Monday, April 25, 2011

Free lab power supply

There are several sites on the internet to get plans to convert an old computer power supply over for use as a small voltage power supply for experimental uses. I wanted one to use on my breadboard to mock up circuits, and to use to power some of my small regenerative receivers I have built. Here is what I ended up with. I found a computer power supply (dumpster find.) I ended up putting it in a black project box. I drilled holes in the top and each side of the box to add the computers fan to help cool the interior. Basically you combine all like colored wires and test what voltage you come up with. Mine was noisy when I tested it with one of my small QRP transceivers. I added some ferrite clip on type beads from the junk box collection.




SIde view of the power supply. You must have a load on these supplies or they will not power up.


I added a power up LED and a push button on off switch. Works great and best off all it was (nearly) free.