Author Topic: What to do with a dead PC power supply? (Read 888 times)

datora · « **on:** July 19, 2012, 06:54:43 AM »

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I haz a one. Looking for creative hardware hacks that might be possible with it, or parts from it. Possibly, might be useful if it can be repaired, but I don't know how to evaluate what exactly is wrong. Ideas on that would be welcome

It's an Antec 350 W SL350S SmartPower that died after a lightening/power FAIL early last year. Just been sitting in a box waiting for recycle of some sort. I was looking at it tonight and about to destructively clip some of the connectors off for re-use. Had intended to put the 6 PATA connectors, 2 floppy drive connectors in my toolbox for legacy support, not sure if the 4-pin GPU power & 20-pin mobo are worth it.

Then, thought I'd ask here first & see if there are any ideas where it might be useful before I start destructive disassembly.

It's really clean & was well-cared for during it's 5 years or so of service. The fan was dead silent & working, so I'm considering removing that & re-purposing to cool my Linksys E3000 router, which runs uncomfortably hot. Ideally I'd like to wire the fan to a USB cable and use the USB port on the router to power the fan, mount the whole mess inside a shoebox or somesuch and turn it into a small wind-tunnel to force air across the router & increase cooling efficiency. With a powered USB hub, I could also run one or two external storage devices simultaneously, possibly even configuring so that the fan helps push air across them, too.

Not sure how to re-wire the USB cable to use as a power feed, though ... anybody know how, or have a link to a website? That would be a very useful skill to add; I can think of several other applications I'd like to use that trick for.

The screws & metal casing even can be used. I once rebent & re-drilled sheet metal from a dead PSU to construct a hard drive cage, which worked out very well. Also looking at the power switch. The heat sinks from inside I've wired tightly to CPU heat sinks with copper wire from lamp cords to increase their capacity, also worked very well before.

Will keep the power on/off switch for potential, but would like to know more about it (can it be safely used with 120 volt house current?). Not sure if there's a use for the 120/240 switch & the power-in from 120/240 ... ideas?

I've not seriously taken a PSU apart before. Opened them up a bunch of times to clean them, but I'm a hobbyist/tinkerer, not an electrical engineer so I'm open to education as to what all the guts of the thing are and what else they could be used for. Especially computer tech-related hardware hacks, but ...

All ideas/discussion welcomed. Any links to reliable websites that can teach me how to decipher & use all the multi-colored wiring would be appreciated. Thank you!

kitamesume · « **Reply #1 on:** July 19, 2012, 07:37:03 AM »

evaluate the PSU first if it can be repaired, repairing it would be the most profitable scenario, otherwise salvage the parts like cutting off the wires to make Y-splits or some sort and checking the inside parts for usable items.

components like working capacitors, transistors and diodes would be beneficial if you're into electronics circuitry, they're usable for even basic diy amps, coils on the other hand could serve well as a filter running in series with the electronics circuitry or making a simple buck converter would do as well.

as for wiring diagrams http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Supply_Unit_%28Computer%29 scroll down towards the bottom, its there.

vuzedome · « **Reply #2 on:** July 19, 2012, 07:58:24 AM »

Toss it out the glass window, it's what I do with useless junk.

FlyinPenguin · « **Reply #3 on:** July 19, 2012, 08:50:27 AM »

Quote from: vuzedome on July 19, 2012, 07:58:24 AM

Toss it out the glass window, it's what I do with useless junk.

Agreed.

Datora seems to be quite smart when it comes to computer hardware, however, I would say throw that shit out. That is what I do with PSUs I come across that are dead.

Saras · « **Reply #4 on:** July 19, 2012, 09:44:54 AM »

Get a soldering iron and start experimenting.

datora · « **Reply #5 on:** July 19, 2012, 07:04:29 PM »

.

Quote from: Saras on July 19, 2012, 09:44:54 AM

Get a soldering iron and start experimenting.

Well ... yeah. That's what I'm asking: any ideas what to try?

@kitamesume - thanks for the Wikipedia link. Should have started there. Gave me a lot of info to get started.

Found this forum while searching for stuff: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ Looks like a fun community; I think I'm going to re-post my question there. I had this book (in a couple of versions at one point), but this website also has a lot of good tech info archived: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/

And, c'mon guys ... creative suggestions, please. Landfill doesn't really fit that category. Believe it or not, I figured out how to throw shit away quite some time ago ...

halfelite · « **Reply #6 on:** July 19, 2012, 07:36:15 PM »

If you ever plan on running water cooling, you could make the psu into a reservoir tank. You could take it apart try to fix it and turn it into a work bench psu for testing different things, De solder all the parts and keep them around as spares. or randomly short out things and plug it in to watch it go up in smoke

Pentium100 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 19, 2012, 08:11:37 PM »

See if the power supply can be repaired, maybe it's just a burned transistor or something. Otherwise, you can keep the PSU for parts, it has some powerful transistors, diodes, big caps, heatsinks etc. Also, as I do not like driving to the store for a single resistor, I try to see if a dead PSU has the resistor I need first (unless I am already planning to go to the store for other parts).

Freedom Kira · « **Reply #8 on:** July 19, 2012, 09:10:11 PM »

Isn't it really hot and dry where you live? How about tweaking it to overdrive a giant fan? =D

If not, you should totally chain together all the inductor coils and build a Tesla coil.

Pentium100 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 19, 2012, 11:52:00 PM »

Quote from: Freedom Kira on July 19, 2012, 09:10:11 PM

Isn't it really hot and dry where you live? How about tweaking it to overdrive a giant fan? =D

Big fans are usually AC and connect directly to the mains. Well, at least the ones available to me - I have a 17cm and a 25cm fan, they both can be plugged straight to 220V.

You can make AC fan spin faster (usually), but that requires a frequency converter, it would a bit difficult to build one from all the parts in a PC power supply. Though the big fans I have spin at about the same speed whether the frequency is 50Hz or 60Hz (it is written so in the datasheets, I have not tried connecting them to 60Hz).

datora · « **Reply #10 on:** July 19, 2012, 11:58:05 PM »

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I've (fortunately) got all the fans I need for personal cooling at the moment.

And, I'm pretty set for case fans & cooling block fans also. Heat has been suck here, but tolerable given the circumstances. We're actually getting some small amount of rain, being lucky enough to be slightly north of the drought zone so far.

Quote from: Freedom Kira on July 19, 2012, 09:10:11 PM

you should totally chain together all the inductor coils and build a Tesla coil.

WIN!

Yah ... it's looking more & more like a parts & pieces situation. Sometime in the upcoming week I'll make a decision to (probably) start destructively removing things & scrapping what I can't think of a use for.

It's sort of a space issue. Reorganizing the various PC carcasses CRT monitors & printers & such I have stacked up and trying to recycle a couple boxes worth of things that will just be in the way for the next year. But, I always keep at least one box of pieces around with all the useful nits & bits like case/drive screws, connectors, fans, wires etc. etc. that are always needed to keep older PCs running properly. Used to have about three closets filled with such, a veritable Small Electronics Shoppe ... but not a luxury in my life these days.

Please don't hesitate to toss any other ideas or URLs into this topic. Like, I also have five perfectly functioning WnModems, a couple v.90s & three more v.92s. Can't think of any gawdforsaken use for them these days, so into the recycle bin.

Thanks guys!

Freedom Kira · « **Reply #11 on:** July 20, 2012, 04:25:41 AM »

Quote from: Pentium100 on July 19, 2012, 11:52:00 PM

Big fans are usually AC and connect directly to the mains. Well, at least the ones available to me - I have a 17cm and a 25cm fan, they both can be plugged straight to 220V.

You can make AC fan spin faster (usually), but that requires a frequency converter, it would a bit difficult to build one from all the parts in a PC power supply. Though the big fans I have spin at about the same speed whether the frequency is 50Hz or 60Hz (it is written so in the datasheets, I have not tried connecting them to 60Hz).

I was thinking more wind tunnel -esque, actually. Who needs AC when you can build a tornado?

Quote from: datora on July 19, 2012, 11:58:05 PM

Like, I also have five perfectly functioning WnModems, a couple v.90s & three more v.92s. Can't think of any gawdforsaken use for them these days, so into the recycle bin.

How about entertainment? I remember an article where this guy built himself a little electronics fryer, which consisted of an IDE cable rewired to connect to a wall socket (or something like that). If you try this, please do post a video. =D

kitamesume · « **Reply #12 on:** July 20, 2012, 08:01:55 AM »

these PSUs can output 12+ Amps of 12volts power which would be a great amplifier powersupply, its efficient and stable so thats an option.
and doing so you could disconnect mosfets, capacitors and diodes from the unneeded 5v and 3.3v for building your DIY amp, good powersupplies uses seriously efficient and high rating mosfets and thats a good thing with amps.

the best thing to use a dead PSU tho is to recycle it to be reused as a PSU, well simply because the parts were intended for PSU usages. these includes powering a tesla coil like mentioned earlier and/or other stuffs. if you could tap the voltage sense from the PSU's circuitry, adding in a potentiometer could get you a variable powersupply as well.

Pentium100 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 20, 2012, 08:45:56 AM »

Quote from: Freedom Kira on July 20, 2012, 04:25:41 AM

I was thinking more wind tunnel -esque, actually. Who needs AC when you can build a tornado?

I meant AC as in Alternating Current. I have a couple of fans that can provide about 1400m^3/h airflow (the fans are 25cm in diameter), the wind is quite fast. The fans use 60W each and plug directly into the mains (230V 50Hz in my case).

Freedom Kira · « **Reply #14 on:** July 21, 2012, 05:59:22 AM »

Quote from: Pentium100 on July 20, 2012, 08:45:56 AM

I meant AC as in Alternating Current. I have a couple of fans that can provide about 1400m^3/h airflow (the fans are 25cm in diameter), the wind is quite fast. The fans use 60W each and plug directly into the mains (230V 50Hz in my case).

... Oh. Right. I knew that. >.>

So I'm guessing you're saying that a fan built from a tweaked PSU would not be so great because there exist better fans that run on AC? I still think it'd be a fun project to build something more powerful. Maybe powerful enough to lift a medium-sized child?

kitamesume · « **Reply #15 on:** July 21, 2012, 06:45:32 AM »

^ uhh, how much horsepower were you thinking exactly? it would've been more practical to fill a large balloon with helium and build a mini-air balloon.

bork · « **Reply #16 on:** July 23, 2012, 03:44:05 AM »

Things I have done with a dead PS.
- hurt myself opening up.
- pissing off my wife because I left a mess of cut up bits of wire on the floor that she stepped on.
- tried to see if I could make some type of art form out of the pieces but found out that I have zero capabilities in abstract art.
- removed all the Cap out of it and then figured out that I have zero need of a bunch of odd size caps.
- got the cables all disconnected from it and then wondered wtf am I going to do with a mother Board PS connector without a PS on it.
- figured out where the recycle center was where it finally went.

kitamesume · « **Reply #17 on:** July 23, 2012, 08:01:11 AM »

Quote from: bork on July 23, 2012, 03:44:05 AM

Things I have done with a dead PS.
- got the cables all disconnected from it and then wondered wtf am I going to do with a mother Board PS connector without a PS on it.
- figured out where the recycle center was where it finally went.

- exntender
- works if you get some $ from doing it, otherwise gutting working parts and selling them at 0.1$ each would work better.

Pagonis · « **Reply #18 on:** July 23, 2012, 10:06:42 PM »

Quote from: vuzedome on July 19, 2012, 07:58:24 AM

Toss it out the glass window, it's what I do with useless junk.

Throw it out in the woods for animals to play with. Heck, squirels could even construct their own PC from all these spare parts!

Seriously tho, throw it out, just not in the woods.

arisvang · « **Reply #19 on:** July 30, 2012, 04:14:08 AM »

To suggest a few, you could use the torroidal core as an power inverter unit, use the torroidal core a a component for audio amplifiers, turn the whole thing into a bench power supply, use some of it's parts into a portable regulated power supply.