a cheap power supply?

[Alexontherocks]

I tried to look for the 24130 tec but apart from the module's specs the ordering form is not available on the vendor's site....damn!

Also I tried to gather feedback on the project from some italian forums and the results where negative. All that seems to be done to help out fellow enthusiasts is to either suggest expensive and useless kits or trash other people's ideas. The latter being the essence of the few posts I received in reply to my questions....

I just believe that if a forum ends up being a place where the sole purpose of posting is to receive feedback on commercial solutions to various problems then there is no point in spending time on tis hobby....anyway, sorry for the off topic. Back on track...

I looked for rotary swithes (8 positions 3 poles) but can't seem to find any. A combination of other characteristics is fairly common. I looked in European sites...I may have to have it shipped from the US but I would have to pay VAT 20% and custom taxes...not worth it.

[Uncle Jimbo]

I tried to look for the 24130 tec but apart from the module's specs the ordering form is not available on the vendor's site....damn!

Also I tried to gather feedback on the project from some italian forums and the results where negative. All that seems to be done to help out fellow enthusiasts is to either suggest expensive and useless kits or trash other people's ideas. The latter being the essence of the few posts I received in reply to my questions....

I just believe that if a forum ends up being a place where the sole purpose of posting is to receive feedback on commercial solutions to various problems then there is no point in spending time on tis hobby....anyway, sorry for the off topic. Back on track...

I looked for rotary swithes (8 positions 3 poles) but can't seem to find any. A combination of other characteristics is fairly common. I looked in European sites...I may have to have it shipped from the US but I would have to pay VAT 20% and custom taxes...not worth it.

ArcticSpider sells a 28716 which is 345W Qmax at 27C and 380W at 50C - not a bad TEC. It is a 34V TEC, and will give good performance with decent efficiency at 18V to 24V.

For rotary switches, look on eBay or wherever amateur radio people gather - they are commonly used to switch bands. You can use one with more poles, or a few less if you want to give up a voltage selection or two.

If you can't find a 3 pole, I'll show you how to do it with 2 poles and 2 relays.

[Alexontherocks]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ceramic-Rotary...QQcmdZViewItem

the best I could do..

edit: @ Uncle Jimbo. I read the description you gave regarding the tendency of the supplies to vary voltage output essentially compensating fro any voltage difference among the supplies themselves. I was just wondering whether it may be of some use to add capacitors just before the output lines to my mobo/cpu/vga and/or capacitors to the output line for the TEC. If this setup is going to be a ghetto "substitute" for a large PSU then I might as well try and make the most out of it..

P.p.s I just noticed the title of the previous post...thanks! I will be sure to put it to good use. I have been exchanging emails with some engineers over at novasfer (a company dealing with CAD designs and manufacturing of plumbing parts). They wanted to try and make a waterblock for a large tec (7cm*7cm base).

[Uncle Jimbo]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Ceramic-Rotary...QQcmdZViewItem

the best I could do..

That looks like a great switch for this application.

I was just wondering whether it may be of some use to add capacitors just before the output lines to my mobo/cpu/vga and/or capacitors to the output line for the TEC.

You don't want to put capacitors on the output of a switching supply except in very special circumstances. They can cause the supply to turn into a very high power oscillator at about 30 KHz.

P.p.s I just noticed the title of the previous post...thanks! I will be sure to put it to good use. I have been exchanging emails with some engineers over at novasfer (a company dealing with CAD designs and manufacturing of plumbing parts). They wanted to try and make a waterblock for a large tec (7cm*7cm base).

Here's a big water block - http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...94&postcount=1

30 by 4.5 cm, times 2 blocks...

[Alexontherocks]

thanks for the reply on the capacitor..

Unfortunately the switch is located in Ukraine. This means that any complete project will have to wait untill I get it (highly unlikely that will happen before the 25th of July [I won't be home before the 15th of August]). I will be able, however to:

1) Rig and test 6+ supplies in parallel to check performance and voltage drop under load.

2) Build custom case/add ampmeters/ voltmeters and leds [I intend to hook a led to each PSU on the fan power lines. I will add a 1/2W or greater 470 ohm resistor. This will indicate any interruption on the power lines to the fans. As far as I know the +12v fan line is isolated from the +12v to the pc so that should give an independent signal of psu failure]

3) Start building the entire rig if switches are here (unlikely but possible) and possibily manually activating necessary relays to at least test a TEC and check for strange psu behaviour (as a result of careless assembly? ).

4) Take pics of everything so as to have an initial visual reference for most of what has been said in this thread.

They say patience is a virtue...

[Uncle Jimbo]

thanks for the reply on the capacitor..

Unfortunately the switch is located in Ukraine. This means that any complete project will have to wait untill I get it (highly unlikely that will happen before the 25th of July [I won't be home before the 15th of August]). I will be able, however to:

1) Rig and test 6+ supplies in parallel to check performance and voltage drop under load.

2) Build custom case/add ampmeters/ voltmeters and leds [I intend to hook a led to each PSU on the fan power lines. I will add a 1/2W or greater 470 ohm resistor. This will indicate any interruption on the power lines to the fans. As far as I know the +12v fan line is isolated from the +12v to the pc so that should give an independent signal of psu failure]

3) Start building the entire rig if switches are here (unlikely but possible) and possibily manually activating necessary relays to at least test a TEC and check for strange psu behaviour (as a result of careless assembly? ).

4) Take pics of everything so as to have an initial visual reference for most of what has been said in this thread.

They say patience is a virtue...

Alex -
You can do a pretty good test with just two switches, the little toggles that just go from one pole to the other. Set one to switch power to either 3.3V float or 5V float, and the other to switch relay power to either 5V high or 12V high. That will let you select 8.3V, 10V, 15.3V and 17V. You could do a third switch to go between 3.3V high and 5V high, which adds 6.6V. That should check out most of the circuitry. If you add a fourth switch to turn float on and off, you can actually select every combination. Not elegant, but you can't go wrong no matter what the switch settings are.

[Alexontherocks]

gathering some equipment in my free time.....

I chose high current 3 line mechanical screw type connectors which give me the flexibility of adding a second high current 5 awg wire...



thse are normal mammut type connector for the main supply lines to the psus (chose to have 1 plug for the 6 psus and a seprate one for the other 4)



finally the awg 5 wires. Blue for ground (did not have black) and yellow/gree for +12v (didn't have yellow).

[Alexontherocks]

supplies are in however only 6 are working. 4 seem to be not functional. I am currently demanding for a substitution. For now you can see the final positioning for the supplies (just not on the kitchen table that is....)

[HDCHOPPER]

exellent thread !

would love to see this project completed .. good luck with your psu supplier

[Alexontherocks]

thanks! I should have everything sorted out and completed by the 16th. I will keep posting pics of stuff as it arrives. It should be of some use for those who wish to embark on a similar project...

[Alexontherocks]

Hi everyone...time for updates:

1) On the 15th I will be getting a new supply of psus so I should be ready to assemble (exams finish on the 15th).

2) I have received those rotary switches (3 of them) and seem functional. I would still need some help getting everyhting connected though

3) Also on behalf of a friend I would like to propose a small challenge to you guys. This friend of mine has a passion for small systems and he is currently building a super cheap itx computer (this should be his motherboard: http://www.eprice.it/default.aspx?sku=1772552 ) however he would like to know if a TEC could be used to overclock the atom processor thus making it necessary for him to buy this supply: http://www.ilcomputershop.it/dettagli.asp?idp=109 This last option was a suggestion of mine.

His processor is passively cooled by a small heatsink TDP is 4W !!!!. A 450W PSU and a fairly big (but not too big) alu heatsink should let him use any TEC and easily achieve sub zero temps.

I am starting to exert a bad influence on people...now everyone is messing with TECS

anyway thanks for any replies. and sorry for the off topic but I felt it could be an interesting exercise to cool a 4w chip.... P.s. If I am not mistaken the actively cooled chip on that mobo is actually the NB.

[HDCHOPPER]

hummmmmm been thinking about that ATOM myself everything thier and CHEAP!!

just gotta talk my bizz partner into it we just happen to have 3 tiny mircro box's
laying around with bad mobo's in them and thay draw soooo little juice a SMALL tec and stock psu outta work

still waiting on your project to finnish ( eye got 4 x 400w matching psu's free myself and 3 tec's just dying to jump on something)

good luck !

[Alexontherocks]

alright then......

PSUS will not be here any time soon. It would seem my supplier wants to wait for the end of August. This is unfortunate. I am still waiting for the relays and this is also unfortunate.

I have been tinkering withe the supplies and hooking parallel and series. I will post pics of this procedure. I also got hold of a small tec (45W) @ 15v. I have tried all voltages except 12+3.3v. I am worried this might burn the tec. Anyways I am preparing a small gallery.

Sorry for the long wait!

Alex

P.s. the ATOM tec idea might not be a good one after all. It would seem that overclocking can be done via software only and there is no voltage control. The only possibile soluion would be to work on the voltage chips in the cpu area and via trimmer work out voltages.

I know there is potential. Even though the arhitecture resembles nothing of the core 2 uo family (very little at least) it is still a 45nm chip. Potential is there...somewhere.

[HDCHOPPER]

can wait .. time is my glass

[Glyph]

Updates?

[jens21]

what a horrible sound will be produced from those 10 fans!

You could remove all the covers and the fans, and add some really strong fans in the case your building it in. Like 4 intake and 4 outtake.

[Duh]

no bashing intention : wont this or something similar do the job?

[Glyph]

for undervolted TECs running at 5v then yeah, that would be great.

Otherwise, not enough amps on the other rails to run the high-power TECs

[littleowl]

but again "Output: Channel 2: 12V@15A" this is a problem. most of your tecs draw double the amps at 12v.

[jdubol]

If you (can) have some old PSUs, you can use them for your Peltier :

http://www.procooling.com/index.php?...s&disp=56&pg=1

and

http://www.procooling.com/index.php?...s&disp=52&pg=1

[Glyph]

If you (can) have some old PSUs, you can use them for your Peltier :

http://www.procooling.com/index.php?...s&disp=56&pg=1

and

http://www.procooling.com/index.php?...s&disp=52&pg=1

i've already addressed the problems with the first link in another thread.

as for the second link.... post #4 of this thread already mentions it. read the thread before ya post, things might already have been mentioned.

[Alexontherocks]

hey guys I am still waiting for replacements but for the time being I finished my watercooling project so if anything I have now a capable cooling setup to handle any TEC....

check in my sig

[Glyph]

good to know you're still alive.

Nice watercooling setup

keep us updated on your TEC aspirations

[Alexontherocks]

thanks!

As far as the TEC setup is concerned I still await the arrival of the psus.

In the mean time I am researching TEC solutions. Right now I have the cooling setup to deal with any TEC but I can't really find any TEC to fit my needs. I guess I will resort to TEC for subzero cooling of the northbridge and try my luck overclocking my cpu. In anycase I will pursue the psu idea to help out those who intend to follow a similar path.

I am thinking of keeping 1.7v daily just for the sheer fun of it. low 40s is really an entertaining show when looking at the realtemp window!

[Alexontherocks]

sure