wanted: source in australia for DC-to-DC ATX-type computer powersupplies

[Christopher Biggs]

All y'all,

These guys (<http://www.mini-itx.com>, in the UK) sell a 60W ATX power
supply which runs of a 12-volt input (either battery or switch-mode
wall-wart).

Desired application is to run a mini-ITX PC motherboard and hard
drive, as a portable troubleshooting system.

I've found several places that have smaller-than-usual 240v uATX or
mini-ITX PSUs, but none that run straight off DC...

Does anyone know a local source of these? (If not, I'll consider
ordering one from the UK...).

Regards,
Chris.

 

[Arpit]

I thihnk you really would be better off using a standard power supply
and an inverter.

 

[Bushy]

And a sight cheaper, with a simple 150 watt inverter available from tricky
dickies or jaycar or... for round about $100.00. Even if you add a car
battery from supercheap for $35.00 and a couple of clamps, you can do a lot
of work.

I have an old 1050VA UPS with two truck batteries replacing the horribly
expensive original batteries that fit inside it, powering my 3 PC jungle and
it will run for 4 hours without skipping a beat.

And it charges the batteries for me as well whenever mains is OK! Of course,
it would need to be carted around on a trolley, and may be difficult to
carry on board a plane.......

Hope this helps,
Peter

 

[Christopher Biggs]

I thihnk you really would be better off using a standard power supply
and an inverter.

Thanks, but I'm already doing that as a stopgap until I find a better solution.

Using a dc-dc supply is both cheaper and (more important) a _LOT_
smaller and lighter.

Take a look at this product for an example of what I'm after:
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/default.asp?c=9#p67
http://www.mini-itx.com/store/images/psukitL.jpg

--cjb

 

[Christopher Biggs]

And a sight cheaper, with a simple 150 watt inverter available from tricky
dickies or jaycar or... for round about $100.00. Even if you add a car
battery from supercheap for $35.00 and a couple of clamps, you can do a lot
of work.

I've already built a proto with a desktop PSU.

The UK product I'm trying to source locally
(<http://www.mini-itx.com/store/default.asp?c=9#p67>) only costs
around AU$100 for a small mains switchmode 12v brick and an
ATX-compliant DC-DC converter. I've already got batteries
etc. (SLAs as found in most UPS).

I have an old 1050VA UPS with two truck batteries replacing the horribly
expensive original batteries that fit inside it, powering my 3 PC jungle and
it will run for 4 hours without skipping a beat.

And it charges the batteries for me as well whenever mains is OK! Of course,
it would need to be carted around on a trolley, and may be difficult to
carry on board a plane.......

I'm aiming for briefcase-sized instrument case, not a trolley

--cjb

 

[pcman]

http://www.zantech.com.au/apowertech/PSU-12vdc250w.html
have a few friends that have them and there happy with them
im gonna be getting one to power my via epia board shortly

will set you back about 250bux for the above psu

cheers
pcman

 

[Terry Collins]

And a sight cheaper, with a simple 150 watt inverter available from tricky
dickies or jaycar or... for round about $100.00. Even if you add a car
battery from supercheap for $35.00 and a couple of clamps, you can do a lot
of work.

For a long life style, you would be better using a proper deep-discharge
battery. My local (SW Sydney)costs were ~$200 for a 120AmpHr Century
brand, or ~$300 for 130AmpHr Trojan brand. BigW sell an Arlec 6 (?)
battery charger that has automatic switching for about $90 for your own
heavily filtered UPS system.

I have an old 1050VA UPS with two truck batteries replacing the horribly
expensive original batteries that fit inside it, powering my 3 PC jungle and
it will run for 4 hours without skipping a beat.

I would like to find out why these batteries are so expensive. I have
only seen inside three SME UPS's and all three used 7.xAmpHr 12V SLA
batteries, <$40 each here atm.



--
Terry Collins {}}} email: terryc at woa.com.au www:
http://www.woa.com.au
Wombat Outdoor Adventures <Bicycles, Computers, GIS, Printing,
Publishing>

"People without trees are like fish without clean water"

 

[Christopher Biggs]

http://www.zantech.com.au/apowertech/PSU-12vdc250w.html
have a few friends that have them and there happy with them
im gonna be getting one to power my via epia board shortly

will set you back about 250bux for the above psu

Thanks. I may get one of those for one of my other projects.

If you only want to run an EPIA board, you may want to check out
mini-itx.com (in the UK). They sell tiny 55W switchers for about
AU$100 (plus shipping) and that includes a laptop-style "brick" PSU.

That kind of thing (around the size of a chunky mobile phone) is what
I'm currently seeking locally. Not suitable if you have power-hungry
drives, but pretty damn cool if you only /need/ 50-60W.

Regards,
Chris.

 

[bobi]

http://www.everythinglinux.com.au/item/ELS0001

is that you are looking for??? It is AU $75.90.

 

[bobi]

http://www.everythinglinux.com.au/item/ELS0001

is that what you are looking for??? It is AU $75.90.

 

[Christopher Biggs]

http://www.everythinglinux.com.au/item/ELS0001

is that you are looking for??? It is AU $75.90.

Yes! Thank you, that is exactly what I am after.

Thanks also to everyone else that offered advice and suggestions...

Regards,
Chris

(now, if anyone knows a source of sub-$150 slim-line optical drives...)

 

[Jon]

I used a few of these once upon a time when I was with Telstra. The
place was located at Tullamarine somewhere. Forget the name at present.
If you cant find it let me know. I'll try looking for it. Pretty pricey
though. Have you tried straight 12 volt and 5 volt zener powered supply
? Wouldnt take too much stuffing around to gewt it goinf. Dont think you
need a centertapped supply these days but could be wrong.

Someone even suggested trying to use dc to power an ATX ps and suggested
it may work. Anyone experimented with these? (monitors will work with
straight 100 V DC Ive read) but could be wrong. Hope you find it