|
|
Post by felix on Feb 18, 2009 23:43:48 GMT 10
was just wondering what could be used for a swallow charger wall mounted (240v) power supply on the cheap? will a low amp hour charger do the the trick or is something else needed?
cheers all.
|
|
|
|
Post by jirvin4505 on Feb 19, 2009 9:40:38 GMT 10
was just wondering what could be used for a swallow charger wall mounted (240v) power supply on the cheap? will a low amp hour charger do the the trick or is something else needed? cheers all. A low amp charger is probably too small. It would work if you kept it hooked up to a car battery. I usually have a battery spare for charging ..... - however these days you can get the dedicated supplies from hobbycity. I recon if a tech head could comment that a laptop power supply would do it. Also people have modified computer power supplies (free at any roadside!!) to deliver 12v at high amps - lots of info on the net for this one. cheers jeff |
|
|
|
Post by thevon on Feb 19, 2009 10:34:06 GMT 10
Sean uses a standard computer power supply for his, and it's not so big - he takes it with him when he goes away etc.
|
|
|
|
Post by sean on Feb 19, 2009 11:26:48 GMT 10
Yeah I use a standard ATX power supply and it works well - gives enough current to charge 3s lipos but haven't tried anything more power intensive than that. All you have to do is connect two wires together and it works. It was years ago that I did it so I can't remember which two, but as Jeff says plenty of info on the 'net.
Sean.
|
|
|
|
Post by thevon on Feb 19, 2009 17:50:13 GMT 10
Unless there's something I don't know, all you do is use a Multimeter to tell which pair of wires coming out of the power supply is 5 volts and which pair is 12 volts, and connect the battery wires to the 12 volt pair. It would be smart to make up a plug to suit, so you could connect it to either a car battery or to the power supply. If you don't have a multimeter you need one badly. Only costs about $12 for a basic one. I use mine all the time. Well, that's not true, not all the time. I don't use it when I'm on the loo, for example. Not usually, anyway.
|
|
|
|
Post by sean on Feb 19, 2009 20:50:31 GMT 10
On ATX power supplies aside from figuring out which wires give what voltage as Andrew mentions, you also need to connect a certain pair of wires to make it switch on, otherwise it just won't switch on! I think this is something to do with the computer-controlled on/off function, ie when you shutdown your PC the power supply switches itself off when the shutdown is complete. It's very easy to fix, if you search the net you'll find instructions, you basically find the two wires of the appropriate colour and solder them together.
Sean.
|
|
|
|
Post by jirvin4505 on Feb 19, 2009 20:52:55 GMT 10
Unless there's something I don't know, a.......  There is a sensor circuit built into computer supplies to determine if they are connected or something like that. So there are two wires that need to be connected to make the inverter work. Playing with electricity here  ...... do a web search the info is commonly available cheers Jeff |
|
|
|
Post by felix on Feb 20, 2009 20:29:33 GMT 10
ok so a computer power supply is the way to go, chances are i have something lying around already.....i never charge above 0.5 amp so won't need anything too serious. sounds easy enough. thanks guys  |
|
|
|
Post by mikey100 on Feb 20, 2009 20:49:35 GMT 10
Hey Felix, interested in Laidley tomorro if the wind kicks in ?
|
|
|
|
Post by callun on Feb 21, 2009 10:05:01 GMT 10
To get an ATX power supply to switch on, you just have to trip the Green wire to any of the black wires in the motherboard plug.
|
|
|
|
Post by nige on Feb 21, 2009 10:45:33 GMT 10
I was told it is supposed to be newer than a Pentium 3 supply. Mine isn't and I have trouble charging 7.2v RC car 3000 ma batteries, but the receiver packs work fine as well as 4 x AAA. So the newer the better.
Nigel
|
|
