Basically, what i'm trying to do is put 2 different electronic items, in one case. Each has its own plug. What i'd like to do is combine them internally so the case it self has only one plug. The easy way out would to put some sort of power strip inside the case, but thats not what i want to do. My question is, does this task sound possible? And if it is possible, is it realistic to accomplish with limited knowledge of voltages and wiring?
A little more information would be helpful. What two devices? What kind of plug? Power? What voltages/current do they need? Gman22
Well, I'm at work right now so i don't know exactly, but one's a xbox, and the other is a linksys router. They're both wall sockets, but the linksys is a wall wart i think. I'll post more spacifics when i get them. EDIT: Xbox Power Requirements: 120v AC, 60hz Consumption: 100W
Should be fine, just make sure that the ground goes to the other ground etc, we don't want to knock the power out do we (or someone) Second, make sure its well insulated. Third, post back here with results.
It really depends on how much time/money you want to invest in simplyfying it. You could yank the receptacle off an old PSU and use the standard PC power cable as the wall plug, then put in a standard house outlet in a junction box and plug both the Xbox ans linksys in to that. That eliminates the power strip issue, and keeps the plugs for both items inside the case. If you're feeling really dangerous, you could just connect the wires from the Xbox cable and the guts from the wallwart inside a junction box with the same external setup as before. Other than that, you could try and find a 5-12v lead inside the xbox and snake that out to the router... the possibilities are only limited by you imagination, budget, and resistance to high voltage shock! =P
Hmm, so it sounds possible, but i don't want to go around frying circuits and messing up my equipment. Is there anything i could read to make this project a little safer. It sounds like if i can find some leads of the same voltage i can just connect them? Or an i bound to kill my self.
The model of the router is the Linksys WRT54GL, linux based ***! Has anyone ever done what i'm proposing so i can maybe see what it looks like? Or am i going to have to tinker a bit?
I'm pretty sure that the Linksys would be the easiest thing to sort out. If you have a looksee on the back and see the power requirements you can probably power it off the PSU in the compy. I have done this successfully in two of my mods. All you have to do is get a matching plug and then join it up with a standard Molex (connecting only the voltage rails you need, ie 12v, 7v etc). I can post up some pics later this evening if you like. As for the xbox. I think that Bag'ud has successfully put a mains plug into his casemod over in the project logs.
even if the router doesn't take a standard voltage, you can always run a resistor on the power leading to it to get close to what you need. as mentioned above, the voltage for the router will be the best info you can give us. the voltage will either be listed on the router next to the DC jack, or on the label of the wallwart. listing the amps from the router will be helpful too.
I'm still in the planning phase, so i havn't even started putting stuff together. At this point i don't even have a case, just an idea. I don't even have the router yet. I'll snoop around and see if i can't locate the voltage for the router.
If it was me I would use a pc style plug like this or this one with a built in switch to bring mains power into the case. From there I would go to a fuse (just to be safe) and then split the power and go to the xbox and the router. For the router I would disasemble the power adapter and wire it directly. As to the XBOX, it looks like it takes normal mains power (I don't have an XBOX so only guessing here) so that one should be easy. I hope I explained this clearly... it makes perfect sense in my head Here is a crappy schematic I made at work using paint.
I think i understand what you're saying, but could to elaborate more? I'm a computer science major, so while i know alot about computers, i know very little about voltage, current, resistors and not killing my self. Is it possible that you could provide a little more detail and perhaps some voltages?
IIRC, most routers run off of either 5v or 12v. If that's the case (it should be marked on either the router itself or the wall wart), you should just be able to tap into a PSU line in the Xbox - I'm almost positive it uses standard PC voltages in there. Of course, I've no idea how much headroom (if any) the Xbox's power supply has, so you might want to look into that a bit more before actually trying something.
Mine has a 9V AC wart with a bridge rectifier, cap and couple of regulators (a meaty UZ1084L 3.3V and a 7805 5V) inside the router/modem, so YMMV. But it runs fine on 9V DC or 12V DC adaptors, a fair bit cooler on the 9V DC supply (less wasted across the regulators).
Ok i just got the router out, and the wallwart is outputing 12v at(and?) to the router, IIRC thats a standard voltage available on molex connectors. How would i go about making sure the xbox psu has room to push another 12v at(and?) 1000ma.
