Thanks!
Should i solder all the cables of the same colour together, then use the yellow 12 volt cables to power the amplifier, then put a dummy load across the rest, say a fan or something.
Would the amplifier perform better at 14 volts. For some pc power supplies it is possible to bypass the voltage protection, would the 2 volt increase make any difference.
Should i solder all the cables of the same colour together, then use the yellow 12 volt cables to power the amplifier, then put a dummy load across the rest, say a fan or something.
Would the amplifier perform better at 14 volts. For some pc power supplies it is possible to bypass the voltage protection, would the 2 volt increase make any difference.
I'm not familiar with the PC power supplies at all and so can't advise on whether the outputs need a dummy load or not.
If the amp has a switching supply which I assume it does then the higher voltage (14v) will mean the amp draws less current compared to running it at 11 volts.
The internal rails within the amp should not alter as the supply alters. The 'power' taken from the supply remains the same, for example 200 watts is 16.6A @ 12 volts and 14.2A @ 14 volts. At 11 volts it would pull 18.1A. The amp performs the same at each voltage.
If the amp has a switching supply which I assume it does then the higher voltage (14v) will mean the amp draws less current compared to running it at 11 volts.
The internal rails within the amp should not alter as the supply alters. The 'power' taken from the supply remains the same, for example 200 watts is 16.6A @ 12 volts and 14.2A @ 14 volts. At 11 volts it would pull 18.1A. The amp performs the same at each voltage.
Thanks!
The 12v led lighting looks good, unfortunatly i already have the atx power supplies, would like to try them before spending more money.
Not sure about the dummy load, some people use it some don't, can't find a definitive answer with a search. I thought atx power supplies needed to have a load across them.
Also on a search people are soldering all the 12 volt cables together to increase the current. My atx like most others has two regulated 12 volt outputs, not sure if paralleling two regulators like that would be a good idea in the long term.
So, as usual, i come to diyaudio for clarfication. Thanks.
The 12v led lighting looks good, unfortunatly i already have the atx power supplies, would like to try them before spending more money.
Not sure about the dummy load, some people use it some don't, can't find a definitive answer with a search. I thought atx power supplies needed to have a load across them.
Also on a search people are soldering all the 12 volt cables together to increase the current. My atx like most others has two regulated 12 volt outputs, not sure if paralleling two regulators like that would be a good idea in the long term.
So, as usual, i come to diyaudio for clarfication. Thanks.
Paralleling doesn't sound a great idea because if we assume (see comment below) each rail is tightly regulated under load then the one with highest voltage of the two will do all the work up to its current limit point. It only takes a few tens of millivolts difference for one supply to take over completely.
Series balancing resistors can be used but given the high current, the values would have to be so low as to be ineffective.
As I say, I'm not familiar with the details of the ATX supplies, however for some reason I always thought that only one rail (such as the 5v ???) was regulated, the others being unregulated.
Series balancing resistors can be used but given the high current, the values would have to be so low as to be ineffective.
As I say, I'm not familiar with the details of the ATX supplies, however for some reason I always thought that only one rail (such as the 5v ???) was regulated, the others being unregulated.
The multiple wires on the high current outputs of an ATX all come from the same solder pad.
https://butterflyofdream.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/i02.jpg
For whatever reason, PCs have never used proper bolted connectors, they use multiple 5A pin/sockets. While these could be bussed at the socket, for the short lengths in a PC it seems simpler to run 6 or 8 wires back to one big solder pad with many holes in it. (This also avoids using one fat/stiff wire.)
Yes, since you are using most of an ATX's capacity, you should use essentially all the wires which are your voltage. Try to keep similar lengths, a short wire would hog.
https://butterflyofdream.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/i02.jpg
For whatever reason, PCs have never used proper bolted connectors, they use multiple 5A pin/sockets. While these could be bussed at the socket, for the short lengths in a PC it seems simpler to run 6 or 8 wires back to one big solder pad with many holes in it. (This also avoids using one fat/stiff wire.)
Yes, since you are using most of an ATX's capacity, you should use essentially all the wires which are your voltage. Try to keep similar lengths, a short wire would hog.
Last edited:
> the others being unregulated.
Because these HF switchers have high coupling and low resistance, regulating one output gives remarkably good regulation on the others.
Yes, the 12V line (formerly used only for hard drive motors) is "softer" than the old 5V line. But a car electrical system will vary from 14+V cruising in the daytime to 11V engine off lights on (night party). Taking the long view, we are using the 12V the same way the computer did: shaking stuff. Head-arm, speaker cone, not a huge difference of technology. Both have controllers (motion-control for heads, damping in power amps) so the raw supply does not need to be tightly regulated (except for specs-checking on steady tone).
Because these HF switchers have high coupling and low resistance, regulating one output gives remarkably good regulation on the others.
Yes, the 12V line (formerly used only for hard drive motors) is "softer" than the old 5V line. But a car electrical system will vary from 14+V cruising in the daytime to 11V engine off lights on (night party). Taking the long view, we are using the 12V the same way the computer did: shaking stuff. Head-arm, speaker cone, not a huge difference of technology. Both have controllers (motion-control for heads, damping in power amps) so the raw supply does not need to be tightly regulated (except for specs-checking on steady tone).
Modern ATX supplies use a single 12V rail and DC-DC conversion for the other voltages, so they are all "stiff".
My car uses PWM or something similar to create the right voltages regardless of the load. I can even set some of them (the lights for instance) from between 6V to 19V through software!
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.