Pc Power supply (worth using?)

[Marky_1979]

I have a spare pc power supply from an old computer im throwing out but was wondering if i could use the old power supply to power my lights for trackball and coin doors as well as speakers amp and anything else that might need a 12 v supply.

Advise desperately required, has anyone done this at all?

Many thanks 

[BobA]

There are many threads about using a PC supply.  You can use it to power you llights but you will have to read the label on the PS to see how many amps you can supply if you drive a 12V amplifier.   Amps x Volts gives you watts if you need to know how may amps you need for a specific power amp.

If you have an ATX supply you may have to put in a jumper to get it to run but search the board and you will find many threads on using PC supplies.

BobA

[krick]

You have to be careful to run the power supply with sufficient load.  If you don't, you'll burn it up.

[SteveJ34]

If your considerations are in using a secondary power supply for the purpose of driving some coin door and track ball lighting in addition to having a PS that is driving the other PC components, I would suggest its really not necessary.

Unless you are using a particularily low wattage unit as your primary power source, you should have sufficient power in this primary PS to drive the remaining 12v and 5v light sources you are considering using the secondary unit for.

Edit: Didn't see the speaker amp component until a re-read, that might take a bit more in terms of amperage required.