Power Supply A Guide to 12V PSU

[Thehack]

Just finished wiring up the AC input for my Meanwell unit. Looks like it is working okay so far
Big thanks to @Thehack for this guide and answering my questions along the way

Glad to have another 12v comrade.

 

[LewisLeonPiper-Upson]

Interesting read. I've always found Mean Well EPP options reliable and high quality. I get them from https://www.powersuppliesonline.co....rame-power-supplies/epp-series-mean-well.html

They're pretty clued up on the technical side too which is great for a newbie like myself.

 

[Thehack]

Interesting read. I've always found Mean Well EPP options reliable and high quality. I get them from https://www.powersuppliesonline.co....rame-power-supplies/epp-series-mean-well.html

They're pretty clued up on the technical side too which is great for a newbie like myself.

Good to hear. I am working making a whole 12V ecosystem so it should get much easier to build a 12V system this time next year.

 

[rook]

I love the form factor of the HDPlex 400W, makes me wonder what it could look like in 12V.

 

[Thehack]

I love the form factor of the HDPlex 400W, makes me wonder what it could look like in 12V.

It would be 2/3 the size. There will likely be a 12V board similar to HDPLEX 400W in the future.

 

[Valantar]

It would be 2/3 the size. There will likely be a 12V board similar to HDPLEX 400W in the future.

You are dropping some not-at-all subtle hints here Got anything more specific to say, like when we can expect to hear more? I for one am very interested.

 

[rook]

You are dropping some not-at-all subtle hints here Got anything more specific to say, like when we can expect to hear more? I for one am very interested.

Ridin' the hype train! But seriously...

 

[Thehack]

Ridin' the hype train! But seriously...

In the meantime, Distro 400 kit fulfill the same purpose as an HDPLEX 400 type, while in a much smaller package.

Concerning the details, I don't have much to say, but I'd like to make a full family of 12V products, including AC-DC kits. In the near future, I will be using meanwell and will make a UHP-200-12 kit for the S4 mini, which allows you to build up to 200W continuous and 300W peak.

 

[jmsantos1983]

I just want 2 know if someone is planning to make a easy guide for us noobs in this forum. This idea is great but without any guide leaves us in the dark.
Thank you.

 

[Valantar]

I just want 2 know if someone is planning to make a easy guide for us noobs in this forum. This idea is great but without any guide leaves us in the dark.
Thank you.

First off, you've read the first post in this thread, I assume? It's quite comprehensive. Other than that, I kind of doubt this will happen, frankly. Why? Because there's too much variability. How much power do you need? What are your space constraints? Do you want an internal or external AC-DC PSU? After you've figured that out, you have the questions of what terminals you need for your cabling (varies by each line of PSUs, and even changes by the output wattage), what tools you need to wire them up, and how you need to lay out your cabling for your devices. What tools do you need, and which do you have already? Do you know how to use them? The first post lays most of this out in a clear and concise manner for a single series of Mean Well 12V PSUs. If you want to go beyond that, you'll need to read up.

In other words, any guide would then have to be either broad and vague and thus largely useless - I gather quite a few people here could put that together in not too long a time, but you wouldn't have much use for it - or it would have to be an undertaking of encyclopedic proportions, listing all the relevant parts at various wattages, their related connectors and components, where to source them, and how to wire them up and combine them in all the myriad scenarios possible. If you need a GPU, there's the question of how to rig up a load-switched power supply for it straight from the AC-DC PSU to avoid overloading the DC-ATX unit or leaving the GPU powered while the system is shut down. Then there's the risk. Not that this is dangerous (unless you're careless enough to short out a charged capacitor in an open AC-DC PSU or touch things inside a PSU connected to power), but we're talking about building DIY power supplies here. Mess up, and you'll ruin your hardware, shock yourself, or both. Wire an AC input wrong, and you can cause a fire. Use the wrong wire gauge for a wire carrying a significant amount of power, and you can melt your insulation (uh-oh) or connectors if you're really unlucky, not to mention the power losses you'll see through heat generated in the cable.

And in all of this, I haven't even mentioned the spanner thrown in the works if you decide to look into non-12V PSUs such as the HDPlex/KMPKT units. That's a whole other can of worms, with different pros and cons.

It would be really cool if we could make some sort of community-driven Wiki for these systems, but that would take a lot of time to get up and running and at a decent quality.


Tl;dr: This is not "easy". An easy guide might be possible (the first post does a bang-up job, frankly), but is not really advisable, as the risks would be significant. If you're not willing to read up on how to do this correctly and safely and spend a while researching what works for you, this type of setup is not what you want.

 

[Thehack]

First off, you've read the first post in this thread, I assume? It's quite comprehensive. Other than that, I kind of doubt this will happen, frankly. Why? Because there's too much variability. How much power do you need? What are your space constraints? Do you want an internal or external AC-DC PSU? After you've figured that out, you have the questions of what terminals you need for your cabling (varies by each line of PSUs, and even changes by the output wattage), what tools you need to wire them up, and how you need to lay out your cabling for your devices. What tools do you need, and which do you have already? Do you know how to use them? The first post lays most of this out in a clear and concise manner for a single series of Mean Well 12V PSUs. If you want to go beyond that, you'll need to read up.

In other words, any guide would then have to be either broad and vague and thus largely useless - I gather quite a few people here could put that together in not too long a time, but you wouldn't have much use for it - or it would have to be an undertaking of encyclopedic proportions, listing all the relevant parts at various wattages, their related connectors and components, where to source them, and how to wire them up and combine them in all the myriad scenarios possible. If you need a GPU, there's the question of how to rig up a load-switched power supply for it straight from the AC-DC PSU to avoid overloading the DC-ATX unit or leaving the GPU powered while the system is shut down. Then there's the risk. Not that this is dangerous (unless you're careless enough to short out a charged capacitor in an open AC-DC PSU or touch things inside a PSU connected to power), but we're talking about building DIY power supplies here. Mess up, and you'll ruin your hardware, shock yourself, or both. Wire an AC input wrong, and you can cause a fire. Use the wrong wire gauge for a wire carrying a significant amount of power, and you can melt your insulation (uh-oh) or connectors if you're really unlucky, not to mention the power losses you'll see through heat generated in the cable.

And in all of this, I haven't even mentioned the spanner thrown in the works if you decide to look into non-12V PSUs such as the HDPlex/KMPKT units. That's a whole other can of worms, with different pros and cons.

It would be really cool if we could make some sort of community-driven Wiki for these systems, but that would take a lot of time to get up and running and at a decent quality.


Tl;dr: This is not "easy". An easy guide might be possible (the first post does a bang-up job, frankly), but is not really advisable, as the risks would be significant. If you're not willing to read up on how to do this correctly and safely and spend a while researching what works for you, this type of setup is not what you want.

Excellent post my friend. Thank for that.

I do say that this post is specific to meanwell kits, but I hope to get some work done on updating it.

You are absolutely right there are way too many variables to define and ensure that they work.

I hope to correct some of this by next year with some 12V kits that anyone can assemble. It may not be as cheap as other solutions like flex atx or sfx but it'll be very compact and the kit is all inclusive.

It also doesn't help that different cases add more variables to support. A Dancase build is vastly different than an S4 mini build despite them both being on the bleeding edge of small.

Currently I am looking at providing an all inclusive kit for S4 mini early 2019, 12V kit 200W continuous and 300W peak for the S4 mini. Should allow most users to power a gtx 1060 and 8400 or 2500X. Things happen as they happen so there are no set time lines. I recommend you follow my 12V kit to provide input and get updates. https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/one2-ac-dc-and-dc-atx-boards-a-12v-family.8176/

 

[rook]

So what exactly is required to run the bench style 12v ac-dc converters below with a dynamo or arch daemon? They're quite a bit higher cost but the Delta variant is nearing within budget on a larger buy. They were briefly mentioned in this post.

Cosel TUNS500F (500W) (117.3mm x 61.5mm x 12.7mm) - https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetai...aalG5TUgHcQqVlJSqnGRBri4gO%2b1qhFbrHMZmVH1Q==

Delta PACSR12042S (500W) (110.7mm x 50.8mm x 13.7mm) - https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/delta-electronics/PACSR12042S/941-1792-ND/7322768

 

[Thehack]

They are power modules and thus require a custom PCB with the rest of the power components. It would about $100-400 for a single run. It depends if you can do board layout yourself.

You are better off using the 400W meanwell. Or gut a SF600 and mod it.

 

[rook]

While I could figure it out eventually..., I don't know didly about PCB design and power supplies.

I have a pc case I've been designing & the hdplex 400w ac-dc fits perfectly! but 400W is on the low end of what I'd want to power a 1080ti and 8700k, and that model has had some quality issues in the past. My 500W 1U doesn't even hiccup but also doesn't have the same form factor. I'm checking the dark corners of the web while the hdplex is out of stock.

 

[Beardedswede]

So why don’t HDplex go into 12v when it seems superior in every way ?
Is ther any optiOn to the G unique. It all still feels a bit insecure.

 

[Thehack]

http://www.fiduspower.com/ac-dc-power-supply/open-frame/WLC550

550W peak unit.

I think hdplex new 400w AC-DC should be better. Active cooling makes a big difference. I think 3x5 or flex atx size should be the next evolution in sff. We just gotta get the noise level more acceptable.

 

[Thehack]

So why don’t HDplex go into 12v when it seems superior in every way ?
Is ther any optiOn to the G unique. It all still feels a bit insecure.

I do not know. It may be due to them starting with 19V but now they're stuck with it because all of their product lines are based on 19V.

It could also be that they've focused early on external AC-DC, which are commonly 19V units.

19V has two advantage:

1. More common AC-DC external psu.

2. Smaller input wires.

 

[Valantar]

I do not know. It may be due to them starting with 19V but now they're stuck with it because all of their product lines are based on 19V.

It could also be that they've focused early on external AC-DC, which are commonly 19V units.

19V has two advantage:

1. More common AC-DC external psu.

2. Smaller input wires.

Seems likely. After all, selling different product lines like that will inevitably lead to people combining incompatible parts (regardless of how difficult you make it to order them together and how explicit you make the warnings of incompatibility) and breaking stuff (and subsequently blaming the manufacturer).

Compatibility with off-the-shelf power bricks is probably big too, given how common these are. Heck, I have several 95W 19-20V bricks lying unused that might be put to use with a HDPlex setup. I'm guessing the majority of their sales are for use with these, especially as most SFF cases can't fit an internal AC-DC unit.

 

[NateDawg72]

Had some time to work on my PSU again and I wired it up to my Pico PSU 160XT

Did a test boot with a sacrificial board and now I have it hooked up to my spare system that had windows installed. I have it running P95 but it's only a pentium G4600 so the whole system barely pulls 40 watts.

Next step would be getting it wired up to power a GPU as well very pleased with it so far, at these low loads it is silent

 

[Thehack]

Had some time to work on my PSU again and I wired it up to my Pico PSU 160XT

Did a test boot with a sacrificial board and now I have it hooked up to my spare system that had windows installed. I have it running P95 but it's only a pentium G4600 so the whole system barely pulls 40 watts.

Next step would be getting it wired up to power a GPU as well very pleased with it so far, at these low loads it is silent

Very nice to see you get it working. I'm not sure if you mentioned it before, but what is your case and final build components?