How to build a $20 47A power supply
 

I figured I post this up for you guys that want an affordable 12.5V 47A capable power supply to power your chargers.

The model number is power supply in question is 321632-001, DPS-600PB HP 575W Power Supply Proliant DL380 G4. All you need to do for the PSU to "Turn on", is short 3 connectors. Basically two hot wires to ground. No load resistor is needed.
When you look at the back of the PSU, you'll find 4 blade plugs. The two on the left are ground and the other two on the right positive. In between the blade plugs, you'll find a set of 12 pin connectors. You'll see a pin that is shorter than the rest, which I call pin 6.

1 2 3
4 5 6<---short pin
7 8 9
10 11 12

Connect 6 and 10 to 8(ground). I believe pin 5 is ground as well. Note that the PSU fan will turn on when you connect it to the AC line. The fan will speed up, once you short the 3 pins together. I opted for plugs to the pins, but you can use a switch instead. You can use servo leads as well.

Solder your power wires to the blade pins and have fun charging.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...8/DSCF0252.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...8/DSCF0250.jpg
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...8/DSCF0249.jpg

Did basically the same thing with a 47amp server p/s. Only had to jump 2 pins on that. Works great, I have 2, 1 as a backup. Only paid 20 bucks each.

Nice thing about the one you linked is that it takes a std pc power cord. i had to hardwire mine.

Have you opened it up, and if so, is there a way to boost the 12v to something higher? ~14v would be ideal. Also, do you know what the other pins do? Maybe there is a 12v sense wire for the regulator which can be fiddled with to trick the PS...

Naah, I haven't bothered opening it up. I wanted something simple and cheap. A regular ATX is too much work compared to this PSU. I will ask at work if boosting the voltage is even feasible with this PSU. I have no schematic of what the other pins do. I was pulling 25A last nite out of the PSU and the charger stated 12.8V@25A. When I get a few more, I'll open one up.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...8/DSCF0257.jpg

Yep... I got a pair of these a couple months ago from ebay... took some time to figure out what pin combination would start the 12v rail, but when i did, I was not disappointed...
I'm loving them plenty... very stable and very cheap... The fans are pretty loud though when the 12v rail is turned. I added a switch on mine and used deans for the output...


A few photos:


http://lh5.ggpht.com/_4vPm5E8J5HA/TD...0/DSC_5353.jpg


http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4vPm5E8J5HA/TD...0/DSC_5351.jpg

I got one of these coming. $14.99 w/free shipping. How can I go wrong. Great post!!

Great to see fellow members with this PSU. You can't beat 15 bucks hey Jhautz.

That's a great jhautz...

is it possible to put two of those psu's in series? i am thinking about getting a icharger 3010 (1000w) and it supposedly runs best on 24v.

It can be done, but at a big, big, big risk... I would not advice it... you will need to remove the wall 'ground' on at least one of the supplies (if you don't, they will shot down when you try to connect them)... if this is done, the metal case will be 'energized' (a technical person can step in here)... meaning if both cases were to be come in contact, you will have a big spark/short... I tried with one ground removed and both grounds removed... you can actually measure the voltage between the two cases when both grounds are off (12v).

If you really need to do this, keep them both separate with some insulation... you will still be running a risking of damaging the supplies internals without them being grounded...


Alien

Yeah, you don't want to remove the grounds because then if the case starts "floating hot" due to some malfunction or whatever, you have no protection against electrocution. But it's not just the grounds. The neutral wire is electrically the same point as the ground wire in the electrical box.

so, as long as i don't let the cases touch, it should be fine? i would likely mount them securely on a shelf with about 6 inches between them.

i was already aware of the case being grounded on most PSUs. i found out on my own the hard way. it's a good thing the specific PSU i was using had a built-in short protector circuit thing that shut it down and wouldn't turn back on until after i unplugged it and plugged it back in.

Yup as long as they don't make contact, you should be able to wire them in series. I personally am not going to do it. You never know what will happen with small kids around.

I go mine in the mail today. It's alot smaller than I thought it would be. I have a 30A ps from a server that I have been using for a few years and it's 3 times the size of this one. I'm pleasantly surprised if it delivers the amps it's rated for.

I got the power supply to shut down when my charger was pulling 50A from it. Unplugged the PSU and it's up and running again. This time I set my charger at a 47A limit. I'll see what happens.

That's why I asked about the possibility of boosting the 12v to something like 14v. The higher voltage will require less current for a given wattage the charger is pulling. 47A @12v = 40A @ 14v. 47A @ 14v would get you an extra 100w out of it...

PSU didn't shut down at 47A limit. Good stuff.

I understand the higher voltage efficiency BG. The PSU server team said that it will be too much of a hassle to tweak the voltage. Those Server PSU are too tightly regulated, compared to the ATX stuff. I do have another PSU that goes about 68A, 80A@220VAC. But I have to figure out how to turn that sucker on.

I'm just a happy camper that I'm able to charger my A123's at 25A~10.8C. The charger reads 12.8V for the PSU under load. At rest it's 12.4V.

j, where'd you get yours from? I only found them for $15 plus like another $15 shipping...

Can you post the physical dimensions of this psu? Thanks

I'm contacting the seller to see what shipping to the Netherlands would cost.

My 50W charger isn't cutting it anymore :lol:

Good luck! I tried it too, and the cheapest option to New Zealand was $50 US. :gasp:

11"x3"x2.25"

any idea if these would work?? they should be 100+amps...


http://www.compuvest.com/Desc.jsp?iid=1159868

They will all work, if you know how to turn them on.

Yep... you just need to find out what pin combination will start the 12v rail... maybe you can do some research on google (also rcgroups...
lots of guys doing mods on these power supplies)... l am sure someone figured it out already.

Alien

No, but you can use them in parallelel.

+ with + and - with -

So you double the amp.

Same here :(

''Hello, Sure we will ship to the Netherlands.

Priority Mail is $50 and Express Mail is $65

- trademoon''

That sucks.

ebay


I grabbed the last one I saw at that price :na:


Im sure more will show up if they haven't already.

I was able to get 2 of them for $25 shipped. They should be here tomorrow.

I send an email asking how much if would cost to ship 2,3,4, and 5 units. If shipping will not get $50 more per unit I might just buy a bunch and sell them here *fingers crossed*.

Thanks for the info. I've got mine up and running.

I soldered on some power leads and made a jumper from servo leads to short out pins 6, 8, and 10. This jumper stays in place all the time.

http://www.nuibe.com/rc/ps_out.jpg


The reason I can leave the jumper in place is because I added a power switch to the input side.

http://www.nuibe.com/rc/ps_switch.jpg

So far, it seems to work well...

Man those output cables look massive!

Q: the input power = a US connector?
http://www.easybizchina.com/picture/...177BB0CFCE.gif
If I would buy one I would need to get myself a converter, or a cable like that.

The power supply supports 240AC. You just need to get the proper cable for it. I have some laying around here.

To those that have been using this a while...is heat even a concern the way we are using these? I'm just wondering about stepping down to a slower fan. The one in this thing is insane, super loud.

Yeah... that fan screams man:lol:... i think the design and layout of the cooling system was really because of its intended use... stuck inside a hot blade server running for countless
hours allowing them to get a little warm... I am guessing since we have them out of those hot, cramped spaces they are 'use to', they'll run much cooler... so if you have a fan that will be
quieter and can still move a good volume of air through PS... it should be fine... run some tests and make some comparisons with temps...

Alien

These PSU's are nice, easy & cheap! Thanks Snellemin!

That is what I was going for.

Here's a pic of the Europlugs that I have laying around.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z...n/IMG_0068.jpg

Yeah, stupid question. Shouldn't known it's just a normal plug, those things are universal. That's indeed the euro plug like we have.

Concerning the fan. Perhaps make a air-conduct and mount a 120mm fan on it. They can run slow (be quiet) and still move massive amounts of air.

OK, I've ordered myself a new Hyperion EOS0615i Duo3 for 170 euro / $225 shipped (not a bad price, not even compared to US prices).

So I'm looking into a PSU again and I typed this model into ebay.de and voila.
But it's more than four times as expensive and it's a USED model.
$65 incl. shipping to NL and $50 to Germany.

So if anyone has some cheaper suggestions let me know.