Thread: What is the problem with powerful PSU's ??

I suppose it's becuase people want efficiency..

Personally I'm using a 300W pure sine wave inverter.. and its fine!

Other 12v CCFL's and things can be powered from the car battery anyway.

Just my 2c..

Tim.

Originally Posted by blackceli

ok so here's my query ... i have been assembling pcs for like 4 years now, and it has always been a rule of thumb to get a powerful psu with stable +12/-12 and +5/-5 lines. Now what i dont seem to understand is that why do you guys shy away from a 350/400W psu ????

Shouldnt hooking up a 400W inverter be good enough ??
Coz i wanted to put something real powerful so that i can run all the extra fans, ccfls, thermistors, usb ports without any problems ...

FLAME ON !!!!!

A 400W inverter is NEVER enough for a 350/400W PSU. The PSU might use 350/400W while running BUT upon start it might need double or triple that power. So your inverter might run ok for about a month or so if you are lucky, but dont expect it to last longer than that!!

Originally Posted by stevieg

If you wnat all that do what you say and get a big ***** off invertor, no-ones stopping you.

A lot of other people want a Car PC to be like a head unit, i.e. always come on immediately when you get in the car, they want it to be able to run for hours with the car ignition off, they want it to run DC-DC *without* an invertor in the middle, in fact some people, myself included never have the PC switch off!!!

So forget the flaming, yes your right you can have a big CPU, big invertor, or if you want you could stick a strongarm Dev board in and run it off... methane, for all I care. Main thing is, is that is does what *you* want, so go for it

I did'nt quite get what you're trying to say ...
"always come on immediately when you get in the car" why would it take longer with an inverter ??? besides i can just leave the computer in hibernate mode and like restart the computer say once a week or something like that ... that should be fine ... and about using the computer when it is off ... i dont mind wasting gas .... coz i got a subwoofer installed without a capacitor and i have to turn the car on when i play music anyway ... so that is not an issue..

FLESIK
Connecting fans/ccfls through the computer is a lot easier than doing it through the car battery directly ... its just personal preference i guess.

MaleBuffy
I guess ill just get a more powerful inverter with say a 300W PSU ... should'nt that work ??

You could do that, and if you run the car while you are using your PC then is ok! However , in your Thread TITLE you say "What is the problem with powerful PSU's ??" which is basically not that what you are talking about!

Now, getting back to the thread title, ppl here told you why most of us do not want to use inverters. You could power a Home Theater + LCD Projector with the right size inverter, but this forum is not about that. Its about specialized computers, that have low power consumption, work with 12V and react like regular HUs.

LOL .... thanks a lot for your input guys ....

Agreed with all the inefficiency and everything .... but then again i am a cheap bastard ...

BTW, you can use a 300w inverter with a 300w psu.

Most inverters include two ratings. A continuous and a peak. My inverter is 400w. It peaks at 1200w. so that inital surge culd be as high as 1200w, and the inverter can safely handle the 400w for hours after that.