Test Power Supply Writtin by Sil3nt Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible for loss or damage to your psu or to any irriversable changes in health. Complete this mod AT YOUR OWN RISK! I did'nt have a digital camera on hand when I knocked up this test power supply. I'm going to do my best to explain it to you and provide you pictures I captured to illustrate the steps I took to accomplish this task. I had a spare psu laying around (testing on a spare psu is highly recommended) - its only a 100watts psu, perfect for what I want to do with it considering it does not have to run a whole computer. Follow the following instructions: Start with taking the cover off the psu - Cutting the atx connector off from inside the box - Leave the green wire and a black wire at full length so cut those off at the connector. Then grab some electical tape and tape the wires up in thier colors, i.e. tape all the red ones together and all the black ones together . Then put tape around them so there are no bare wires exposed. Place a Lock tie over the tape so it wont come off over time. Okay now that we left the the green wire out and a black wire we are going to mount them into a simple switch so we can turn the psu on and off . OMG Smile Im sure we can work this bit out . I cut out a rectangle in the top of my psu with a dremel and mounted this simple switch . Top Its that simple . All thats left is to test it , Simple as . Any questions , you can email me at danial@sil3nt.com
Personaly I find the old AT switchable psu's better for this. Not only are they usualy free, but they have a built in switch (so you don't have to make one). But hey, this is also a good idea
Worth a mention, before anyone hurts themselves, the old AT style PSUs do indeed have a switch, but BE CAREFULL - THE SWITCH CARRIES FULL MAINS VOLTAGE 240V+fingers=painful, could actually kill if you're unlucky. Nice work on the ATX job, looks very neat. Darkside.
If you are using an old style AT PSU, you get the full 12v and 5v without loading either line, but if you are using an ATX PSU, it won't deliver the goods without some load. I usually use a fan on the 12v line just to provide a little load to make the PSU start. Of course, if you are using it as a test PSU, you'll have a load of some sort anyway. Darkside.
you seem like the guy to ask about psu's so here goes. i have solarmax psu 420w job and it has the built in speed controller. problem is my mobo dont have the required connector. how would i go about making a manual low power mod? its for my silent running mod where i have a pannel with switches controlling the fan speeds on alll except my gfx card and my cpu. so it needs to be a switched mod.
Right, being very careful, open up the power supply and locate the fan wires - they usually go to a small header. Red wire is 12v and black wire is 0v. Cut the black wire, and solder it the the 5v side of the PSU outputs (red wires). That puts the fan on 7v, and should be much quieter. If that's not what you want, I would suggest putting a 10k pot into the 12v feed to the fan, and mounting the pot in the back of the PSU. Note:- When drilling a hole in the PSU case, it is essential that you remove all components from the PSU case and clean it thoroughly before putting it together again. Metal shavings + PSU = BANG. I find the 7v mod good enough, but it's your system, so whichever you like really. Hope this helps, Darkside.
There is no reason whey you can not bring this control pot out to the front panel, or you could use a simple SPDT switch to connect the fan to wither +12 or +7 volts if that fits in better with the mod.
there is currently a wire used to connect the psu to the mobo that is meant to do the job of sontrolling the fan speed but my mobo doesn't support this input. the thought was to trick the psu into thinking that the actual connection to the mobo existed and use a switch to turn the input on/off. my psu is here but is the non revised model thus the fan speed controller aint there. my psu i think the connection is called a sata power connector if this helps
i dont know much about the psu or cable names i just know about looks style and cooling so if your right (you probably are) then im sorry but do you undestand what i mean by the cable to conect to the mobo?
urr not realy as my cam is so **** you wont be able to tell what im indicating at so i cant do better than the descrpiption i gave tbh
Not sure if anyone has mentioned it or wanted to know to how to get a ATX going without connecting it to the motherboard but I did some searching around and found these guides: Gideon Tech Modtown BurnOutPC this guide is the most unsafe one, they use a raw metal wire as the example of shorting the connection I have tried all of these guides and they worked for me and they are for the most part really simple. or you can use this device that PC Power & Cooling sells http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/alarmandaccesories/accessories/popups/index_tester.htm
cool, i want to do this can i do it on an old at powersupply or the one out of my 486? as i dont have a spare atx power suply
Be careful if you're using a PSU from an old 486. This is most likely an AT style PSU, and the on/off switch carries full mains voltage. An ATX PSU is much safer, and a cheapy one should be only about £11.00 from a PC fair or such like. Hope this helps Darkside.
You can definitely do this with an AT power supply, but like all the warnings in here say, the AT power switch actually connects the power supply to 120V/220V (depending on where you are). If you mess with that switch while the power supply is plugged in, and do not know what you are doing, trust me when I say that getting 120V through the arm (and down through your body and out your legs, to ground) is a stinging sensation. It can kill you. 220V (albeit, a lower amperage) has a much greater chance of doing you permanent harm, so please... be careful all you Europeans! If you want to mess with an AT power supply, I'll try to have a write-up here soon. A good way to do it is to move the AT power switch to the same place as an ATX power supply's switch would be, on the back wall of the power supply. Often, it's mightily cramped in a power supply, and this may not be possible. Unlike an ATX power supply, flipping this switch means all plugs are "hot" (they have voltage to them and could power a device). Be well, and safe modding!
