green river rc

My Feedback: (2)

Quick question:

Can a 12 volt PC power supply be converted for RC use?

guver

My Feedback: (325)

sure, many of them will put out enough for average charge needs.

davidbegg

Yes you can, althoughsome minor modifications are necessary to the PC power supply to 'lock it on'.

Caution: If you are not confident in attempting this conversion don't try, capacitors inthepower supply can be 'nasty'.



http://web2.murraystate.edu/andy.bat...owersupply.htm

http://www.tarmac.org.au/12%20Volt%20Power%20Pack.pdf

http://customers.swcp.com/~tandberg/...pplyATX_03.htm

http://www.wikihow.com/Convert-a-Com...b-Power-Supply

Further information and instructions are avaiable via Google or the dedictaed web site search engines.

The ATX power supply I convert a couple of years ago works great with my battery charger,I use it all the time.

cyclops2

MAYBE !!!!!!!!!!!

If you you know someone who is very good in electronics. Guess wrong and you may have a fire.

Rich

vicman

My Feedback: (10)

I have made about 6 of them for me and my buddies. It works fine.

con244

I use a old Compaq laptop power supply to run my charger no modifications necessary at all
Con

davidbegg

Some older computer power supplies will run with out modification, this is good just use the 12 volt feed, however most newer computer power supplies need minor modifications to 'lock them on' as these power supply need to detect a load to operate. That is all that is being done with the modifications outline on the internet, adding a suitble load so they will operate.

While modifications done incorrectlymay lead to a cooked computer power supply and or battery charger, it is unlikely there would be a fire.

A check of what you have done BEFORE turning on the power supply, and checking the output voltage BEFORE connecting the battery charger will remove those problems. And of course positive to positive negative to negative connections as always, again check polarity with a suitable meter BEFORE connecting for the first time especially as there are a number of different coloured wires used in a computer power supply.

It is not a difficult modification and it works well.

Cheers

David

twoslick2

What about a car battery charger? Won't that work?

Rodney

Generaly, a big fat NO. There is insufficient filtering on most car battery chargers.
As to fires when you modify the computer power supplies, very little chance of a problem. There are a number of sites on the web giving you step by step instructions on how to make the modifications, just google for them. Most will make nice power supply s for your charger.

davidbegg

jdetray

More links ...

Here are a few discussion forum threads on the topic of converting PC power supplies for use as 12V bench supplies for chargers and other equipment:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=368639
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=315179
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...threadid=55555
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...hreadid=114054
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...threadid=41161


In addition, here are some helpful web sites on the same topic:
http://web2.murraystate.edu/andy.bat...owersupply.htm
http://web2.murraystate.edu/andy.bat...SIGN_GUIDE.HTM
http://www.marcee.org/Articles/PCPowerSupply.htm
http://www.dream-models.com/eco/DIY-powerSupply.html
http://www.extensiontech.net/articles/howto/jb/pstu/
http://reckerclub.tripod.com/id105.html
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fast.electrics/PSU.pdf
http://www.nfdc.net/home/cbdb/Teardr...r%20Supply.htm

- Jeff

enjoymentboy

yep. they work great for this. basically all you need to do is to bridge the 5v rail with a load to simulate the load that a pc will have on first startup. I've got an excellent word doc that outlines the whole thing. I'd be happy to send it your way if you want it.

Richard

green river rc

My Feedback: (2)

Sure, I would like to see it.

Sasquatchin

is it something you could attach here (your document), Iam very interested in this as well