ATX Power supply to bench unit mod

8 thoughts on “ATX Power supply to bench unit mod”

1. c0redump says:

   March 27th, 2006 at 2:16 am

   This is quite a neat idea! But I thought I’d better mention that some switch-mode power supplies will misbehave when run without a load. Some will fail to start up, while others will produce voltages that are well out of spec. No doubt, with PC power supplies, there’ll be a lot of variation from one type to another.

   Best to check voltages with a meter before relying on the PSU to supply an accurate voltage.

2. ContraptionMaker says:

   March 27th, 2006 at 3:29 am

   Thanks for the encouragement! You are right a psu does need a load to stay on, and that’s what the power resisitor is for. It creates a load on the circuit anytime the power is on. Thus the need for the resisitor to be attatched to a heat sink. And I agree, you should always check your voltages with your meter.

3. vonSlatt says:

   March 27th, 2006 at 7:13 am

   I built mine to power 12 volt automotive accessories so I built in a cigar lighter socket:

   http://www.vonslatt.com/images/bus/atxps1.jpg

   Jake.
   My Kerosene Lamps

4. guero says:

   April 1st, 2006 at 6:50 pm

   Just as an FYI regarding this and similar conversion projects posted here….. Dell power supplies use a nonstandard color coding scheme and won’t work for this project! I found out the hard way…..

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