbl9.html

2 supplies with better fans hooked togeter is still a bargain.

All of the one's i got run high aka 12v is always 12.6 and above. I have one that runs 13.3v. I use these supplies for my F@H rigs in the basement just sitting on the bench.

IM modding the 13.3 one, and switching the 80 watt tec on my gpu to a larger one, PS fan mod i bought, and see how it holds up.

zippyc

06-28-2003, 06:53 PM

Do you load your 5V rail? If so have you used with success?

I was thinking of running an old 80MM case fan on that rail for load. Think that will work?

And I could put better airflow fans in place of/addition to the factory fans. know of some dirt cheap somewhere?

Got this SEC sucker from Fry's Electronics down the street. Outstanding performance for the 226W pelt so far. Back gets pretty warm though.

Tedinde

06-29-2003, 06:09 AM

I've had one of those SEC's before, no problems with it, sold it and switched to a Pyramid 36 amp Adjustable 5-17V. Both of them get extremely hot, since there is just a big transformer in them.

The SEC i cut a hole in the top and mounted a 92mm fan in it blowing down. Do it and you'll probably double the life of it.

My Pyramid i did the same thing. And put a fan on the back heatsink on it.

I got an old HD i stick on it for my 5v load.

wymjym

06-29-2003, 06:42 AM

I don't know if an antec is a better supply that that $12 unit but my 412 antec just died and I opened it up. There are more parts, more circuits, bigger heat sinks, bigger diodes, thicker leads, more outputs.....all that said this antec died after three years of moderate usage.
wj
your $12 burnt unit
http://westech.home.mindspring.com/chiller/bpos.jpg
my $75 burnt unit
http://westech.home.mindspring.com/chiller/412antec.jpg

zippyc

07-03-2003, 12:31 PM

This Samlex Power supply (SEC Version) got really hot after using it for several hours.

I've though about modifying the cooling on it like Tedinde by adding a fan to the top, but I think there is something wrong in buying a brand new piece of hardware and having to void it's warranty immediately just to get it into "comfortable" operating range.

So I said screw it, my birthday is coming up, and I bought one of these.

http://www.lgdsuperstore.com/ps52kx.html

Pyramid PS52KX, 40 Amp Continuous, 50 Amp Surge.

In the meantime I grabbed an old cardboard box and some extra fans and made an ugly exhaust fan/shroud. Really helps keep the SEC cooler, but it goes back to Fry's so I did not need to spend much time building somthing pretty.....

Now I'm just waiting on some metal tops from geminicool and I get to tear the whole system down and add 400W more of pelts to the mix.

Tedinde

07-03-2003, 06:25 PM

The pyramid get's hot also, only on the back though They are not switching PS like computers. Giant transformer inside. Massive passive heatsink on the back. an 80 mm fan will screw right into the fins on it. If your worried about heat.

Wait till you see how heavy it is zippyc!!!!!

A friend of mine got his 36 amp one here, little cheaper than the Rack mount you got and 1 more AMP. little smaller too. But bigger is better on these.

Keep us posted how it is.

http://www.etronics.com/product.asp?stk_code=pyrps36kx&svbname=30

Even though Pyramid is the bottom I love mine, Meter's on the front and a simple dial for voltage. I back my 226 watt pelt down to 8 volts and dont really lose much.

zippyc

07-03-2003, 06:42 PM

...the power supply I ordered is rated for 40 Amps, 50 Surge. The less expensive model is 36 Amp. Small difference, but a difference...

:thumbsup:

Tedinde

07-06-2003, 07:18 AM

I see the 40 amp nice, i was just looking at the main where it says 35amp?? doesnt make sense.

Looks big, Let me know the measurments of it when you get it in.

zippyc

07-13-2003, 07:47 PM

Here are the specs found in the manual of the new Pyramid PS-52XK.

16.6 KGS!

13.8V DC at 45 Amps Max, and as it is voltage adjustable from 12-15v.

If my ancient rudimentary electrical knowledge serves me, at lower volts it would give higher amps? Just curious, as the display box reads: "52 Amp Adjustable Rackmountable". The manual also states Overload Protection: 50 Amp +/- 2 Amp, so perhaps that is where they get it. Anyhow it is a lot.

Here are the dimensions of the new Pyramid PS-52XK.

16.5"x12x4.5" (Chassis dimensions without the rack mounting flanges or feet included.)

The manual lists the following dimensions:

304mm x 480mm x114 (L,W,H)

11.968" x18.898" x 4.488"

My setup is in pieces right now so I probably won't be able to put this puppy to test for a few days or so.

I can say when it powers up there is the big electrical hum of what I guess are the transformers warming up (along with a little low frequency ground rumble my wife and I both felt from the floor through our feet...I kidd you not. Very cool wow factor for me!)

Then it warms up after the first second and all you hear is a very low hum (about as loud as a submerged water pump) and a little air from the integrated 80MM exhaust fan you can see in the mirror on the photo.

It seems to be very well built (Very ”Solid”, well fit, very heavy at 16.6KGS, reminiscent of a 450W Denon amp I own.)

I like the big lit analog Voltage and Amperage meters, and the big light friction smooth-turning voltage knob too….

zippyc

07-13-2003, 07:50 PM

The diodes on the burnt out supply above were replaced with two bigger ones today, and it fired right back up!

:toast:

I gave it to a buddy (who did the fix) and he will be powering an 80W pelt with it. We will see how it holds up.

Good suggestion there.

saaya

07-13-2003, 08:15 PM

dont worry about temps that much, those things are designed to run hot... if you cool them youll get more stable voltages though.

zippyc

07-13-2003, 08:51 PM

This sucker is optimized for the rack, with the fan drawing in air through the vents in the top, and ejecting it out the rear. (you can see the fan in the pic I am really attaching this time...lol.). There are no heat sinks on the rear of this supply, they are all enclosed in the chassis.

I think I'll turn that fan around so the flow will go the other direction, and put a 120MM fan I have blowing externally on top, right above the big heat sinks which are located on the side opposite the fan exhaust. Shroud it if needed. That should help.

Tedinde

07-13-2003, 09:27 PM

Looks nice, is it handleing everything you have fine?? Only thing i dont like about mine is the voltage protection, a loud alarm goes off then it CUTs power till it cools down, then comes back on. Not good if your not home. I put a fan on it and it never does though, That was when i was running a 226watt and a 85 watt off of it in the summer last year.

Mine has a huge passive heatink on the back, and it had a crap internal fan which i replaced, now it has no problem handleing 2 tecs.