wow, um. Electronics and wiring isnt my forte. I'm just gonna do a little research, read some datasheets, and give some electronics webstores a go.
I saw this at www.allelectronics.com Can I just put a resistor on it to limit its voltage to -10v, then put my pot on it to adjust its output even farther? I need the pot to control the contrast for the display. I could even use it's +12v output to power the LCD's backlight, and its +5v output to power the LEDs for the lit up buttons! So, does anyone know if this will work for me?
Don't use a resistor to drop it, it won't give you a clean -10v. A few diodes might do it. Do all the different voltage inputs on the LCD have a shared ground? Because that powersupply has a 5v line and a -5v line, if there's a ground just for -10v hook the 5v from the PSU into that and the -5v into the -10v. because, -10v - 0v (ground) = 10v difference between them, -5v - 5v (ground) is also a 10v difference. Use your multimeter, set it to continuity meter (if it doesnt have that, set it to resistance meter) and put one lead on the ground for -10v. put the other lead on the ground for 5v or 10v or 12v (whatever the other voltage is) If you read a resistance, then it's a common ground. If the resistance is infinity ohms then you should be safe using the aforementioned way, although I would run it past the electronics guys first.
diodes..... um so yeah, what values or whatever? I have a few atx psus laying around my room is there anything I can rip from these? I would really like to use this smaller external PSU, as I can have the buttons for the controller on even when the comp is off.
if you don't know what a diode is, it's a electroonic device that only allows current ONE-WAY. it will not go the other way. i finally can answer something electronic!!!
what kind of pot should I get to take the -12 all the way from -1 to -12? I just read the datasheet and -10 is recommended but it can handle a fair bit more.
Diodes have something called Vons, which are voltages dropped across the diode. For example if you put 5v in a diode with a Von of 0.7 then 4.3v comes out. 0.3 and 0.7 are the most common Vons, i'd say get two 0.3 and two 0.7 diodes. Wire them in series from the -12v from the PSU. You'll either get -10v or -14v (I don't know which, but I think it will be -10v) Also, before you buy that PSU, a regular ATX power supply has both -5v and -12v rails. I think -12v is blue and -5v is white. DO NOT USE ANY TYPE OF RESISTOR You can't be sure whether or not it will give you -10v, resistors vary wattage, so you could get full voltage and very low amperage or a lot of amps but low volts. Diodes affect the voltage only.
http://xtronics.com/reference/atx_pinout.htm Yeah, so I'll try ripping the guts out of an mATX psu I have laying around. I'll just remove every cable and then add them back in as I need them. I can also then just put a loop of wire across the green wire's hole to a ground and it will always be plugged in. and the mATX PSU's board is super small and can run passively. Wow, why didnt I think of looking up the pinout of a PSU before? Its prolly cuz I forgot that there was even a negative voltage on the ATX connector. Geez, I coulda saved all of us the time of posting back and forth about this.
Ok, I just finnished ripping apart the mATX PSU. Small, runs cool, free, and has all the outputs and grounds I could ever need for powering external peripherals for this PC. A tip for anyone that is going to take the cables out of a PSU and doesnt have a torch like me. Don't even try to use your soldering iron's tip to heat up the soldr, one side will cool down while your heating the other side. I took the tip out of my iron and used the hole that the tip goes in to cover the backside of the clumps of wires. This heats the entire clump of wires up quickly and lets you just slide them out. Don't forget to keep the iron hot and run over the inside of the tip's socket with a desoldering wick to clean it up. This weekend I will try to complete both the paint and get a jump on the LCD control center.
I think its .2 and .6 V. However, .2 is a germanium diode, and are expensive and rare. The LCD might very well work fine on 12 V, but it will definitley work on 10.4, so 2 normal diodes will work fine. Its also possible that you could adjust the PSU to 10 v.
what I do for the big clump is unsolder 1 wire at a time. I did the same type of think to an AT PSU, except when I plugged it in the circuit breaker tripped and the PSU started smoking. But it's nothing to worry about, because it was an old PSU and I don't even know if it worked.
Hmm, well I ahve looked over the board for the PSU a couple times and I haven't shorted anything, so it should be OK.
Disaster Strikes Well, I found out that my sanding was a bit off in one spot on the case. I was wet sanding the clear coat and wiping up the milky water that was left when I noticed some black spots on the towel. I held the case up to the light at an angle, and right in the middle of my nearly mirror finnish side was a spot of the plastic case. The paint job is ruined, and now I have to wait until sometime next week to get the time to strip, sand, primer, repaint, then start the finnishing process again. I'm not going to work on the LCD this weekend, I just think I would forget something or mess up and ruin another part. I just need some time to cool off, so I'm prolly gonna go wear out the punching bag in a little bit. I guess we will just see how the painting goes again next week.
Hey Morphine. We're doing somewhat similar projects here (I'm doing "V410: A complete Vaio transformation"), and I thought I'd offer some help, cause this project looks really promising. I was looking at mATX mobos awhile ago, and there was one that really stood out. ASUS makes a mATX version of their P4P800 Mobo, which I hear is one of the best for the Pentium 4 Platform. I thought it'd be worth checking out, cause you're going all out on this rig. At Newegg here. Good luck with this project, it's looking very, very, very nice. I love the look of these cases, they look unbelieveable in person. Good luck!
I'll look into it, I know that the MSI board I was looking at is Prescott capapble and can deal with the heat and power strain. I'll do a little bit of poking around on that board.
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet! I Just Sold My Current Pc And Now Have All The Funds I Need To Buy All The Hardware For This Beauty! Parts Should Start Arriving This Weekend!
wow, dont know how I missed this thread That O2 case is sure becoming a popular case to mod Welcome to the club Morphine
actually carbon fiber isnt that expensive for the products to make it, but it does take a lot of patience and STRENGTH to have it form exactly the way you want it to. I learned the hard way by trying to make a PSU cover out of it.
