Is This Power Supply Bigger Than A Bread Box? No, It Is One.

December 20, 2014 by Rich Bremer 26 Comments

[newtonn2] must have had food on his mind when he was deciding to embark on a power supply project. The enclosure is quite different…. it is a Bread Box! Even so, flipped up on end we must say it looks pretty cool. [newtonn2’s] previous power supply had crapped out and he needed a replacement supply ASAP, it was a loaf or death situation for this electronics enthusiast.

Similar to a lot of DIY bench power supplies, this one would also be based on an ATX computer power supply. These are good high-current supplies that output voltage in several convenient amounts and in this case are are all routed to their own spring terminals mounted on the enclosure. Even though those standard voltages might be good enough for most, [newtonn2] is extremely kneady and wanted a fully adjustable output so he designed up an adjustable voltage regulation circuit using an LM350 regulator. A volt meter and an amp meter indicates the power being supplied on the adjustable circuit.

Since his last power supply was toast, [newtonn2] wanted this one to be easily repairable. The ATX power supply inside can be replaced in two minutes because nothing is hard wired. The only connections are the ATX connector and power cord. For cooling, holes were drilled in the side of the enclosure so that fans could be installed. This was the yeast he could do to keep the temperature of the interior components down.

In the end [newtonn2] completed his goal of building a pretty unique and functional bench top power supply without spending a lot of dough. Check out his Instructable for extremely detailed build instructions including schematics for how all his components are wired.

120 Node Rasperry Pi Cluster For Website Testing

October 7, 2014 by Adam Fabio 36 Comments

[alexandros] works for resin.io, a website which plans to allow users to update firmware on embedded devices with a simple git push command. The first target devices will be Raspberry Pis running node.js applications. How does one perform alpha testing while standing up such a service? Apparently by building a monster tower of 120 Raspberry Pi computers with Adafruit 2.8″ PiTFT displays. We’ve seen some big Raspberry Pi clusters before, but this one may take the cake.

The tower is made up of 5 hinged sections of plywood. Each section contains 24 Pis, two Ethernet switches and two USB hubs. The 5 sections can be run on separate networks, or as a single 120 node monster cluster. When the sections are closed in, they form a pentagon-shaped tower that reminds us of the classic Cray-1 supercomputer.

Rasberry Pi machines are low power, at least when compared to a desktop PC. A standard Raspi consumes less than 2 watts, though we’re sure the Adafruit screen adds to the consumption. Even with the screens, a single 750 watt ATX supply powers the entire system.

[alexandros] and the resin.io team still have a lot of testing to do, but they’re looking for ideas on what to do with their cluster once they’re done pushing firmware to it. Interested? Check out their Reddit thread!

Overkill Phone Charger, Because, Well, Why Not?

May 27, 2014 by Rich Bremer 26 Comments

ATX Phone Charger

There are times in a tinkerer’s existence where it is convenient to have the ability to plug in and power a lot of USB devices. Sure, you could use a USB hub but this may not be satisfactory if your devices require a lot of current. A computer may work but is not really a stand alone solution.

[Jeff] and the crew over at Make Lehigh Valley ran into this predicament. They were putting on an Adafruit Trinket class and needed a USB power supply to power all of the Trinkets that were going to be used. As any makerspace would do, they built their own USB Power Station, and the final product is certainly overkill for what they needed (that’s not a bad thing).

An old ATX computer power supply is a logical component to use for this type of project. These power supplies are usually available in abundance and will provide all the amperage any reasonable amount of 5v USB devices can ask for. The 5v output from the ATX power supply was wired to 8 USB jacks. Keeping up with the project’s resourcefulness, those USB jacks were scavenged from a couple of old PCI-slot USB hub panels. Not satisfied with only USB outputs, the guys also wired up some banana jacks so that 3.3, 5 and 12 volts were available for whatever project was being worked on. A 3D printed enclosure keeps everything neat and tidy.

This project used a bunch of recycled parts and solved a problem faced by the group. If you’re interested in using an ATX power supply to make a more bench-top style power supply then check out this build.

Not Your Typical ATX Power Supply Hack

May 12, 2014 by James Hobson 39 Comments

Power supplies are essential for at home tinkering and electronics hacking. Unfortunately, they’re really quite expensive, and a bit out of reach for most hobbyists. Computer ATX power supplies are a cheap alternative, although they usually tend to lack the features of real bench power supplies… unless you hack yours like [Mark Schoonover]!

When [Mark] set out on this project he wanted to use as many recycled components as possible, but still come up with an extremely functional bench top power supply. He snagged a 500W ATX power supply from one of his kid’s old desktop PC’s, grabbed some old wall-warts for individual current limited supplies (apparently ATX PSU’s don’t have 5V rails anymore?), and put it all into a nice big project box.

He’s even thrown in a voltage regulator with current metering and a nice set of 7-segment displays!

Continue reading “Not Your Typical ATX Power Supply Hack” →

An AT-ATX: A Different Kind Of Power Supply

March 15, 2014 by James Hobson 8 Comments

[Jedii72] needed a power supply. A quick search online revealed many instructions for building one out of an old ATX power supply, but — he didn’t want just any kind of power supply — he wanted to build an AT-ATX.

He started with a vintage AT-AT toy from the 80’s, and then began cutting it into pieces. ~~Hold for gasps of disbelief.~~ Don’t worry though — it was in poor condition to start with, so it was never really considered a collectible. After cleaning over 30 years of grime and dirt off the toy, he gave it a fresh coat of jet black paint — not exactly canon, but it does look pretty awesome. You know, it would make a pretty awesome Sci-Fi contest entry, don’t you agree? Continue reading “An AT-ATX: A Different Kind Of Power Supply” →