Production ONE2 DISTRO 400 - A 12V Power distribution board

[Thehack]

Spoiler: Original Post

Concept thread of discussion of a 12V solution.

Idea: a board that can take 12V input, provide 24 ATX output, PCIE output, and with ripple suppression. Allows you to use a variety of 12V psu.


Input:

2x 4 Pin CPU EPS
4x m4 Screw Terminals​

Output:

2x 6pin PCIe - connected to load switch
1x 4pin CPU - connected to load switch
1x 4 pin CPU - ready load
​

Board size:

50mm x [tbd] x ~20mm.
​

Block diagram

Pictures first:

Pretty cute right?

What is it?
ONE2 DISTRO 400 is a versatile power distribution board with ripple suppression. It is designed to work with picoPSU, aka Plug In DC Board. It is compatible with any 12V power supply with a ripple of 240mV or lower.

It features, a first in the SFF scene, WAGO terminal connectors. These allow you to use any wire 18-12AWG, without any terminals, so you can get that perfect exact length. No tools required to use these terminals.

Spoiler: WAGO video

It is also compatible with any external 12V AC-DC Adapter, provided you supply the correct wiring.

Here is the wiring diagram.

SPECS:
Max Board Power: 400W

Board power using 8 pin connector: 300W (for safety reasons)
Board power using 4 wire WAGO terminals: 180W with 18 AWG, 300W with 16 AWG, 400W with 14 AWG​

FULL KIT:

2X 6 pin to 6+2 Pin PCIE (length TBD)
1X 4pin CPU (length TBD)
Includes Plug In DC Board with 4pin Mini-Fit connector
Includes 2x SATA
Includes SYNC line
​

Ripple suppression: max 120mV Pk-Pk on output rails

Available as BOARD ONLY for modders.

​

Board will be black, with white silkscreen.
Cable kit will be black with sleeving (still working out details with vendor)

1 Year Warranty, Shipped from USA. Sold exclusively at shop.j-hackcompany.com (https://j-hack-shop.myshopify.com).

Retail price TBD. Expected release date: NOV 2018.

 

[Thehack]

Go forward with this, there is two main shoot offs we can go.

1. Compatibility with pico psu. The distribution board will use a load sensing circuit to turn on a load switch (or relay) to distribute 12V power to PCIE outs. However 12V rail will still be on on the input side. Positive is less wires.

2. Full 24 ATX out. The board has additional standby circuit that can put the PSU into standby mode, completely disabling the 12V rail. You end up with more wires, which I hate.

3. Create both board designs, with one for smaller builds using the load sense circuit. The other one for bigger builds.

Paging @Link1712 to explain his project.

 

[Link1712]

Hi there!

So here is the PSU that was custom made by pico box for our case.
This thing can handle 600W of combined power, which is split into 300W for the PCIE lane alone and another 300W for ATX 24 Pin, EPS and SATA. For both Power Rails you'll need a 300W External power brick.
This is what the psu looks like.

and here the Power brick

 

[Thehack]

Hi there!

So here is the PSU that was custom made by pico box for our case.
This thing can handle 600W of combined power, which is split into 300W for the PCIE lane alone and another 300W for ATX 24 Pin, EPS and SATA. For both Power Rails you'll need a 300W External power brick.
This is what the psu looks like.

and here the Power brick

Very nice. What was the reason you went with a 24V design? Your board ended up very large.

Also I haven't seen pico box very active. Are you in good communication with them?

 

[RoLexus]

I'm going to design that, even haven't much time and take some time to search.
My idea is a long direct plug board with 500W, 12V input, with remote power switch and noise filter.

 

[Link1712]

Very nice. What was the reason you went with a 24V design? Your board ended up very large.

Also I haven't seen pico box very active. Are you in good communication with them?

So the input is 19V. It assures maximum efficiency so the psu could almost be cooled completely passive. Almost i say, because there is a little bit of airflow through the case recommended, although passive cooling hase been tested successfully.
The reason why we went with this solution is due to our case design. I'd wish to speak openly here, but our patent is still in the registration and i can't post any details about it before that happened.

 

[Link1712]

Very nice. What was the reason you went with a 24V design? Your board ended up very large.

Also I haven't seen pico box very active. Are you in good communication with them?

Ah what i forgot. Yes i am communicating with them actively. They will reply to me within maybe 12h usually.

 

[Thehack]

So the input is 19V. It assures maximum efficiency so the psu could almost be cooled completely passive. Almost i say, because there is a little bit of airflow through the case recommended, although passive cooling hase been tested successfully.
The reason why we went with this solution is due to our case design. I'd wish to speak openly here, but our patent is still in the registration and i can't post any details about it before that happened.

That's fine. I do know that you can find 250W 12V psu available. You can save a lot more space by making it a 12V design. I hope your project goes well but the community can give a lot if you're willing to divulge us.

 

[Thehack]

Ah what i forgot. Yes i am communicating with them actively. They will reply to me within maybe 12h usually.

Thats good. Do you think they can do a custom board as the thread stated? Where are you based?

I'm going to design that, even haven't much time and take some time to search.
My idea is a long direct plug board with 500W, 12V input, with remote power switch and noise filter.

Very good. Do interest us. I would say it'd be difficult to get wide acceptance because of minibox patent. I started noticing fewer pico psu in the market. Seems that they're aggressive with their patent now.

 

[Link1712]

Thats good. Do you think they can do a custom board as the thread stated? Where are you based?



Very good. Do interest us. I would say it'd be difficult to get wide acceptance because of minibox patent. I started noticing fewer pico psu in the market. Seems that they're aggressive with their patent now.

I can surely make something up with them. But it depends on the specs.

 

[RoLexus]

Thats good. Do you think they can do a custom board as the thread stated? Where are you based?



Very good. Do interest us. I would say it'd be difficult to get wide acceptance because of minibox patent. I started noticing fewer pico psu in the market. Seems that they're aggressive with their patent now.

For 12V if the input is filtered out side the board, board size is not too big, enough for almost mobo,
I found a cheap tiny 12V 600W PSU with less than 10mV Vp-p, I will order and install in my new EATX case to test next month.

 

[aquelito]

@RoLexus : can you please link your 600W PSU ?

 

[RoLexus]

@RoLexus : can you please link your 600W PSU ?

I will mod from some part, It is AC/DC one, small enough to install in almost mini case.
I will show when show test result.

 

[Thehack]

Have also thought about a server psu? Miners use hp common slot psu with a breakout board. While not more power dense than an SF600, it's form factor is pretty slim.

 

[Link1712]

Have also thought about a server psu? Miners use hp common slot psu with a breakout board. While not more power dense than an SF600, it's form factor is pretty slim.

These are usually super loud tho. The 40mm fan ramps up to earstriking rpm and even by swapping those, they will be super noisy.

 

[Thehack]

These are usually super loud tho. The 40mm fan ramps up to earstriking rpm and even by swapping those, they will be super noisy.

Yes, but that's because they're dealing with high outputs. If you derate and use a quieter Noctua fan, you can still achieve the same output with reasonable noise.

 

[Link1712]

Yes, but that's because they're dealing with high outputs. If you derate and use a quieter Noctua fan, you can still achieve the same output with reasonable noise.

But even with a noctua fan, it will be very loud.

 

[Thehack]

I'm wondering if @Zackmd1 would be interested in this.

We do need to determine one hard path of design. I'm thinking to support a 100W cpu and 150W gpu. If others are interested please chime in.

 

[aquelito]

As I already wrote to you in PM, I would be interested in a dual PCIe solution, supporting at least 400W.

The transistor used on my load switch and riser is a BTS555 rated for 165A : shouldn't be an issue !

https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infin...N.pdf?fileId=5546d4625a888733015aa3f57e5e103e

 

[Thehack]

As I already wrote to you in PM, I would be interested in a dual PCIe solution, supporting at least 400W.

The transistor used on my load switch and riser is a BTS555 rated for 165A : shouldn't be an issue !

https://www.infineon.com/dgdl/Infin...N.pdf?fileId=5546d4625a888733015aa3f57e5e103e

I'm thinking of finalizing the specs to:

2x8 pin out, and 1x 4 pin out. Support for 400W max output. Most of the cost is in the board and design fees.

Opinion on 90 degree angle (sideways i/o like on GPUs) or vertical in/outs (like for CPU)?