Computer power supply mod (12v/5v/3v)

Right..the interesting part...but please be warned, electricity is dangerous..treat it with respect!!

dependant on how you wish too wire up your fans, you could just bridge the green and black wire but use the stock 4 pin molex plugs. or you can make up a powerboard using the psu.

Take the single GREEN wire and a single BLACK wire from your main 20-24pin socket and connect them together, heatshrink them and leave them as that is all you need to do to them. this will bypass the motherboard sensor.

Collect a single RED, YELLOW and BLACK wire together. If at the end of this guide your power supplys are not steady you will need to load this circuit.

Group all the remaining RED wires together, strip back the ends, solder the ends all together to form one big wire..

Group the same number of BLACK wires as you did RED wires, and strip and solder as you did with the RED wires.

The RED and BLACK wires you have bunched are your 5V supply

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Group the remaining YELLOW wires together, strip and solder as you did earlier.

Group the same number of BLACK wires as you did YELLOW wires, strip and solder together.

This is your 12V supply for running your 12V for running your PC fans

You will notice there is a single THIN ORANGE wire in amongst the THICK ORANGE wires. The THIN ORANGE wire needs to be solder to a THICK ORANGE wire to form a connection. That is all you need do to those wires other than heatshrink it for protection.

Finally group the remaining ORANGE wires together, strip and solder them.

Group the same number of BLACK wires as you did ORANGE wires, strip and solder them.

This is your 3.3V supply

How you arrange the connections is up to you. You can use crocidile crips (just make sure they do not touch together!), banana plugs or even steel bolts in a racking so you can use the crocidile clips from your

If you find that your power supplys are not consistant, you will need to load up the YELLOW, BLACK and RED wire that you grouped earlier. You will need a 21W/5W stop/tail car lamp and holder from a scrap yard.
Take the BLACK wire and solder it to the common wire on your stop/tail lamp.
Take the RED wire and solder it to the stop (21W) section of your stop/tail lamp.
Take the YELLOW wire and solder it to the tail (5W) section of your stop/tail lamp
Make sure all the joints are insulated properly.

Be safe, and remember Electricity Kills!!!!!! POWER will still be stored in the capacitors DO NOT dismantle a psu.

saves the cowboy jobs with 12v powerpacks and running risks of them shorting etc etc. everyone has an old psu the higher the wattage the better the psu and more fans you can power. most psu come with thermal shutdowns and voltage protectors etc etc built in.

hope this enspires the closet growers/stealth growers

Tamzi

TLDR; dunno i didn't read it.

needs photos.

do you have to have a rep value to post pix? If not I have the day off I could try n wrangle one up...

nope, you don't need rep.

just insert image tags. [img*]http://imageurl[/img*] (remove asterisks).

k. imma try in put it together... Now if I get fucked up from doin this imma be one pissed off motherfucker... Think using the reducer thing supplied with capacitors would be safe to discharge the supply?

ok as you can see in above pic it has a powerboard fitted, notice all the wires nice and neat ready for crock clips etc. the rear plate is your earth. the yellow is your 12v, the red is your 5v supply and the orange are your 3v supply.

on a computers power supply all you need is the large 20 or 24 pin plug there is a single green wire, this needs too be joined together with a black wire. the green wire and black together fools the power supply into thinking it has been pluged into a computers motherboard. this allows you too use the power for your fans and other items.

hope that pic helps a bit. sorry its a long time ago so not many build pics around now

Tamzi

rad. looks well made.

i cannot take all the credit for this to be honnest. i realy have too thank racechat and the guys i used too race rc cars with. we needed a power supply when racing indoors and our charges maily used a 12v power source, so a clever boffin decided he would try a pc power supply and it worked.

as for build:

yes it is a bit low tech lol. but some of us racers refined the psu layout and used deans connectors. alotta soldering but worked well. we could plug in so many things. most 12v pc fans run around 1200/3600rpm min/max the largest 12-14cm pc fans push around 65cfm.

feel free too refine the idea too your own required specifications. remember you powersupply will have an AMP rating on the +12v (yellow) dont draw any more than stated. most psu will be around 15-30 amp on the 12v line.

i thought it would be a cool idea for powering fans in micro climate grows and stealth growing.

Tamzi

no never made anything like that but i was born with a rotary tool in my pocket. i moddified a 1/20th scale rc truck into a 1/12 rc crawler truck using only spares from my old cars it was an awesome machine and had a vw beetle shell. also made a few motor coolers using pc fans too cool our rc motors and battery cells while dump charging them, also light boards too cycle batterys too keep the im optimum for racing. my project i have running now is a 2ft kayak amde from balsa wood and hand built from scaled down original 1973 model. i build model planes, helicopters and kiteboard, im also known too mountain board and skateboard, get some funny looks being my age lol.

another idea for you guys.

taking out the innards from a psu and stuffing with carbon filter would act as a nice small and compact filtration system. for micro systems you could leave the 12v fan inside the psu add a fan grill have it filled with carbon filter this would scrub your micro box grow and vent your system too. you would want a hi/low air presure case setup for the filter to scrub enough

dare i say you could even wire your own H.I LED run them from psu with your fans as added light in certain bands.

Tamzi

well i have a few power supplys around and just got myself 3x 20 aquarium ballasts, going too get an envirolite 3x flowering tubes and a psu running 4x 14cm fans @ 65cmf and two 8cm fans. i only have a small cab, so this should test the psu too its max for cooling and air movement. going too throw a bagseed in soon as i get a seed been a few weeks now and no seed in my bags


Tamzi

there is a much easier alternative to almost killing yourself with your psu

just cut off the ends of a 12v DC adapter ( plugs into the wall ) and strip em then strip the black/red wires of the case fan and match em with electrical tape , plug it in and voila

nabokovchronic said:

there is a much easier alternative to almost killing yourself with your psu

just cut off the ends of a 12v DC adapter ( plugs into the wall ) and strip em then strip the black/red wires of the case fan and match em with electrical tape , plug it in and voila

Click to expand...

let me help you there.

first strip those wires then, take your solder iron and TIN the wires also TIN your stripped wires from your fan. next slip over some HEATSHRINK tube. to connect wires correctly. place wires that have been tinned ontop of each other and apply presure with the warm solder tip. solder melts and sets holding wires safely. slip your heatshrink over your now soldered connections and heat gentle with iron untill it shrinks onto the solder connection.

you can then finnish with electrical tape for extra safety.

using your method if anyone was too catch that powercord it could unravel wires and then leave them bare and a danger. i cannot see any way too hurt yourself using a PSU.

i have stated here and else where the back plate fitted in this picture was used too power a 12V CHARGER, and would not need too be used. you can plug fans in via the 3-4pin - molex adaptor or using the 4 pin molex you find on most pc fans

Tamzi

yeah, well i like to live dangerously.

medical tape to bandage the connections together has worked just fine

I used this article for help, good pics/information...

How to Convert a Computer ATX Power Supply to a Lab Power Supply in 14 Steps - wikiHow

silverstyle said:

I used this article for help, good pics/information...

How to Convert a Computer ATX Power Supply to a Lab Power Supply in 14 Steps - wikiHow

Click to expand...

that is a nice and refined tutorial.

sublimed said:

yeah, well i like to live dangerously.

medical tape to bandage the connections together has worked just fine

Click to expand...

and electrical tape for a gash in your finger? works well, just don't make it to tight.

that is a very nice looking power supply rig. I'd give it a 2/5 difficulty rating. does require a drill and a few other small tools. just be careful when you have the case open. very high voltage in there, even unplugged. I always stress safety, especially when high voltage capacitors are involved. I might build a nice power supply some time this week. my grow is in need of one.