Powering a board on the bench without a PC power supply

http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Adapter-Converter-Optical-External/dp/B001OORMVQ/ref=pd_cp_pc_2

Powering a board on the bench can be a hassle if you don’t have an old PC/AT power supply to do it. But there’s an easy way for you to get the +5 and +12v necessary to power most boards – buy yourself a USB-SATA drive adapter.

You can pick up one from Amazon for under $10 here:

The power brick included with it supplies +5v@ 2A and +12v @ 2A – more than enough to power a typical MPU board on the bench. The brick has a standard 4 pin drive power connector where you get the +5 and +12v and an LED to let you know you have power.

IMAG0190.jpg

It comes with a power adapter cable that allows you to hook power up to a SATA drive. I took the one in the kit and modified it on one end with a 9 pin molex connector to create a dongle that can plug into the MPU board. I suspect I’ll create other dongles to power different boards on the bench as time goes on.

IMAG0194.jpg

This one will work for many systems such as Williams 3-11. I also created loop wires to make it easy for me to tap the +5 and ground to power other devices, such as the great Siegecraft LED display!

IMAG0196.jpg

The best part about this is that it is QUIET! No fan running from some old power supply. I had no problem running the Siegecraft solenoid tester (lower left corner – notice the LED on – that’s the flashlamps flashing in attract mode on FP,) lamp tester (bottom middle) and switch tester (middle right) in addition to the LED display. To power the lamp tester I used a drive “Y” cable and alligator leads to get the +12v needed to the bottom of the board.

IMAG0201.jpg

I imagine this could also be used in a machine if you wanted to test an installed board and suspected you had a bad 5v line by disconnecting logic power and plugging this in. I may give that a try when I reinstall this board.

And when you’re done you can still use the brick to power your external hard disk!

Of course if you need other voltages like -5 or -12 v for testing this isn’t a solution. But for many it’s a cheap and easy way to get the voltages you need on the bench.

viperrwk

#2 10 years ago

JWJ

johnwartjr

That Pinball Place

Columbus, IN

12y 77,400 6,479 14

That's an interesting way to do it. I've always used the PC power supply because I had plenty laying around.

#3 10 years ago

MAT

The_Director

Carolina Pinball Repair

11y 94,450 3,769 9 2

Whenever someone I know is planning on junking an old computer, I take it just to remove the ATX power supply and then junk it myself. I've got 2 or 3 right now in my workbench drawer.

#4 10 years ago

BOY

vid1900

Pinside+ Member

Sana'a

12y 164K 40,198 18

This is cool because it is much more portable than a PC supply (and no fan either).

#5 10 years ago

CMX

viperrwk

Inactive member

http://www.siegecraft.us/pinball/boards.html

PC power supply pros: plentiful, cheap, lots of different voltages available.

Cons: takes up space, noisy, not practical for other applications like powering an external disk.

I have an old ATX supply I use as well but it is now out of the way until I really need it.

viperrwk

#6 10 years ago

TAB

terryb

Inactive member

Banning, CA

11y 90,150 4,795 14

Nice post viperwk. I agree with you 100% on the Siegcraft products. Anyone not familiar with them should check them out at:

#7 10 years ago

ART

MrArt2u

Pinside member

Los Angeles, CA

12y 65,400 1,471 16

That's great, thanks for posting! Just this weekend my test power supply lost its 12v and I started the search for a replacement. Perfect timing!

Cheers,
Art.

#8 10 years ago

KRK

Spudgunman

Inactive member

Seattle, WA

11y 52,900 1,299 9 24

OP
Quoted from viperrwk:
PC power supply pros: plentiful, cheap, lots of different voltages available.
Cons: takes up space, noisy, not practical for other applications like powering an external disk.
I have an old ATX supply I use as well but it is now out of the way until I really need it.
viperrwk

lots of different voltages?

the con to the brick is that it might not be enough wattage.

#9 10 years ago

AMS

barakandl

Nice Viper! I am going to pick one of these up.

I have been using a computer power supply for years now and the 5v is getting weak. Only puts out maybe 4.5v if i power a hungry board. I think I have accidently shorted it too many times .

#10 10 years ago

KRK

Spudgunman

Inactive member

Seattle, WA

11y 52,900 1,299 9 24

Quoted from barakandl:
Nice Viper! I am going to pick one of these up.
I have been using a computer power supply for years now and the 5v is getting weak. Only puts out maybe 4.5v if i power a hungry board. I think I have accidently shorted it too many times .

the cheap bricks just use a regulator step down IC, normally not a regulated supply. so the same damage will happen faster and more violent if you short it out.

#11 10 years ago

CMX

viperrwk

Inactive member

http://hackaday.com/2010/12/09/atx-psu-turned-into-an-adjustable-voltage-bench-supply/

Typical ATX power supply: +3.3, +5, +12, -12.

If you want to make it an adjustable supply:

System 9 CPU pulls about 1.25A: http://www.edcheung.com/album/album05/pinball/cpu.htm

The 5v and 12v on Sys6 is fused at 4A. Shouldn't really be a problem on the bench.

viperrwk

#12 10 years ago

KRK

Spudgunman

Inactive member

Seattle, WA

11y 52,900 1,299 9 24

OP
Quoted from viperrwk:
Shouldn't really be a problem on the bench.
viperrwk

wouldnt imagine it would be.. it is a handy use and good idea for sure.. just personally had plenty of these china crap bricks blow up under normal load.

#13 10 years ago

AMS

barakandl

I'll get creative and fuse the power brick =P

#14 10 years ago

CMX

viperrwk

Inactive member

http://amzn.com/B00ALZ69UY

Plug it into this:

viperrwk

#15 10 years ago

MVM

markmon

Inactive member

Hillsboro, OR

13y 98,300 13,010 21 81

These work well. I've even installed one when I was too lazy to fix a resetting demo man and it ran the system live.

#16 10 years ago

MDM

papazit1963

Pinside member

Merced, CA

11y 62,900 1,076 9 12

Very clever...

1 week later

#17 10 years ago

AMS

barakandl

Mine came today.

I mounted it on a scrap piece of wood. Added 1.5 amp fuses for each the 12v and 5v. 5v line goes from 5.2 no load to 4.9 under the load of a -35 board.

I probably need to make the alligator clips longer and add a power switch. The molex connectors are a good idea too.

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#18 10 years ago

JJB

pinballlizard

Pinside member

Troy, MI

11y 26,900 165 10

I have been using the sata power supply for about a year and it works great.

2 years later

#19 8 years ago

BOB

UvulaBob

Pinside member

I know this is an old thread, but I haven't seen any newer ones, and I would just reference this thread in a new one anyway.

Viper, can you go into a bit more detail on how you converted this power supply to be used on the bench? It's a bit hard for someone like me to tell what you did just by the pictures alone. Thanks!

#20 8 years ago

???

KenLayton

In Memoriam

Olympia, WA

12y 83,400 5,965

I use an old Peter Chou screw terminal power supply from an arcade video game machine.

#21 8 years ago

RJP

Patofnaud

Pinside member

Tilton, NH

11y 67,150 3,621 7

Quoted from KenLayton:
I use an old Peter Chou screw terminal power supply from an arcade video game machine.

Same here.

#22 8 years ago

CMX

viperrwk

Inactive member

https://greatplainselectronics.com/search.asp?pg=1&stext=09-50-8091&sprice=&stype=&scat=

Quoted from UvulaBob:
can you go into a bit more detail on how you converted this power supply to be used on the bench?

There is no real conversion necessary as the brick provides both +5 and +12 VDC. All I did was take the provided IDE to SATA power adapter cable:

cable.jpg

And cut off the black end. Then get a 9 pin .156 connector:

And wire one of the black wires to pin 1, the red wire to pin 4 and the yellow wire to pin 9, per the photo in the first post above.

I took a short strand of black solid core wire, removed the insulation in the middle, and wired it across pins 2 & 3. Then did the same with a strand of red wire to pins 5 & 6.

This allows you to plug the power adapter into the 4 pin plug on one end and the 9 pin into the power input connector on the MPU board and provides for easy hookups for other 5v devices. You could skip the extra wires and use the test points on the board if you want. Once you plug in the brick the board should power up.

viperrwk

#23 8 years ago

BOB

UvulaBob

Pinside member

I picked one of these up, and it looks like it's working great, though the logic voltage comes in at 3.9 volts when the driver board is connected to the CPU board. Is this normal, or is this a shortcoming of this method?

#24 8 years ago

AMS

barakandl

There is so many components the current draw is reducing your voltage. I encountered the same thing.

I have since starting using a switching power supply i got off ebay for $20. It works great as bench testing.

#25 8 years ago

BOB

UvulaBob

Pinside member

I think I'll try that as well.

#26 8 years ago

BOB

UvulaBob

Pinside member