Useful power supply discovery of the day: XBOX 360 power supply bricks deliver 12 volts at up to 16 amps (!!) and can be found for about $20. Nice form factor, relatively tidy cabling, widely available.
I’m starting on a 1000+ pixel project which is going to need a fair amount of power. Unless something changes my mind soon, I’m going to use an XBOX 360 power supply brick to give me the amps I’m going to need.
I got a 150 watt model (14 amps) for $20, and an XBOX 360 to XBOX Slim adapter cable just to dissect for the weird connector. I hacked together a hardwired power switch box, and I’m good to go: 12v and a nice number of amps.
So far tonight, it looks cheaper, more powerful, and better quality than the “8 amp” 12v power bricks I’ve used before, and sleeker and more finished looking than a loose ATX PSU or something similar.
I’ll report back on whether it blows up, toasts my project, and burns down the house. If I still can.
I haven’t played much with power supplies. Is that better than this sort of thing? http://www.amazon.com/Ledwholesalers-Power-Suppply-Driver-Transformer/dp/B0034GUEY4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378833681&sr=8-1&keywords=12v+power+supply+16a
I’ve bought from LEDWholesalers before and been reasonably happy with their stuff; they’ve supplied me with 8 Amp 12v power bricks that I’ve used happily.
However: note carefully how much power each supply can deliver. (And remember that Watts = Volts x Amps.)
So, the $15 unit you linked to is a 30 Watt unit, which at 12v can deliver 30-Watts-divided-by-12-Volts = only 2.5 Amps.
They also have an 8 Amp (96 Watt) brick for $23.50.
If you want 10+ Amps (120+ Watts), their offerings EITHER cost over $50 OR have lots of exposed electrical bits. (Or both.)
So this is why I like the XBOX360 power supply bricks: they’re compact and ‘finished’ looking, they deliver a hefty deliver 14-16 Amps, and they can be had for $20. It’s the combination of all three of these things that makes them a good option.
The next question you should be asking is OK, how many Amps do I really NEED then? This is a complicated question with a longer answer, that I’m working on with some actual measured data; I’ll share it all as soon as it is even partly ready.
Awesome… I’m new here… 1000 plus lights I’ve been researching how many LEDS “rgb Micro array’s” can you control at once… or how many can you branch off so you can can avoid a delay… or perceived occ… Kinda like when we were kids and there were several cars with lights on and the patterns that arose as they happened to be in Phase…
P.s. I have an extra dell “H750p-00”
has 4 -12v rails at 18A each ??