| Author | Message | ||
     Mayor McCheese Supporter Username: Mayor_mccheese  Post Number: 2126 Registered: 7-2004  |
Can I connect two power supplies to my computer? I am sitting here staring at these two and can't come up with a good solution. You may be asking yourself why would McCheese want to do this? The answer is because I am out of power cables in my computer. 2 CD/RW drives, disk drive, and 3 hard disks have used them all. I am trying to install a DVD drive. It is an old one, and I don't want to take out a newer CD/RW drive to put this in. Yes, I know I could go with an external drive, but I have this one in my hand. Also, I am out of USB ports. I know I could get an adapter and get more, but I don't really feel like it. I also have another hard drive I want to see about putting in this computer. So, is there a simple way to do this, or am I out of luck? I'm taking a picture of it now. I will post the mess I have made. | ||
| Mayor McCheese Supporter Username: Mayor_mccheese Post Number: 2127 Registered: 7-2004 |
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| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 15362 Registered: 1-2003  |
Yes, but if your power supply has the capacity to deliver a few more amps, it would be so much neater to use a splitter cable. They exist. | ||
| Monster© Supporter Username: Monster Post Number: 4513 Registered: 7-2002  |
I say you just keep it the way you have it, it's beautiful. | ||
| Dave Supporter Username: Dave Post Number: 10524 Registered: 4-1997  |
Not enough blue wires. Add some blue. | ||
| Mayor McCheese Supporter Username: Mayor_mccheese Post Number: 2128 Registered: 7-2004 |
Tom, all this is running on one 300W supply. I think if I am going to put these two things in the machine, and maybe also a DVD burner that I may want to put in another power supply. How would I go about getting two supplies to work? And, Monster, this is a thing of beauty. | ||
| Monster© Supporter Username: Monster Post Number: 4516 Registered: 7-2002 |
I think you need a bigger case, or a better power supply. You could always put in one of these to keep your beer cool while you are at it.  or just come down to Bunnys in a bit. | ||
| Monster© Supporter Username: Monster Post Number: 4517 Registered: 7-2002 |
did I mention it keeps you r beverage chilled to 45 degrees, http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/7f5a/ | ||
| Mayor McCheese Supporter Username: Mayor_mccheese Post Number: 2130 Registered: 7-2004 |
OK, so how do I make it so that power supply number two can turn on without having it hooked up to the computer to turn on when the power button is pressed. I have little experience with power supplies, and I have it opened up looking to see if there is some kind of on off switch that is separate from the computer, but I don't see anything. I don't really have a problem turning this on separately from the computer to power some things, but how do I do that? Does anyone have any experience with anything like this? | ||
| Monster© Supporter Username: Monster Post Number: 4526 Registered: 7-2002 |
the power switch ON wires for the PSU go to the motherboard connector, once you figure out which ones they are you could connect them to a pushbutton switch from Radio Shack. The PSU has a small current of about 5 volts steady, going to the switch, the switch will send this voltage to the PSU signaling it to turn on and off. But if you are going to go to Radio Shack you may as well just buy a splitter like Tom said. | ||
| Mayor McCheese Supporter Username: Mayor_mccheese Post Number: 2131 Registered: 7-2004 |
My problem with the splitter is that I don't know how much a 300W power supply can handle. It would solve my problem if can a 300W supply handle 4 hard drives, a floppy drive, 2 CD/RW drive, 2 DVD drives, and a host of USB items. | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 15367 Registered: 1-2003 |
See if you can find ratings for the things you are supplying. Sometimes they rate it in watts, sometimes in amps. You should know how many volts each thing uses, and volts times amps equals watts. So, for example, if hard disks run on 5 volts -- they all run on the same voltage, but I don't know what it is -- then it might be rated at five watts. Another hard disk might say 1.5 amps which is 7.5 watts. My guess is that 300W is ample for all of that. | ||
| Politicalmon Citizen Username: Politicalmon Post Number: 248 Registered: 9-2005  |
If we are talking ATX motherboard then a simple upgrade in wattage coupled with the splitter as Tom suggested is all you need. Since you need the splitter anyway I would pick up that and see if your 300W PS will suffice. ATX power supplies can range up to 600 Watts. http://www.directron.com/table1.html | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 15368 Registered: 1-2003 |
Hmm, four hard disks, huh? Maybe you could get a bigger hard disk and transfer of the data onto it. That would use less physical space and less power. Running with the case open will decrease the air pressure of the air flow, which increases the risk of components overheating. The case is designed to guide the air flow over the components. | ||
| TarPit Coder Citizen Username: Tarpitcoder Post Number: 125 Registered: 12-2004  |
Mayor - be *really* careful doing this. You could easily blow your motherboard/drives doing this kind of thing if your not careful. PSU's really supply relative voltages. The +12V is +12V with respect to the ground, the -12V is with respect to the ground. If the ground voltage is say 0.5V then you get +12.5 and -11.5 It's no big deal because it is relative but read on. Now let's say PSU2 has a ground of -0.5V. Then you have a potential difference of 1V between the grounds. When you hook up your drives / equipment that 1V has to be dealt with. If you *ARE* going to do this then you should do some reading about a safe way to bond these two together. At a guess (but don't do this without checking) you should bond the grounds of the two PSU's together. Definitely ALWAYS plug the two PSU's into the same AC socket too. Also think about what happens if you turn them on. PSU2 comes up first - supplys power to the drives, and you havent yet turned on PSU1. (Even if you try turning them on simultaneously there will be a difference). People do run two PSU's on PC's but they generally run stuff like heavy duty cooling systems off one PSU, and all the logic / drives off another. One reason this stuff is nasty is that modern CPU's draw lots of AMPs at relatively low voltages. You can do this - people do, and some get away with it - just don't be surprised if in a few months time your drives or motherboard get flakey. --Tarp | ||
| Mayor McCheese Supporter Username: Mayor_mccheese Post Number: 2252 Registered: 7-2004 |
Thanks everyone. I have decided that two power supplies are too risky for my inexperienced hands. I have purchased a couple splitters and will see how it goes. | ||
| Earlster Supporter Username: Earlster Post Number: 1607 Registered: 8-2003  |
I'm with Tarpit, don't try using two PSU's. Also, I doublt that a 300W PSU will drive all that you want to hook up to it. It mostly depends on your CPU, older P4's and Athlons need a LOT of power. Some of the newer CPU's do use a lot less. If you start seeing weird startup issues, or hear the hard drives spinning up and down and clicking around you will need a bigger PSU. |
