Brand new to this forum and looking to build a SFF computer for my long term camping rig. My secondary battery bank for the truck will be 12v so I think I'm outta luck for the high input voltages(16V-24V) of the HDPLEX 400. I do some pretty heavy rendering for work so my build will include a GTX 1080 Mini and an I7 8700 maybe an 8700k so I need a pretty high output PSU for this form factor. Can I just double up on two smaller capacity PSU's and have one run the graphics card and the other run the motherboard/drives. Any suggestions would be great?
Power Supply Hight Output DC-DC Power Supply with 12v Input voltage.
- Thread starter aschafer14
- Start date
You're going to need an inverter or getting two of them in series and running it as a 24v battery.
The issue is lead acid batteries have a charged voltage of 13-14V. This is not compatible with any 12V DC-DC board, and you can't use a wide input board either.
So you got 3 choices:
1. Use an inverter.
2. Use a boost circuit.
3. Get two batteries and use them in series.
Or just get a laptop.
The issue is lead acid batteries have a charged voltage of 13-14V. This is not compatible with any 12V DC-DC board, and you can't use a wide input board either.
So you got 3 choices:
1. Use an inverter.
2. Use a boost circuit.
3. Get two batteries and use them in series.
Or just get a laptop.
I have found a power supply that will accept that voltage and is built for automotive use but I just cant find any with the output I am looking for. http://www.mini-box.com/M3-ATX-DC-DC-ATX-Automotive-Computer-car-PC-Power-Supply?sc=8&category=981
I have a 1200W inverter but since this is going to be a long heavy draw on my battery I want to minimize the inefficiencies of going from DC-AC then back from AC-DC.
It wouldn't seem like using an additional voltage step up unit to regulate power to a power supply would be the most efficient way to go either but worth looking into if its the only other option.
I'm already running two 6V AGM batteries in series for my 12v system and my fridge lights etc all run off 12v so unfortunately I'm stuck there.
I have a 1200W inverter but since this is going to be a long heavy draw on my battery I want to minimize the inefficiencies of going from DC-AC then back from AC-DC.
It wouldn't seem like using an additional voltage step up unit to regulate power to a power supply would be the most efficient way to go either but worth looking into if its the only other option.
I'm already running two 6V AGM batteries in series for my 12v system and my fridge lights etc all run off 12v so unfortunately I'm stuck there.
One way is to add another 6V AGM battery, and only wire that in series into a HDPLEX unit. 14+7=21V.
You can get a simple voltage buck/boost circuit, but I haven't seen one that can handle 500W continuous with output control. They're out there I'm sure, just hard to find.
Interesting solution but then my 12v charging system isn't going to compatible. Plus adding a 100 lb deep cycle battery to my rig is really moving away from the benefits of small form factor.
I found this beast of a unit (http://www.powerstream.com/DC-PC-12V-400.htm) not the most elegant solution either.
I found this beast of a unit (http://www.powerstream.com/DC-PC-12V-400.htm) not the most elegant solution either.
I found boost circuit, but not sure is that you need: RCNUN Boost Module DC DC Converter 12V to 19V 30A Step-up Voltage Regulator to work with HDplex 400W DC-ATX
Converter Regulator Module DC 12V (9 V-18 V) Step Up To DC 19V 25A 475W Boost Power
Converter Regulator Module DC 12V (9 V-18 V) Step Up To DC 19V 25A 475W Boost Power
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That seems like it'll work. But be careful of chinese parts. Hard to tell if something is high quality or not.
mini-box does sell 200W buck-boost converters, so I'd call and ask to see if they can be wired in parallel for 400W or something.
mini-box does sell 200W buck-boost converters, so I'd call and ask to see if they can be wired in parallel for 400W or something.
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I have reached out to mini-box through email, I feel like they are my best bet for a solution since they already make a handful of options for automotive use. I would think that two of those 200w buck-boost converter could be wired in parallel but I'll see what mini-box says.
That boost module looks like it would work but just seems massive for what I'm trying to accomplish. I know I'm probably being picky but it just seems like that HDPLEX 400 is so close if it just accepted a wider voltage input.
I'll let you you know when I hear back.
That boost module looks like it would work but just seems massive for what I'm trying to accomplish. I know I'm probably being picky but it just seems like that HDPLEX 400 is so close if it just accepted a wider voltage input.
I'll let you you know when I hear back.
Mini-Box wasn't too much help through email, I asked them about dual power supplies and they said it might work but they haven't tested it. I asked them about dual buck-boost converters but am waiting to hear back. In the meantime I think I found a better solution.
https://shop.pkys.com/Victron-Orion-1224-10-Step-Up-DCDC-Voltage-Converter_p_2553.html
This Victron voltage booster should supply 240W sustained/480w peak which should be plenty and its 95% efficiency is about as good I'm gonna get plus its a brand I trust, I'm already running their solar charge controller. During my system test rending on CPU and GPU with my RAM maxed out on after effects I only got up to 220w on my kill-a-watt reading which is way more than I'd ever do on the road anyway.
Unless I come across something better I'm going to order the HDPlex 400 and the Victron 12/24-10. Now I just need to figure out how to wire it to the 7.4x5mm barrel connector and where to source one of those so I can use the Dell brick when I'm not on the road.
https://shop.pkys.com/Victron-Orion-1224-10-Step-Up-DCDC-Voltage-Converter_p_2553.html
This Victron voltage booster should supply 240W sustained/480w peak which should be plenty and its 95% efficiency is about as good I'm gonna get plus its a brand I trust, I'm already running their solar charge controller. During my system test rending on CPU and GPU with my RAM maxed out on after effects I only got up to 220w on my kill-a-watt reading which is way more than I'd ever do on the road anyway.
Unless I come across something better I'm going to order the HDPlex 400 and the Victron 12/24-10. Now I just need to figure out how to wire it to the 7.4x5mm barrel connector and where to source one of those so I can use the Dell brick when I'm not on the road.
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