Dedicated PSU??

[cbmeeks]

My cab will have an ATX PSU (300 Watt) for the computer.

Now, I have a few AT (Not ATX) PSU's around in about the same wattage.

Should I maybe dedicate one of those for things like the CP, NES controllers, marquee lighting, AMP, speakers, etc?

Or will the 300 be enough for all of that.  

thanks

cb

[sirwoogie]

Depends on the computer.

Try the following link to get an idea of what things run:

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

It also depends on which supply you have. There are wide fluctuations on the quality of vendor PS units. I personally use the Antec TruPower line and they have NEVER let me down. A little more expensive, but this is not something to skimp on. There are plenty of decent manufactures out there, but avoid the no-name or "to cheap to be true" brands.

I only have a 300 Tru left for my new cab, and I have a spare 150 W that I'll use for the auxillary equipment (much like what you have). I could probably get away with the 300, but this other unit is just burning up space in the basement.

edit:
I see you say "AMP" there. Is this a car amp, or is this a small amp you got for a cabinet? Add up the wattage, but I'd be wary of putting any amp on the same PS. Especially if it's a car amp as the voltage/amp requirements peak and valley considerably.

[Generic Eric]

My cab will have an ATX PSU (300 Watt) for the computer.

Now, I have a few AT (Not ATX) PSU's around in about the same wattage.

Should I maybe dedicate one of those for things like the CP, NES controllers, marquee lighting, AMP, speakers, etc?

Or will the 300 be enough for all of that.  

thanks

cb

My first suggestion is to determine if that PSU is enough for your computer.  Do a google search on "Choosing a Power supply for my computer" or something to that effect.

What you should keep in mind is that for each device you run from that you increase the load on that power supply.  The task is to determine what each devices' power consumption is.  After determining that, add the total and the result is the maximum wattage under "full load."  <-- That is your concern.

If you are to run all the devices listed above, I don't believe 300 watts is sufficent.

I have seen examples here of installations using 2 power supplies.  Items such as your amp, marquee light and speakers shouldn't need to be run from your PC power supply.

Based on your concerns, I would like to make a few suggestions...

Get a good power strip,  not the 99 cent models.  Be it a Monster, or the one from Bitsunlimetted that www.retroblast.com reviewed.

Get an UPS.  Not only will this give you about 15 minutes of extra play time if you lose power, but it will also help protect your system from brownouts and powersurges.

If you have really bad power problems in your area, you could even consider getting an isolation transformer for you system.  But to be honest, the isolation transformer is probably excessive.

Hope this helps.

[cbmeeks]

thanks for the tips

My first suggestion is to determine if that PSU is enough for your computer.  Do a google search on "Choosing a Power supply for my computer" or something to that effect.

The PSU has been running this computer for about 2.5 years.  :-)   Should be enough for the computer.

I am going to get that "bitstream" or "bitsunlimited" or whatever it is called.  I have a UPS too.  I think I will use both PSU's.  That way, I have a full 300 watts for the computer and another 300 watts for everything else.

[sirwoogie]

Agree also with eric on the decent power strip. Be careful with the UPS though. Combining it with the bits makes it a little difficult.

The whole point of the Bits is to turn off equipment in the cab. The caveat is that you must plug them all into the Bits. If you have the Bits plugged into the UPS, you have florescent lighting, your monitor, your amp, and your speakers in addition to the computer PS all plugged into it. That'll make even large home UPS systems (I'm talking 1200VA+) only last perhaps a few minutes, or it may just crap out on that load altogether.

[Generic Eric]

wall -> ups -> powerstrip -> pc & devices

[sirwoogie]

Yeah, that's the scenario I highlight above.

[Blakey]

FWIW, I'm running a microATX board with an Athlon 2000, 1 7200rpm HDD, 2x120mm fans and a "200W" car amp (fused at 5A) from an Antec SL350. With the computer running and music playing louder than I'd ever want it, the 12V line still stayed rock solid at 12.02 - 12.04V. It has 16A on the 12V line.

By comparison, a Macase 250W PSU with 10A on the 12V line sat at 11V with nothing but the amp connected, and the amps caution light lit with every beat.

The only downside to my current configuration is there's a lot of PC noise coming through, either memory or HDD generated. It's not power based, as using a discman as a source sounds clear and quiet. Contrastingly putting the PC's sound output into a stereo is also clean. Strange.