NVM... I got the answers I needed...

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

So I've been doing some research on stuff, and I found an article on how to turn on a second power supply automatically with a relay. And I was thinking I could get some spare parts, and sell these to people, presoldered and everything. But I don't know if anyone would actually need them. I'm not trying to make money, just help people out. I'd sell them for like $5 plus parts and shipping. What do you think, would anyone need one?

Basically, it would be a molex extender, and a PSU 20p or 24p extension, and solder everything in, so that you just have to hook it up to the 2nd power supply, and a molex connector from the 1st, and you have instant power for the second power supply, instead of hooking up a switch and all that.
Tas.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Okay. Further explanation. If you want to connect a second power supply into your computer, you have to short two specific pins in the 20-pin or 24-pin connector, because ATX power supplies are turned on now by the motherboard. For the second power supply, you aren't plugging it into a power supply, so you need to short these pins.

Well, you can use a switch to short them, so that you can actually turn the power supply on and off. Well, I found out you can actually use a relay, and have the primary power supply turn on the secondary power supply by means of a relay, and some soldering. If you use a molex extension, and a 20-pin / 24-pin extension, you can do this with no alteration to the original hardware, so you can sell the power supply again should you need to, etc.

I'm thinking about getting the equipment to build these to help people out, but there's no since in me buying the supplies to make some if no one is going to need them. Does that help?
Tas.

 

[SuperFreaky]

Is this basically a cheap way to have redundant power supplies?

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Not necessarily redundant, but a lot of power, versus buying a 800+ watt power supply. I have a Enermax 660w and a 460w power supply in my server right now. And with the current breed of video cards, it becomes more and more useful to just use two power supplies.
Tas.

 

[bendixG15]

Think about this...

If you sold these things, could you offer a guarantee that it will
not damage a persons existing system ???
Or will it be.....buy and use at your own risk ???

Sorry..but I have been down a similiar road

Good Luck...

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

It's not a patent or something. Just trying to help people out. Someone asked me to solder them up a switch, because they did not know how to do it themselves, and I came up with the idea. Gues I'll just be making one for me then... Oh well.
Tas.

 

[Ricemarine]

I think the CM stacker already has one of those adapters. Just not for 5v heh.


Picture

 

[SuperFreaky]

Originally posted by: tasburrfoot78362
Not necessarily redundant, but a lot of power, versus buying a 800+ watt power supply. I have a Enermax 660w and a 460w power supply in my server right now. And with the current breed of video cards, it becomes more and more useful to just use two power supplies.
Tas.

But does it function as redundant? If ones dies does the setup still run?

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: SuperFreaky

Originally posted by: tasburrfoot78362
Not necessarily redundant, but a lot of power, versus buying a 800+ watt power supply. I have a Enermax 660w and a 460w power supply in my server right now. And with the current breed of video cards, it becomes more and more useful to just use two power supplies.
Tas.

But does it function as redundant? If ones dies does the setup still run?

No, but that doesn't really matter, because the second power supply isn't powering the motherboard. It is used for extra fans, hard drives, etc. Like for me, I have all non-essential hard drives powered off of the second power supply.
Tas.