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• Amp meter display light mod

  Stefan Lochbrunner • 03/02/2016 at 23:43 • 0 comments

  This is probably a really niche problem but I sometimes need an amp meter with an illuminated display when I need to characterize some LEDs from eBay that come without a datasheet, for example. In order to see when a LED starts to light up I need to turn down my lights which also prevents me from being able to read the analog amp meter seen in the project image. I could use my DMM, which has a display backlight, but using the 'built in' amp meter of this power supply is just more convenient.

  From converting my broken desk lamp to LEDs I had some leftover pieces of LED strips that just seemed perfect for this purpose so I did a quick test and soldered up this prototype:

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• The (in)complete list of ATX PSU projects to rule them all

  Stefan Lochbrunner • 02/15/2015 at 14:11 • 0 comments

  Here are a couple of links that I found useful. I'll update the list as I find new sites and please let me know if you know projects that should be listed here as well.

  Let's start with HaD.io projects. A quick search results in

  • #ATX power supply conversion for bench usage
  • #ATX Benchtop Power Supply
  • #Bench Power Supply - ATX PSU Adapter
  • and you might also want to check out @davedarkos take on the topic here, here and here

  For the next links there's probably going to be some overlap with references from the above projects but I'd like to mention them nonetheless.

  If you have googled the topic you might have come across Phil's video about the topic. There's also some more information in the video description. While on the topic of videos, this one makes a good point why a conversion might not be the best idea.

  Now for some detailed tutorials over on intructables:

  • Very nice build in a case with swappable PSUs (I think this one was featured on HaD)
    
  • A minimalistic approach
  • More tricked out with adjustable voltage
  • This one has a lot of information on the topic
  • Based on a breakout board
  • I really like the form factor of this one

  These are some links that might be useful for adding features like adjustable voltage and digital control:

  • http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-Bench-Top-Power-Supply/?ALLSTEPS
  • http://www.instructables.com/id/Variable-0-12V-Digitally-Controlled-Power-Supply-u/?ALLSTEPS
  • http://www.instructables.com/id/Mini-adjustable-power-supply/?ALLSTEPS
  • http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Small-Bench-Power-Supply/?ALLSTEPS
  • http://www.instructables.com/id/Mini-Adjustable-Voltage-Regulator/?ALLSTEPS

  This post about the efficieny of switching voltage regulators is also quite interesting.
  

• Cheap two lead voltmeter mod

  Stefan Lochbrunner • 02/15/2015 at 00:20 • 11 comments

  For my first PSU build I used one of these cheap LED voltmeters that you can get from eBay for less than 2€. The ones I got have a measuring range of approx. 3-30V. The lower boundary is due to the fact that these meters measure their own supply voltage.

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• ATX Bench PSU v1

  Stefan Lochbrunner • 02/14/2015 at 21:42 • 0 comments

  Before starting the project I did some research and found many great instructions so I'll not go into detail about the topic but rather share some pictures and comments.

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