so if i buy this powersupply, it takes a standard desktop power cord is that correct?

And a spare servo connector will jumper the pins, no soldering for that? then i just solder up the servo connector wires correctly or add a switch and solder on my positive and negative and my power supply is ready?

Its not that i don't have the skills, but converting the atx supplies seemed like way too much of a hassle, but this seems really easy to do even with my 3 year old wrapped around my leg while I'm doing it :)

Yes, it takes a standard cord you'd find on any PC.

Not sure on the servo connector though. The pins would fit, but a servo connector has three wires in a row and the pin on the power supply that need to be shorted are not all together. In short, you can use the servo connector, just remove each connector from the plastic housing, wrap each in heatshrink, and then slide each one over the pins.

It is an easy conversion if you want to just get it to work. I personally like to solder connections for reliability and have all the circuitry (wires and such) inside the supply to reduce clutter.

Just bought one of these powersupplies. I was thinking of the 575w one originally posted, but the charger I want is 2x 400w chargers. While I don't own any 6S batteries alone my Jammin truggy uses 2x 3S 5000mah lipos and 2x 2S 5000mah lipos. I also have some adapters that let me charge two 3S lipos as a single 6S, same for 2S as 4S.

So I was figuring at a 3C charge rate that would be about 630w not counting losses so that would be maxing out the 575 and getting into bad territory.

The 1300w is only on 240v but on 120 its rated at 910w I think it was (12v x 75a). Which should still be plenty for the twin 400w model.

Realistically as i won't be using both 2S and 3S sets at the same time I'll be charging the twin 3S separately which is about 500w or so.

Glad I found this thread, was struggling to find a DC PS before I'd put money down on a good DC charger.

^ thanks for that. Now the thread title should be how to build a $17 74A power supply. haha.

Well. I can't take any credit. And I haven't even received it yet. But the conversion looks ridiculously easy. Might try to do some cooling stuff though to quiet it down, maybe a small LCD temp display.

Could also use the 12v rail to feed a fan and use a Rheostat to control temps Every PC fan I've ever seen was designed to run on 12v so you could find one that fits the cooling needs without sounding like a 747 and just power it off the 12v while sending the yellow wire to the RPM sensor in the PSU.

I have received the 1300w power supply.

Will check it tonight. It looks like there is room for two 60mm fans up front. Could probably install them there reduce the noise a bit by using a slower speed.

Might want to note for those looking at the 1300w PSU to convert, it requires a IEC-320-C19 type power cord. Seeing as I work in IT, I have a bazillion of these things laying around for servers so its no big deal. But if you don't, and are thinking of using this PSU you'll need to visit a store and get a C19 power cord. Standard ATX power cords will not work.
http://www.taiwantrade.com.tw/resour...2bfd0_TC19.jpg

Works just fine!

Now, if I only had a good charger to really place a load on it. But I'm going to bet it'll work fine. :yipi:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8190/8...d853792152.jpg
HP_DL580 G5 - 1300w PSU by thirdgen89gta, on Flickr

I thought it was loud when I started it up, but when I tripped the 3 wires together it got REALLY loud.

Must look into building a "case" for it and using larger, lower speed but higher volume fans.

Its a noisy little beastie.

[YOUTUBE]Xcb84X5lCeg[/YOUTUBE]

good info on the power plug, figured it was standard computer style. Thanks for that.

That vid is crazy, it is SO loud. Normally I don't mind fan noise, but that's more like a leaf blower.
Let us know if you get any pots in there to slow them down or something.

Another area of concern, many of the high wattage chargers require 24V for full output. So while this PSU will put out all the current they could handle, the charger is limited on 12V. Just something to consider if someone is looking to utilize all the power of a powerful charger.

I measured it with my SPL Meter (yes, I have one for setting up the home theater, I'm that anal).

65db with the PSU in the off position, and 73db in the On position. Its a mix of frequencies but the loudest with it off is 1khz, and on it shows 2 spikes in the 3-5khz range.

its pretty darn loud, gonna have to do something about that. I'm thinking of replacing the two fans with a quiet high flow model 60mm fan in the 3000-4000 range. Or simply modifying the top of the case to mount a 120mm fan and running that off the boards connector. Though I'm not sure what RPM the fans are required to run at.

The fans inside are 60x38mm 8800rpm fans. If I looked up the right model fan they flow 50cfm each.


Thinking of buying 4 of these fans: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835426033

Two will replace the internal fans. They are much quieter than the original fans. I also plan to install two of the fans in the front as a "pusher" fan that I can manually turn on. which should bring the total airflow back near what it was with the twin 60x38s. If they are quiet enough I might just leave them on completely.

Looking for a relatively thin LCD temp display I can put in there and either feed it off 12v or 3.3v, the PSU only puts out those two voltages. Would be nice to keep an eye on the temps as I am messing with its original fans.


Edit: Scratch that! It think I might buy two of these fans plus 2 very quiet stealth fans. These things have a built in internal PWM thermal switch! If thats the case then I might not even have to worry about fan speed as they'll just be quiet when its cool and ramp up as needed on their own.

Though the PSU is capable of controlling the fan speeds, so I don't know how that would interact with the fans on control method. Hmmm, need more information.

That PSU is cool. Nice to have a different option.
But I rather use 24V @ 47A for my chargers. Keeps the power wires cooler and charger happy.

does the PSU need that much cooling? You probably aren't taxing it very much at all. Maybe if you want to future proof it for expansion.
Also, depending on how smart the PSU is, it might monitor fan speed and no operate if it senses a failed fan.
http://dx.com/p/mini-1-5-lcd-digital...-x-lr44-126092
That's a little temp display I got from there one time. Only displays in C.
Mines been going for 3 years on the same batteries. Not super thin or high tech, but it's cheap.

I don't have a charger that supports the 24v input, and I'm honestly not going to be going to >6S for a while, so this works fine. I also didn't want to go through the fun of running two PSUs in series with the the possible risks as I'll be carting this power supply to the track and such. There are kids there would would probably find a way to shock themselves pretty good.

Most of the time I'll either be charging two 3S packs at once, or two 2S packs, both 5000mah. So I won't really be using everything the charger can do.

Thats why I'm thinking about replacing the stock twin fans with 4 of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835426033.

The original fans are something like a this Sunon 60x38mm 8000rpm fan. Its rated at 56dB while the other fans I posted are 23db and are significantly quieter.

It was nice to charge both the 4S and 6S batteries at once and have them charged in about 30 minutes. I say "about" 30 minutes because apparently my 3S LiPos are getting rather old. I ran them down yesterday with the truggy so they'd be near dead, but they recovered to 3.8v which tells me the batteries are just about junk now. They have to be balance charged every time.

Oh well, I've known its been time to purchase new batteries for a while now. The 4S battery is in perfect harmony with each cell, I don't think any of them were more than .01v off from the others.

the 6S battery on the other hand had most of the cells at 4.15v, but one was at 4.02, and the other was at 4.2. So its pretty much junk and only good for the 10TT now due to the 10TT's much less demanding powertrain.

Well, the fans arrived today. And without a pulse generator of some sort to feed the twin yellow fan speed inputs a signal the PSU likes, it automatically shuts down after 10 seconds. I tried feeding it the signal wires from two of the 3200rpm fans, but they obviously aren't fast enough to keep the PSU happy. I knew it was a possibility.

:(

Thats almost $30 wasted. Now I need to figure out how to make a pulse generator that runs off 12v and outputs a signal the PSU likes.

An astable oscillator using a 555 timer IC and a few resistors and caps. A little experimentation may be needed to find the right frequency to satisfy the supply.

or, use just one fan and route the rpm signal so that it also goes to the other fan slot.