How to Hack a Computer Power Supply (PSU) To Use as a 12V DC Power Source
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 12 авг 2014
- In this video, I will show you a beginner's level demonstration of how to hack a cheap ($20) atx computer power supply (psu) and turn it into a useful 12V power supply that you can use to power a car stereo, fans, lights, peltier cooler, etc. #psuhack #upcycle #diypowersupply
Please support my channel by shopping my stores:
store.ldsreliance.com (BATTERIES & SOLAR)
jerichobatteries.com (LITHIUM BATTERIES)
shop.spreadshirt.com/ldsreliance (MERCH)
If you want to donate and get extra perks:
/ ldsreliance
www.paypal.me/ldsreliance 
Хобби
Just so you know...your video is still being used 8 years later! THANK YOU!
Awesome! The technology hasn't changed so I would hope it is still relevant.
For anyone wondering, Orange is 3.3V, Red is 5V and Yellow is 12V.
Black is obviously ground.
thank you su much man!
On my PSU it's all written on it (what colors are what input)
What one is the 12v 13 amp?
thank you so much man
@@cockneyb2k its the 4-pin square shaped connector that says PH. The other 12v1 wires have rectangle-shaped connectors so its pretty easy to spot, and to confirm that it's the 12v2 you can plug a fan into it and it'll run noticeably faster on the 12v2 than on 12v1 here it is: raw.githubusercontent.com/3DModularSystems/Scalar/master/Documentation/Photos/Electronic/AtxPSUConvertion/AtxPsuConvertion-004.jpg
I've really struggled with the concept of using a PSU to power 12v, but this video is stupidly simple. Brilliantly explained. I can now carry on with my project. Many thanks.
You are welcome. Thanks for the feedback and thanks for watching!
I just hope I will be able to power a car wiper motor with it.
That should be easily possible. You may need a relay, though, like you would have in a car to control the back and forth motion.
I want to connect to the zk-4xk unit. Do I need to use all the 12v wires?
simple and clean video to the point, i was gonna make a small incubator and i was gonna buy a adapter to power the thermostat but then i remembered i had a spare 450W power supply at my home just sitting there so i searched how to convert it into a DC 12V power supply and i was not disappointed. Thanks
Me when he soldered all of his connections, instead of twisting and taping them: Stands up, Slow claps... *tear rolls down cheek*
Haha thanks!
Sir can we make from it a room hearer,? Pls make a video for it
Thank you for simplifying the process.
I am a toddler when it comes to electricity and this vid makes it SEEM possible for me to get work done.
TherealTHAWEEZL For sure. You can do it but just take baby steps and use a small, cheap system like this one for testing and learning before going bigger.
And don't electrocute yourself lol
This is the 4th video I've watched about this, and you were the only one who actually explained what you were doing. Thank you.
You are welcome! Glad it helped you.
Great video for beginners which is what it was meant for. I have watched other videos where they made a variable power supply which got vary complicated for a beginner [ me ]. This was great and easy to understand. I look forward to your next video on this subject.
Thanks! That is why I tried to keep it simple. Sure you can add switches and knobs and fuses and a bunch of stuff to make this more user friendly and maybe safer. But this video will get you started on the basics and then you can move on from there.
YOU SIR ARE A FREAKING GENIUS!!!! Never once did I think to use the ignition terminal slot in my multi-tool to hold a set of wires I was going to solder........BRILLIANT!!!!!!!
Not sure if you are being sarcastic or not but it works!
No sarcasm there. I was dead serious. I've had a multi-tool set for nearly 20 years and never once though of that. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best......
Stephen Lee
Ok, good! Glad I could help. It worked well.
When all the 12 yellow wires are connected together, most PSUs will provide enough power for a device that draws 15 amps. This would work well for powering a 65 watt commercial or Ham radio transceiver. However there are a few transceivers that require 13.8 volts, so a battery boost unit, such as the MFJ-4416C would be needed.
Need to figure this out so I can build a boom box for the lake thanks for the clarity.
Just took a power supply out of a pc figuring i could use it and found this video.
I had no idea how i was gonna figure out what all those wires were for but this video makes it easy!!!
Thanks for this!!!
You are welcome! Thanks for watching.
Thank you very much!! This helped me out A LOT because I just couldn't find a good power source for my hho generator.
Nice, glad I could help. Thanks for watching!
I literally just got a 1296w psu that I'm going to be using as a power system for this very purpose. I'm going big lol....
I'm Electrical Engineer from Pakistan.
I know all these things already.But I really love the way you explained it n kept the things simple throughout your video.I suggest put explanation in description like max current and voltages of different colored wires.
Thumbs Up! Keep it Up!
Mustafa Tahir brother.. please help me. I am trying to use power supply to eun my 12 volt dc cooler. But when I join black and green it only starts for jerk. Doesnt run continously. Plz tell me what i am missing..
Waqas Naseem same situation with me
Waqas Naseem The motor in your fan has been overvoltaged and is now dead.
Qasim Ali ! I got my supply replaced..
Waqas Naseem which supply are using? What's is the model number?
I figured it out, paired it all up. I've got 12vdc,6vdc, and 4vdc. Thanks for the video. Sam.
OK, good. Glad you figured it out. Thanks for watching!
That's awesome. I was trying to figure out how not to spend the $50 to buy a power supply for my diesel heater and I have a bunch of cpu power sources in the scrap pile I can use. Thank you for this and I'm also interested in a lot of other stuff I see in your videos so I rang the bell. Cheers!
Thanks, brother! I really appreciate that.
Wow, finally an explanation about this process that a rookie like me can understand and isn't 30 minutes of rambling, random babbling. Thanks. And a quick question: I'm looking for an alternative to a manual 12v battery charger to use as a power supply for an electrolysis tank. This appears to be exactly what the electrolysis forums are talking about, but you mention the device won't be powerful enough to charge a 12v battery. Am I overthinking this, or is this precisely what I need?
id like to see a followup video explaining how to make the 12v charger, he said you'd need to do something with the other wires to get it to charge.
Maybe try this video, he uses the power supply to charge a 12v car battery but premise is most likely the same
@meatloafdaddy1223
12v can't charge a 12v battery. Since 12-12 = 0. You need a higher voltage from your supply to charge batteries. AFAIK some batteries charge with 13.8v.
Great video! Super clear! It's just that I wouldn't use electrical tape if I were you.
Electrical tape, when it gets hot, tends to slide around and might unwind and expose the wires some day. I use shrink wrap, which I think is a bit safer.
Good point. Thanks!
Yeah I hate that tape. Looks great in the beginning but just melts later and gets all over the place.
In this case is ok for the turn on signal (green wire)
Liquid electrical tape is a good option if no heatshrink tubing is available
no need for a dummy load between ps on and ground???
I just success to make the PS to 12v supply from your teach.... its great great video by simple way that show me clear step to make it work. thank you so much
Great video! Luv the way you clearly explained everything. Keep up the good work man, you are a beast!🤙🏿
Thanks, I appreciate it!!
Great simple tutorial.
So many of these out there are over complicated for what the majority of people want.
Well done that man!
Mark Hood Hey thanks! I appreciate that. I try to dumb it down for the common man.
thanks sir i make power Supply 220V to 12v 2a 5v 2a i open pc dvd drive
got it going thanks looking good now putting them all together making a nice box and trying to put a dial to lower and raise power very helpful thanks a bunch
+Nena Pike That is awesome, good job!
Just uncovered both a 500w and 300w power supply in my loft! I'll be installing g these in my shed for a peltier air cooler for my shed.
Sweet! You should be able to power quite a few peltiers with those.
I swear I watched this video as a younger me and I'm back 6 years later because it's still the best way to get a decent 12v psu for such little money!
Thanks man!
You are welcome! For sure. There are 12V and 24V DC power supplies out there but I can almost guarantee you they are not built to last as long and handle heat as well as a computer power supply.
great informative vid! other channels make reference to the addition of load resistor(s), under what circumstances are these necessary?
+allmodcons Newer power supplies are starting to have a "feature" (I call it a limitation) where they will not power on unless they detect a load. So just connecting the green wire to the black wire does nothing. Unless there is an active draw on the power supply it will still not turn on. Thus you can put in a load resistor to simulate a load and allow it to turn on.
Thanks for video which would help me get started with idea to use single PC PSU instead individual small PSUs for modem, router, phone and NAS.
+TheOmegaAlfa You are welcome. Good luck!
ohhhh way cool yeah the older looking ones have some kinda switch on them like push in and push again and button pops back up
Those are called 'AT' power supplies, very common in 286, 386, and 486-class PCs, also used in a lot of early Pentiums.
I think some modern 'industrial' computer hardware still uses them too. Newer power supplies are generally referred to as 'ATX'.
This is EXACTLY what I was looking for! Thank you, sir!
Cheers.
Ps: you earned yourself a new subscriber. :)
Good video! Question for you- for hooking up a car receiver, other youtube videos show people using far less wires, and leaving most of the plug adapters alone. Do you bundle like-colors together for the purpose of keeping it neat? (When I look at a single yellow wire, it is rated for 300V, and I assume it can also handle more current than a car receiver would draw.) Thanks!
I bundle all the wires together so I can safely use the full 20 amps of power on the +12v rail. If you don't plan on using all of that current you can use less wires. Is the car receiver going to be providing power to speakers or just acting as a dead head?
Yes, the receiver will power speakers. I plan to use the four stock speakers from my car (each 15W/4ohm). The power supply is rated 300W. The receiver is 52W x 4. Thanks for your feedback!
CodecFace So to power the seakers to their fullest you would need 60W plus whatever the head unit consumes. Lets say 50 watts. So 110 watts = about 9.2 amps of power at 12v. You might be safe to put 9.2 amps through one of those little yellow wires but keep in mind they are only about 16 gauge or smaller so it may heat the wire up and cause a short. To be safe, I would bundle 3-4 of those wires together.
Much appreciated! I'll take your advice : )
Out of curiosity, where will you get the 110/220v AC to power the PSU you plan to use?
Thanks for making such a wonderful video,
and explained very well.
Simple to the point and babble free. You sir have a new subscriber. Great job.
Thanks, Antonio! I really appreciate that :)
can i use the yellow wires for 1 device each?
why did you bundle the wire together?
+Sion Napitupulu I bundled the wires to be able to flow more current (amps) safely. If you were to try to draw 20 amps through one wire, for example, you would fry the wire and potentially start a fire. It is just for safety and ability to run larger loads.
But yes you can run one device on each wire within reason.
@Berzerker God it says it on the side how much your specific power supply can give out at 12v. for my random 500W power supply, it says 400something Watts on 12V
Is there a way to convert a computer or a server PSU into a one 12V Rail....What I mean _I think a 720W PSU is 60A.....but the 12V rail only produces 10A ...The balance is in the 3 and 5 V rails SO can this balance be hacked into the 12V rail to produce 60A of 12V DC...Hope you get what I mean...Cheers
You sure its giving you a limit on the +12v output ? As apposed to the 3 , 5 & -12 volt ?
However if the current flow capacity of the 12 volt transformer windings isn't rated to 60 amps ... There is your answer.
I'd be shocked if a 720w power supply is only providing 10 amps on the +12v rail.
LDSreliance My thoughts exactly.
Hairy Kiore even the smallest computer power supplies have 2 rails with at least 15a. So theoretically, in parallel, you'll get 30a. A 720w power supply should produce around 60a but some of that power is going to the 5v rails and other miscellaneous stuff.....
Hairy Kiore which 720 watt Ps4 produce 12v 10amp 700waat mimum produce 12 v 30amp
I gave this a try and worked a treat. Thank you for great instruction.
You are welcome! Glad it worked well for you. Thanks for watching.
Thank u very much for helping. Now I can continue my project forward!
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Sir, i very much enjoy your videos. I apologize for the potential ignorance of this question. if your simply wanting a 12v power supply could you not simply use one of the 12V (yellow) and one ground to connect to your hot wire and ground wire of your project. I know you would still have to connect a green and black, but is it necessary to collect all the yellow merging into one wire if that was the only wire you were going to use. Neophte to the Uber level here. Many Thanks for your time and efforts.
You can. But this PSU can provide 20 amps of power. If you tried to pull all 20 amps of that through one wire you would create a fire hazard and short out the wire. So distributing that power through multiple wires helps prevent that.
Hi, I plan to connect a few 12V 8A devices to the yellow lines. How should I go about assigning the different yellow wires to 4 outputs?
(i.e. better to combine all lines then re-split, or assign 1/4 of the yellow wires to each, or is there a typical recommended current per wire?)
*Mine can take more than 24A, just making it clear that I'm not trying to set my room on fire :)
I'd say it depends on how many 12v connectors you have on the ps and what gauge. Pretty sure two could handle 8 amps easily, 3 would be ideal. One might just give you an extra space heater in the house. ;-)
John Andersen
Electric wiring
Electric space heater
And the words
Pretty sure
Kills a lot of people every year!!
I would trust a wire nut more than that tape on the black and green wire you soldered.
A wire nut?
A wire nut on stranded thin gauge copper wire... think about that for a bit
This is the model all how-to videos should follow
Exactly what I needed to see, I'm going to use this to run a car radio. Thanks...
You are welcome! Thanks for watching.
Thank You for the great video and information. Your explanation was simple ans straight to the point. easy to understand. Again Thank You.
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Great Video. Helped me to operate the electrical window on a spare door for my car. THX
Perfect use for this! I am glad it helped!
I found my 12 volts. They were where you said they would be; across a bundle of black wires and the two yellow wires I have with this PS. Oddly, my MM read 11.81 volts. But they sufficiently power the 12 volt motor I attached them to so I'm happy, happy. Thanks. And, I now have 24 volts available if I need 'em!
Hi! How do you now have 24V? Can you enlighten me a little, please? Much appreciated!
yeah all ones with no green wire have funky looking switch located at end of wires not on metal box metal box is just like all others fan and fuse switch and a plug thanks again
Nice vid. Thanks for keeping it simple. Thanks!!
I wasn't sure which way would work out better, you're the expert :) Ill give it a go. Thanks!
I am far from an expert. I just like to tinker and I know enough to be dangerous. Good luck!
LDSreliance Hi. Thanks for the video. I've got a 600w 42amp PSU that I am looking to convert to power an isdt q6+ lipo charger (14amp 300w). Can I assume I need to bunch all of my yellow wires together or can I use 4 or 5'ish? Thanks
I would never use less than about 4 of the yellow wires bundled together. Just my preference.
Nicely explained, myself I know a lot but this helped a lot! Thanks
You are welcome. Thanks for watching! Be sure to subscribe if you haven't already.
Thank you for this simple and clear video. But what about if I would like to turn it to a battery charger?
thanks so much! two of my kitchen lights are now powered by a computer psu :D
Sweet! That is a good use for it. Just don't get it wet!
really very helpful. please make more videos for us non electrical people. thanks again.
You are welcome! Thanks for watching and I will try to do more videos like this.
LDSreliance Mustafa Tahir brother.. please help me. I am trying to use power supply to eun my 12 volt dc cooler. But when I join black and green it only starts for jerk. Doesnt run continously. Plz tell me what i am missing..
Thank you very much. I needed a stable 12v power supply for an resin curing machine for 3d printing I this is probably a bit overkill to use an pc power supply, but heck, I did this anyway. Thank you again from România.
No problem! Thanks for watching and commenting!
Great video ! I just took my wife's old computer apart and I wondered about the power supply and the aluminum cooler blocks I found if they could be used for any other purposes ? I subscribed to your channel and hope to see more of your videos soon .
+mike48632 Thanks, Mike! Appreciate the support.
More info on my PS. It's a model N305P-06. There are 2 yellow wires total. The 24 pin connector wire configuration is exactly like an ATX I've seen on other youtube videos on this subject with the exception of the forementioned small brown wire (13 pin) and the 2 white wires instead of 2 yellow wires at the 10 & 11 pins.
Thanks for the info very simple indeed I like that
Hey thanks for your vid ... it's helping me out on a current project.
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
@@LDSreliance sir 1 q
Does adding 12v1v and 12v2v poses any problem?
Currently using arduino and pwm controller and for some reason when I wanted change the flow of current pole(clockwise to acw) the PSU shut down before it happens(just 1 direction only)
Can you tell me what is wrong with this?
My incubator's adapter stopped working and your 5-minute video helped me rescue 56 eggs. Thank you.
You are welcome! That is exactly what I like to hear. Makes the videos worth it. Thanks for watching.
thanks to the simplicity of this, i made a 12v to use for my lipo battery charger... took about 30 minutes and a lot of solder (my old psu had 9 black wires...) but it works GREAT. is there any 'easy' way for me to tell how many amps it will output?
Other than looking at the specs from the manufacturer I don't know a safe way to do that. But glad this method worked for you!
Now I know how. thanks. Ill remember when I get the power supply.
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Perfect video and exactly what I was looking for! Just wanted to know which pins turn the thing on =) So I could use it to test an old cpu liquid cooler before re-installing it with new silicone paste. Plus I have an old Tandy cell phone I'd like to mess with but I think that's at 13.8v. :) So rather than Ebanazon (TM pending) a new regulated power supply, this'll work in a pinch! Waste not... want not. With so many wires and old Psu's, I think I see a new set of tree lights in my future lol. Thanks so much for the upload and great info. Long live the Wizard of Menlo Park!
Good, I am glad it helped you. Thanks for watching!
Hey brother appreciate the video it got me to point where I can turn on psu after I shorted the green and black wire...now I’m trying to use psu to power 12v psu air cooler and a 12 volt Peltier thermal-electric cooler and small pump (making a water cooler) how would I attach those devices?! Can u tell me what wires will I need to connect?! Please help lol
From Suriname 2nd April 2020 ,,my complements ,,a job well done
Great video. Nice and simple, and easy to follow. Thanks for taking the time to post!!!
+Andrew Goddard Thanks! I appreciate that. Thanks for watching
Thanks for the info , straight to the point 👍
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
I made a peltier cooler and a dslr/telescope and the power supply got very hot. I found an old power supply and will give this a whirl. Thanks!
Good luck! Thanks for watching
@@LDSreliance Worked like a charm!
Awesome! Glad to hear.
Thanks for the video. It helped me a lot.
You are welcome. Glad it helped!
Can you split some of the 12 volt
Wires to power different things or is it best to bundle them all together. For instance I want to power a car stereo and amp.
Hey man awesome vid thanks for breaking it down properly, i have a question though and im not sure exactly what im doing here, im trying to power a cb radio inside and eventually amplify the cb, my question is this:
Is it safe to have these wires run all together though a smaller soldered in wire? If not how about say a bundle of four together?
You can use individual wires with lower current. I chose to bundle them all together so I didn't have to worry about overloading it or risk any short circuits with other wires hanging out. If you use the full rated power of the 12V rail (in my case it was 20A but check your model specifications) then I would use at least 4 wires together.
Finally found the video I am looking for.. Thanks alot
You are welcome, Dana! Thanks for watching.
Your hack of the power supply worked perfect. Making a Nichome wire Styrofoam cutter but now I have the problem of to much power even though it was only 12 volts. Have a 12 inch length of 20 ga. Nichome wire and it burned through it almost immediately when I turned the power supply switch on. Is there a reostate I should use or possibly a different combination of wires coming from the power supply to give me less power to the wire? Thanks
Try using the -12V rail instead of the +12V rail. It will provide MUCH less current, though, so it may not work for your application. Other than that, you could use 5v but not sure if that would work, either.
Thank you. I have a 12 volt PSU. There are several power wires with different max amps. I know from the label on the PSU that one power wire can deliver +12 volts at 16 amps. The problem is I don’t know which wire colour is the +12 volts 16 amp wire. I can not find any colour codes or specs online. I am wondering if there is a way to find out using a resistor or a rheostat?
hey thanks for vid really good one can i connect all 6 of my supply's red wires so all six different power supply and just connect all red wires and thats it its for my CB radio amp
+Nena Pike I am confused. Do you mean you have 6 power supplies or 6 red wires?
First off your video was extremely a helping an educational on obtaining the power supply my question is what if the power supply doesn't have a switch to turn on the power supply came out of a Dell Windows XP Media Center desktop
You can easily wire one up. Just put a switch in between the green and black wire that I connected together in the video.
Thanks for this video good tutorial it was step by step good job. More power
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
very helhfful buut when you are showing us how to make a charger from power supply i watched couple of videos on youtube but non of these are clear but your video which i saw (How to Hack a Computer Power Supply To Use as a 12V DC Power Source
)was very clear and helful thanks again.
+RUclips LOVER You are welcome. That is why I shot the video because I had also watched several videos on how to do this and they all sucked. I wanted to do one step by step so anyone could follow it.
LDSreliance yes brother you are 100% right but brother when i connect my power supply with ac source it bursts i dont know what happen and brother my english is not so perfect i think so you will get my point
RUclips LOVER
It bursts? Not sure what you mean by that. Does it shut off?
brother i mean to say when i connect that supply with ac supply then its not work just smoke and smell came out from it
RUclips LOVER
It sounds like you have blown something in the power supply. Sorry to hear that but I am afraid you will need to find a new one.
thanks very nice simple video...i figured this could be done by just jumping out the pson so that when you turn th switch on it powers on....these would be great for many uses and even better they are typically free in old pcs people toss out..im going to start collecting them....good to have around and has built in fan and power switch too :) as a bonus
Yes they are very useful as bench power supplies.
Hello! Good video and it answered my questions. I have an old computer power supply and when reading the different voltages and currents it says +12 volts 10 amps. I wired everything like you said connecting the yellows and blacks together to power a 6 amp LED light panal I built. If I power it with a battery, it draws 6 amps faithfully but if I use the computer power supply it drops down to a little below 4 amps and the voltage drops down to 10.5 volts. Is the power supply probably faulty?
I answered your other comment.
Nice job explaining. Thank you.
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
thanks sir you explain better than others
it consume more electricity than a regular 12v adapter ???
You are welcome. PSU's are pretty efficient so I think it would be about the same or maybe better than most other 12V adapters.
Please do you have a follow up video for one that can charge batteries i loved this one❤
Unfortunately, to charge a 12V battery you need around 14V and these power supplies don't go that high. Also, you would need extra circuitry to manage the charging process of a battery so it would go from a "hack" project to a "make" project and that is a little further out of my wheelhouse. But I appreciate your kind support!
great trick using the wire stripper tool to support wires to be soldered
Hey thanks! A few people made fun of me for that but it works great.
very helpful, thanks for the wisdom
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Thank u put much more simple than other sources
No problem. Thanks for watching!
Can you show connecting this device to a car amplifier? I want conversion to use a car amp for outdoor surround sound.....
A great demonstration 👍
Thanks! I appreciate that.
I would like to make a battery charger out of one other than that water some other good uses for it?
Hey buddy great video but I have one question is it possible to do exactly what you did and connected to a inverter
You mean connecting the power supply to an inverter instead of plugging it in to the wall outlet?
I have done this before and the 12v stops after a few minutes. The fan in the p/s keeps going but no power at the tips. After resetting main power it all works again for a few minutes then back to 0 volts.
Sounds like maybe it is overheating or something? I've never had this happen.
Another great video!
Okay - I have loads of black wires coming from my power supply; do you have any tips for connecting so many wires together?
Also my power supply has two channels for +12V. There are yellow wires, and yellow wires w/ a black stripe; can I tie them all in together? Or just pick one?
Thanks LDS
nellyjizzle I would recommend keeping the rails separate. I don't know what it would do if you connected them together. It would probably be fine but I am not an electrical engineer so I can't say for sure. Better safe than sorry.
If you keep the rails separate, you can help the black wire situation by dividing that in two bundles to match. It sounds like your power supply is a higher power or newer model than the one I hacked up for this video so you have more wires than I did. You will need a pretty good soldering iron to heat up that many wires at once and solder them together.
Thanks for the video! can i modify this power supply, convert to have 54VDC and 4Amp ? or can i combine more power supply to have this output? i would be really interested in this! Thanks a lot!
Krisztian Adrian Barna I am sure you could. You could use a dc convert (such as www.amazon.com/DROK-10-60V-Converter-Voltage-Regulator/dp/B00C498MGY/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1432492173&sr=8-12&keywords=dc+voltage+%22step+up%22) to do that but you are losing some efficiency if that matters.
You mentioned possibly using the orange and red wire to charge a battery... how might one accomplish this? I would love to see a video for that.
I have that on the board of videos to make in the future. Stay tuned!
awesome video! i am just getting into tinkering with small electronics and this video is so useful! i was wondering, why could you not use it as is to charge batteries?
+weqrfawe Thanks! I appreciate the support.
Batteries need a higher voltage than their rating in order to charge up. For example, the 12v battery in your car needs 14.2-14.4v from your car alternator in order to charge while you drive. This computer power supply only provides +12v. I have heard if you combine the rails you can get 15ish volts by connecting yellow wires (+12v) and the 3v wires (forget which color they are off the top of my head). I have never tried it so do so at your own risk.
+LDSreliance should work as its two input voltage power supplies that will be added together making 15v.
Justin Bark
Right it should work easily. I just haven't tried it myself before.
hey it was really good. 1 question what the highest AMP we can get from computer power supply ??
It depends on the power supply and the specs of the rail. The one in this video will provide 20A on the +12V rail. Bigger power supplies over 500W may have more current available than that.
My power supply from a Dell Optiplex 330 has two sets of wires exiting the case. One bundle goes to a 24 pin connector. The other bundle goes to various other connectors. I cut the 24 pin connector off and connected the wires according to color. I had solitary blue, purple, gray 18 ga wires, and a very small brown wire that was piggy-backed with an orange wire. I left the brown wire out of the orange bundle. There were no yellow wires in the 24 pin connector bundle but there were 2 white wires. I tested my multi-meter on a car battery and it worked fine. I plugged in the power supply and measured 10 volts across the red wires and 24 volts across the white wires. I'm looking for recommendations on getting 12 volts from this thing. Anybody?
Why cut all the connectors off? I would like to use one of them to power 3 seperate 15" LCD panels that require a 12v source. Is there a reason I couldn't just power each LCD from a yellow and Black lead as if it were any other device inside the PC? Like the HD, fans, or DVD?
Yes thanks so much helped me out a ton
+Gunsexplosionsandair You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Ooh Great Video, SO I'm kinda new to this stuff, I like your explanation... So regards the Black and Yellows being soldered together, IF I wanted to power say Two motors and a set of LED's too, could I just split those wires to three, to power each item?? Thanks
Ahhh Yeah I just read below thanks...
Yes, you can. Splitting the wires into equal bunches of 2 or 3 is no problem. But if you wanted to split them up into 4-5 or more then I would say you should limit the amount of current you are pulling through each bundle. But 2-3 bundles should be no problem.
Great video? I'm currently researching how to create an outdoor 12V receptacle to power a marine stereo unit on my pool deck. I want to have the PSU inside and then run the 12v power through the wall to the receptacle. Can you tell me what model of PSU you used in the video?
I can dig it out of storage and give you an exact model if you want but there was nothing special about this power supply. Any cheap psu will work and will follow the same colors on the important wires (+12v, etc.). This one was 400 or 450 watts and the +12v rail provided 20 amps. So that is probably about what to expect from the cheaper $20-30 units.
Hey mate :) Loving your videos!
I've been wanting to do a little peltier desk cooler/ac for a while and I've finally collected enough scrap around the house to do so (pc liquid cooling radiator, Tubes,Waterpump, :) I just have a question.
I have 2 100w 12v peltier units coming in the mail in a few days and i was wondering if it would be in anyway possible to run both off of a single 370w Psu. I know for past experience that these things draw quite a bit of power, so i just gotta make sure i can provide that for the maximum efficiency.
It depends on the power specs of your +12v rail. If the total output of your power supply is 370w then I doubt the +12v rail will have 200 watts or more of power. The power supply in this video is either 400 or 450 and the +12v rail produces 20 amps, which would be enough for your use. Look at the sticker on the side of the psu or look up its specs online with the model number information.
Hey, did you end up making the peltier desk cooler? I have always wanted to make something exactly like that so just wondering how you did.
Thank you! I needed to add a load on the red +5V line in order to bring the yellow to 12V. Otherwise, yellow shows only 11.5v
Interesting. It definitely seems like not all ATX PSU's function the same way.
Can you make a video how to convert the power supply into a 12volt battery charger