Thread: power carputer indoors

as long as you have 15amps, then yes. which I would doubt, as most standard AC-DC covreters are not that high.

The alternative is to use an ATX supply, as that will have more than enough juice.

(sama)

Get a MicroPSU and then wire the +12 (yellow) to constant and ignition, and ground (black) to ground.

Then you can make a nifty little box around the PSU.

Originally Posted by brendan

ok, so ur saying if i take any normal computer psu (wich from what i could gather a microPSU was just a small normal one) and take any one of the +12V (red?) plug that into the power&ignition (red&white) line, then i take a ground (black) and plug that into the ground/negative (black) on the M2-ATX it will work?

im presuming i have to short the power switch (green?) line on the ATX conector.

maybe this would work? http://www.logicsupply.com/product_i...roducts_id/454
although it appears to be rated at 10 amps, so i guess it won't work

Yes a MicroPSU is like a shuttle PC's PSU. Small.
Something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103143


The Red wires are 5v, so not those. You need the yellow ones which are 12v.

If you will be putting your PC into a case of some sort and want to leave the jumpers on for smart PSU mode, then you will need to connect both the +12v constant and the +12v ignition wire on the M2. So if you put a little switch into that PSU's case, you can flick that on/off for a +12v wire to the ign. That way when you flick it on, it turns on. Flick it off, it gracefully shuts down, and then off. For the constant +12v, use a yellow wire direct. Then ground (black on the PSU) to the M2's ground. Chop off therest of the wires for a clean look.

That PSU can handle 16A on the +12v rail, which is what you want. Most small PSU's have low +12v rails and usually only 1 rail unlike desktop PSU's which usually have a minimum of 2. My desktop has 4 independant 12v rails, but it is huge, loud, and heavy.

Well the M2 is 160W. At 12v, that is 13.3Amps. PSU's are never truly efficient, and the cheap ones always give crap ratings that are off by a couple of amps anyways because they can test peak amps for a short burst, not sustained. That is why a good 400W PSU can be $50-$80, and a cheap one can be $25 with nearly the same documented specs.

You probably wont use the full 160W of the M2, but if you do, or upgrade, why spend $15 and then another $25? It is only $10 to protect your $1000 computer. Splurge a little frugle style!

So the cheapest 14A ones may not supply enough. Just use the better one. Might be able to find one on eBay for cheaper.

Originally Posted by brendan

ok, i got myself a power suply (350-400 watt, it doesn't say on it, it's for P4 style mobos) and have tried testing it with my multimeter, it is rated to measure (im guessing) up to 10a (beside the 10a selector it says: 10 ADC 10A max UNFUSED)

anyway, on the 5v line i get 11.3amps (red) then i try it on the 12v (yellow) line, and it quickly spikes a reading and gives up trying to measure anything (it probably goes to high) ive seen it spike up to 19.7 before it stops reading, also the testing leads start getting really hot.

im presuming this thing will be good enough, and what will happen if it doesn't provide enough amps?

If there aren't enough amps, then the system will freeze whenever it needs more power such as high CPU/GPU load.