G-Unique Plug&Play DC-ATX Oversea Edition Preview

What price do G-Unique Plug&Play units deserved?

  • Lower than pico units (assuming same wattage)

  • About the same as pico units (assuming same wattage)

  • A little bit higher than pico units (assuming same wattage)

  • Much higher than pico units (assuming same wattage)


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aquelito

King of Cable Management
Piccolo PC
Feb 16, 2016
952
1,122
This is an issue we already talked about with @QinX.

For him, no problem :

- using a non-powered riser
- pluging one 330W AC adapter into the onboard barrel connector.

FYI, I intend to power a 35W KL Pentium T with an Inno3D GTX 1060 6G.

However, your double-barrel modded brick is a very clever solution : one connector into the mobo inlet, the other into the GPU 19V->12V board inlet.
Speaking of which, the only one I know of is this one :
http://www.mini-box.com/DCDC-USB-200?sc=8&category=1264

Given the $60 cost and the large footprint, what is the advantage compared to my HDPLEX unit ? Apart the fact that you loose the 24Pin + Add2PSU syn pcb.

To solve the footprint issue, I could just use a G-Unique or HDPLEX board soleley dedicated to the GPU, powered by one of the two barrels of the modded brick ?
 
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Thehack

Spatial Philosopher
Creator
Mar 6, 2016
2,800
3,650
J-hackcompany.com
This is an issue we already talked about with @QinX.

For him, no problem :

- using a non-powered riser
- pluging one 330W AC adapter into the onboard barrel connector.

FYI, I intend to power a 35W KL Pentium T with an Inno3D GTX 1060 6G.

However, your double-barrel modded brick is a very clever solution : one connector into the mobo inlet, the other into the GPU 19V->12V board inlet.
Speaking of which, the only one I know of is this one :
http://www.mini-box.com/DCDC-USB-200?sc=8&category=1264

Given the $60 cost and the large footprint, what is the advantage compared to my HDPLEX unit ? Apart the fact that you loose the 24Pin + Add2PSU syn pcb.

To solve the footprint issue, I could just use a G-Unique or HDPLEX board soleley dedicated to the GPU, powered by one of the two barrels of the modded brick ?

Yes that would work. You would just have to jumper the PS_ON signal for it, or use a switch in your case to turn it on. I see that the mini-box is over-engineered, and the HD-PLEX would have a lot of components that would be wasted. The new wide-input PDCB by HDPLEX may be a better choice since its more compact than the HDPLEX board.

I'm sure there are industrial boards out there, it is just hard to find and source one with the specs you need. For example, a quick look up on digikey resulted in this: http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/delta-electronics/E36SC12009NRFA/941-1571-ND/3507454

SPECS: 96W (12V * 9A), Vinput Min 18V,
OUTPUT: 12V, Ripple - 80mV pk-pk max
SIZE: 58.4mmx22.8mmx8.4mm (pretty much a M.2 stick sized).

Of course, this takes a lil' more know-how and willingness to experiment.

Also, I disagree on QNIX comment about how it messes up the boot sequence. I had no problems booting up my computer with the 12V already supplied to the GPU. It may not be the same for all use cases, but the logic is sound. The GPU regulators don't turn on themselves, they need the power management logic to tell them what to do.
 
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aquelito

King of Cable Management
Piccolo PC
Feb 16, 2016
952
1,122
Yes that would work. You would just have to jumper the PS_ON signal for it, or use a switch in your case to turn it on.

I believe that is the function of the Add2PSU PCB, which turns on the "slave" DC board (connected to 24Pin connector) once the motherboard boots.

Since we are on the G-Unique thread, I prefer to order a G-Unique DC board !

Thanks for your help.
 

Thehack

Spatial Philosopher
Creator
Mar 6, 2016
2,800
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I believe that is the function of the Add2PSU PCB, which turns on the "slave" DC board (connected to 24Pin connector) once the motherboard boots.

Since we are on the G-Unique thread, I prefer to order a G-Unique DC board !

Thanks for your help.

The ADD2PSU is for two ATX PSU to turn on with only a single PS_on signal, which operates on a different logic than a AC-DC to DC-DC board. The ADD2PSU is not applicable in your use case scenario. Even if it was applicable, you can make do with jamming a wire into the correct pinout.

If you go the HDPLex route, you are only using one HDPLEX, so you just need to jumper it. The PS_On signal comes from the motherboard. If the motherboard does not have a 24pin ATX, you do not get the PS_on signal at all.
 

CC Ricers

Shrink Ray Wielder
Bronze Supporter
Nov 1, 2015
2,233
2,556
The Meanwell EPP series goes from 75W all the way up to 400W.

The 300 & 400W units are 127mm x 76mm x 32mm while the 200W unit is 101mm x 51mm x 29mm.

http://www.mouser.com/Search/Refine.aspx?Keyword=Meanwell+EPP&Ns=Output+Power|1&FS=True

So if I were to use one of these Meanwell EPP power supplies, would I be able to get by using an unbalanced power connector such as IEC-C7/C8? The datasheet for the EPP 200 shows only two pins for the AC input, Live and Neutral. Since there is no Earth connector I assume that unbalanced plugs are okay.
 

Thehack

Spatial Philosopher
Creator
Mar 6, 2016
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So if I were to use one of these Meanwell EPP power supplies, would I be able to get by using an unbalanced power connector such as IEC-C7/C8? The datasheet for the EPP 200 shows only two pins for the AC input, Live and Neutral. Since there is no Earth connector I assume that unbalanced plugs are okay.

Yeah. These things are essentially the same as a brick, just a bit more powerful. If you have any questions or things to add, I have started a thread on the Meanwell PSU a while ago. We can have more discussion there and everyone can benefit.

https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/meanwell-psu.1270/
 
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CC Ricers

Shrink Ray Wielder
Bronze Supporter
Nov 1, 2015
2,233
2,556
Yeah. These things are essentially the same as a brick, just a bit more powerful. If you have any questions or things to add, I have started a thread on the Meanwell PSU a while ago. We can have more discussion there and everyone can benefit.

https://smallformfactor.net/forum/threads/meanwell-psu.1270/

That's fantastic. It will make the layout of my custom case easier knowing that the larger C13/14 plug won't be necessary. 200W is what I need at the absolute most (more realistically I don't expect my system to use more than 180W).
 

BirdofPrey

Standards Guru
Sep 3, 2015
797
493
LOL,That's true. I got 2 G Unique DC-ATX power supply in China. Now I'm in America, I always want another one to build a htpc.
Well you can still get the gUnique units off tabao even in the Americas and Europe; the only problem is that most of us can't read Chinese, so shopping is difficult (and translation programs are terrible trying to translate western and eastern languages).

I'm pretty sure thats why they are selling these here is to tap the western market that has trouble with that.
 

MarcParis

Spatial Philosopher
Apr 1, 2016
3,616
2,705
Really nice psu system...that could have the true potential to replace sfx psu for mini itx device with 1 gpu..:)
 

FCase

SFF Lingo Aficionado
FCase
Dec 20, 2015
142
92
@guryhwa mods both the 12V 220W and 19V 330W Dell bricks. I believe the modified 19V puts out up to 500W at 18V. However, he changes up the plug to handle the additional amperage, although I believe one of the ways he can do this is with dual barrel plugs.

Anyone got a link to these modded bricks?

Thanks
 

Kooki

SFF Lingo Aficionado
Mar 30, 2016
129
56
I'm really impressed by the showcase of potential products showed in this thread!
Look at that beautiful "thin-atx" PSU!
 

dtallon13

Cable Smoosher
Jul 11, 2016
10
1
These PSUs look awesome! I like the idea other people are mentioning about using a dual board setup, to allow higher power output. Do you think it would be possible to make one that can handle 500 or 600W and act as a UPS? I made an image to better illustrate what I mean (It's just a mockup, I know it probably won't be this small).
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,935
I am currently in the process of developing a dual board solution like this and should have a sample by mid-march. It will have a base rating of 460W and given how most DC-DC boards work, should be able to comfortably manage 500 with sufficient cooling. As far as UPS function goes, I am looking at getting a load splitting device like this made:

http://www.mini-box.com/Y-PWR-Hot-Swap-Load-Sharing-Controller

The purpose would be to allow users to have two HDPlex AC-DC units working in tandem for up to 600W of goodness, a pair of hot swappable batteries for portable applications (read VR) as well as a mix of the two which would essentially be (I think) the UPS solution you're talking about. It would however be up to you to have a charging solution for your battery as I don't necessarily plan to build that in.
 

dtallon13

Cable Smoosher
Jul 11, 2016
10
1
I am currently in the process of developing a dual board solution like this and should have a sample by mid-march. It will have a base rating of 460W and given how most DC-DC boards work, should be able to comfortably manage 500 with sufficient cooling. As far as UPS function goes, I am looking at getting a load splitting device like this made:

http://www.mini-box.com/Y-PWR-Hot-Swap-Load-Sharing-Controller

The purpose would be to allow users to have two HDPlex AC-DC units working in tandem for up to 600W of goodness, a pair of hot swappable batteries for portable applications (read VR) as well as a mix of the two which would essentially be (I think) the UPS solution you're talking about. It would however be up to you to have a charging solution for your battery as I don't necessarily plan to build that in.

This is a great idea, I didn't even think of that!
 

Kmpkt

Innovation through Miniaturization
KMPKT
Feb 1, 2016
3,382
5,935
Ultimately what I want this system for is an ITX based VR enclosure I'm working on. As such dual hot swappable batteries are pretty much a must. The upside is that the power splitter works well in multiple applications. The unfortunate part about the Mini-box splitter is it has a peak load of 20A and 10A per channel at a max of 30V. Ideally I'd like to see 20A per channel, 35A total and a peak of at least 24V.