Guide dual psu and test psu : a how to guide.

[Big_Adam]

hello fine people of the forums.

well this is one of my few posts here (could be my 1st i signed up ages ago and can't rember if i posted then)

thought i'd do a little guide for you all as i did say i would. well i did on cpc but sod it, it's going here 1st!

Off the bat my discalmer!

This guide is under taken AT YOUR OWN RISK!, all damage to yourself or your kit is your own fault, I nor the good people of bit-tech can be held responsable,

BASICAL IF YOU MESS THIS UP, GET SHOCKED OR DIE IT'S YOUR OWN FAULT!

Ok thats that,

In this guide i will be doing two things.
one is a guide to making a test psu. this can be used if you don't want to bugger you pc up after you just solded something up or made somthing for a mod for your pc.

the second is how to dual psu, this is for power users or people who just think its cool. like me

Well on with the modding!

You Will Need:
1) A psu, or two if you want dual PSU's!
2) Screwdriver. Phillips head.
3) Electrical tape or heat shrink.
4) soldering iron (not really needed but you can use in for this mod. i'll sya were but to be honest i didn't use one this time)
5) Wire cutters.
6) A paper clip.

NOTE: The psu i use insted of a green wire they have a gray wire. i have no idea why.

TEST PSU (If your doing dual PSU's you need to do most of this too, this bit for the dual psu people is how to make the slave psu)

1, Get your PSU and test if it works. to do this get your paper clip and short the green wire and any black wire on the ATX plug together. You may need to attach something to a molex as some psu won't work without a load so put a cathode or somthing.



The green and black pins to short are in this pinout.


2, Right if you psu don't work. then you stuffed and you need a diffrent one. BUT! if it works then you need to let it discharge. The thing with PSU's is they can store a migty charge which really fu*king hurts and can kill. so leave the PSU unplugged overnight to let it discharge. then in the morning short the green and black pins again just to make sure.
ok, now it's time to bust open you psu. grab a screwdriver and remove the 4 screws from the top (if your not using a ATX psu then you'll have to find then, but for most ATX psu the screws are on the top of the psu) you may only see 3 but this is becuse most companys put a sticker overone to know if someone been messing with it. so just peel of the stickers if you can't find the last screw. then remove the cover from the top.


OOOOWWWW!

3) From the stx plug end cut the green and black wire show in the pinout (above) as close to the atx plug as possable. then cut off the rest of the wires to as short-ish as possable. cut the wires so they are about an inch or two long from the PSU's pcb. Right, stop here. look at the atx plug. there should be two wires that go together. For me it was two wires going to pin 11. make sure you connect these two wires together other wise it won't work. they should look like a thin orange wire and a big orange wire. just connect them and your sorted. As for the rest of the wires you can do a few things. you can cover each end and then zip tie away somwere or you can use heatshrink to cover the ends, you can un-solder the wires from the psu. you just need to get rid of then or tape up the ends. MAKE SURE YOU COVER EACH END OF THE WIRES OR MAKE SURE THEY CAN'T TOUCH> IF NOT YOU WILL SHORT SOMTHING!!!!!!!!!!

what i did was to cut all the same color wires a diffrent length then taped each end up. then taped the wires away and was done with it.
Like so,


Wires all cut to diffrent lenghts then each taped up.


all the wires taped up.

WARNING!:
However don't do what i did and try to cut the wires from the board with a knife. as you can slip.


MY THUMB! :cry:


Ghetto Bandage!

4) OK, so you got all you wires taped up and they should be inside the psu apart from two long wires. the black and the green. now turn the psu upside down and shake it like mad. hit it everything. you want to get anywire bits out so it won;t short. Now get the top and put it back on. screw it all shut and test the psu again. with the long black and green wires cut a little sheeth from the end to exspose wire and with the psu plugged in and with a load touch the wires together to see if it will fire up. if it dont then er........hm........cheack the wireing again. if it when bang then unplugg it CAREFULY and chuck it before it kills someone but if it works then have a cup of tea.

(DUAL PSU PEOPLE, YOU WANT TO SKIP THIS!)

5) Now that everthing works all you need to do is add a switch to the green and black wire, then fine somewere to put the button. i suggest using a set of spade connectors for a switch and mount the switch on the top of the psu. that way you can get into the psu by slipping the spade connectors off the switch.



Seeming as this a test psu you've just made then you may want to mod it. get a cold cathod light grill for the fan and an LED fan. plugg that into the molex;s of the psu and this way it acts as the load. that way you don't have to plug stuff in to make it work. Now sit back and marvel at you test psu.

Duel PSU's (Conti form step 4)

5) With your psu all done and full working get your master psu (One you want to run the mobo (should be a good one). Find the black and green wires again on the Mater psu ATX plug.



right either snip that somewere or use a exstraction too to get the wires out of the ATX plug. IF you do this then you can cut the sheeth of the wire without snipping through the wire and use heatshrink so it looks neater but is dosen't matter too much.
Anyway, you've got the green and a black wire and snipped through then. Remove some sheeth from the green wires ends and twist the wires together with the green wire on the slave psu (the one yo just cut up and put back together).



twist those wires togther and solder together if you want. it;s a good idea to do this as it's much better than the twisty-twisty wires with a bt of tape on them. Stick some heat shrink or tape over the green wires then do the same with the black wire.

Now you should be done, all you got to do is test it. put a load on each psu and short the green and black wires again and it should fire up. you need each psu to be plugged into the mains by the way too,



and there you have it. 2 psu working as one. isn't lovely. the only problems i've ever had was if you turn one psu off or unplug it the other one comes on. a little annoying but thats what happens. just means you always have to turn the psu's off at the wall.

ok well thats it.

all the guides i've done before can be found here :

[Big_Adam]

Originally Posted by Lazlow

Looks good. I wont try it until someone else posts and says they have success.
(I could die!) I've got a few PSUs lying around, so will definately setup a test PSU for component testing...

i've built dual psu systems with no problems before. in fact my main rig is dual psu. a 600 for pc itself and 250 for other random stuff,

[Big_Adam]

yeah i got a little psu like that too. it puts out 10 or 9v with no load then pumps it up to the proper 12 when needed.

[Big_Adam]

no probs people.