Powering 3 monitors with one brick?

zovc

King of Cable Management
Original poster
Jan 5, 2017
852
603
Hey!

One really cumbersome part of my setup is that I have three monitors--they're pretty generic Monoprice ones, I don't have the exact model handy--and they all have their own power brick, which means I've got three bricks to manage and I have to dedicate three outlets to them!

I can't imagine these things use so much power that I can't consolidate them into using one power brick, but obviously I don't have a brick with three of the appropriate (smaller barrel) connectors hanging off of it laying around.

Is it possible to find, commission (@guryhwa ?), or reasonably mod a power brick to power my three monitors?

(I can get proper specifications later today, I don't think the particular model is sold anymore.)
 

zovc

King of Cable Management
Original poster
Jan 5, 2017
852
603
If they're just using two-pin barrel connectors (i.e. there is no extra pin for communication between the monitor and PSU) then any brick with the correct voltage and 3x the current capacity of the current bricks will be suitable.

Do those get sold individually? Like, bricks with multiple and/or modular connectors? IIRC they're very standard ones, probably the ones you're thinking of. They're smaller than the barrel connector of my Dell 300W brick.
 

Reldey

Master of Cramming
Feb 14, 2017
387
405
Do those get sold individually? Like, bricks with multiple and/or modular connectors? IIRC they're very standard ones, probably the ones you're thinking of. They're smaller than the barrel connector of my Dell 300W brick.
One of the best purchases I made was a cheap measuring caliper off of Amazon. You could measure the barrel jack with that, and order three separate jacks and wire them up yourself to a suitable, more powerful, brick. I think it would be a simple mod.
 

zovc

King of Cable Management
Original poster
Jan 5, 2017
852
603
Alright! I checked out one of the power bricks.

My calipers say they're 5.5mm barrel connectors and I only saw two pins on the inside. +12V, 5.42A.

So, any brick that supplies 12V and can supply 12.26(or more) A will suffice? How complex of a mod would this be?
 

EdZ

Virtual Realist
May 11, 2015
1,578
2,107
Very easy. As it's 12V, you have a large selection of power supplies to choose from (even a modded PC PSU would work). If you're willing to sacrifice the existing PSUs for the plugs then all you need to do is cut off the existing plugs (leaving you plenty of wire to work with), use a multimeter to check continuity between the outside of the barrel connector and one of the wires (to tell which is which), then join them to the correct output on the power supply (the original PSU and/or the monitor will have a helpful symbol telling you whether the positive lead should be connected to the inside or outside of the connector). If you want to keep the original PSUs intact, you can measure the outside and inside diameter of the barrel connectors and order new connectors from many different places: in the UK/EU, Farnell are a good source. Mouser and Digikey seem popular in the US.
 
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zovc

King of Cable Management
Original poster
Jan 5, 2017
852
603
Re-visiting this:

I've been monitoring one of these monitors with a Kill-a-Watt plug meter, and it's consistently used between 19 and 20 Watts for about 24 hours now... I feel like it's safe to say these displays each use less than 30W.

Is it sensible to try modding one of the bricks that came with these monitors to power all three of them?
 

Choidebu

"Banned"
Aug 16, 2017
1,196
1,204
How many watts is either one of those? It says on the label.

Typical ones I think are rated for 60W, I've seen some 75s and 80W.
While 20x3=60, I'd say don't, manufacturers generally keep the load to 50% at these lower wattage scale.
If you got 100W brick with same voltage somewhere then go for it.
 

QinX

Master of Cramming
kees
Mar 2, 2015
541
374
If you want to avoid actually modding the bricks, what you can do is:
But some prototyping board(google perf board) and solder a 1 to 3 divider.
That way if the brick dies or isn't powerful enough it would be fairly simple to buy a better one and use that with the same board.

It will require soldering, but so would modding the existing brick.

Have you tested power consumption at max settings? 100% brightness? that will show you a better maximum that each monitors needs.
 

zovc

King of Cable Management
Original poster
Jan 5, 2017
852
603
That seems like a pretty good starting point, even if I ended up going through with a modded brick.

I'm super, super green on this sort of stuff, could you help me make sure I'm looking at the right stuff, or direct me to a good resource for double and triple-checking myself? I have a feeling I'm prone to picking the wrong thing with a name like "1 to 3 divider."

A friend offered to give me a soldering iron and worst-case, I could always borrow my roommate's one if not.

I haven't tested the monitors at "100% brightness", but I have been running them at their rated max resolution and refresh rate. With the brightness set to "0" in the OSD, they're way too bright in my opinion, I can't see myself ever wanting to increase the brightness. Haha
 

QinX

Master of Cramming
kees
Mar 2, 2015
541
374
That seems like a pretty good starting point, even if I ended up going through with a modded brick.

I'm super, super green on this sort of stuff, could you help me make sure I'm looking at the right stuff, or direct me to a good resource for double and triple-checking myself? I have a feeling I'm prone to picking the wrong thing with a name like "1 to 3 divider."

A friend offered to give me a soldering iron and worst-case, I could always borrow my roommate's one if not.

I haven't tested the monitors at "100% brightness", but I have been running them at their rated max resolution and refresh rate. With the brightness set to "0" in the OSD, they're way too bright in my opinion, I can't see myself ever wanting to increase the brightness. Haha

It's always good to know what the actual max consumption is.
Imagine in 2-3 years, the ccfl or leds have less output and you decide to up the brightness, suddenly your brick doesn't provide enough power.

For the divider, I'd do something like this:
Get 1 of these http://www.smokeandwires.co.nz/383-large_default/dc-connector-21mm-x-55mm-pcb-mount.jpg
3 of these https://a.pololu-files.com/picture/0J3614.1200.jpg?7c8cd9186ed12b602be8aa2d3204108f
and then 3 of these http://www.batteryspace.com/productimages/connectors/4143_20.jpg
or if you could go for something like this and add your own cables.
https://www.modmypi.com/image/cache...plug-to-screw-terminal-block-back-800x609.jpg

On the perf board you would solder the positives to each other and the negatives.

If your roommate knows a little about soldering and electronics it shouldn't be too hard to make.
 

zovc

King of Cable Management
Original poster
Jan 5, 2017
852
603
Here's the solution a friend and I came up with yesterday:

We were working on some projects and I knew he was more handy with electrical and wiring, so I brought one of the power supplies and asked him about it. Turns out these fittings from his CCTV are compatible with the jack on my power brick.

So, the idea is to make a breakout using the female screw-down connector to make an adapter that can then breakout. That'll save me from actually having to do anything to the AC-DC unit or the stock connector. From there, I can make three male DC-in connectors however long I need!

Which, this means I need to order a few things from overseas so the project might take a month or so to really get fired up.
 
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GuilleAcoustic

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GuilleAcoustic

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My bad, I thought you were only talking about the voltage rating.

If @zovc is willing to DIY the thing a little, Wago connectors are the easy way to distribute a single power source to multiple devices.

https://www.wago.com/us/c/wire-splicing-connectors

 
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