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Sharing +5V from power supply
seaner:
Your power supply should have the ratings labelled right on it. Something along the lines of:
+5V 6A
+12V 2A
-12V 0.3A
etc.
Typically all of the 5V leads coming out of a PC power supply all terminate at the same place inside the power supply, so it doesnt matter which one you tap. The only thing you will have to take care with is the width of the wires you are using (thinner = more resistance = more heat = fire). If your wires are rather thin, you can always pair them up, or triple, etc.
Also, Carsten makes a good point about fusing the power lines.. PC power supplies are typically fused already, but it makes replacing those fuses much easier when you don't have to disassemble :)
Odonadon:
Here's one:
Can I splice either the 12v or 5v from the PS (not sure which one I need yet) to light up my coin bulbs? This particular wire has already been spliced - had to make it much longer to relocate my CD-ROM at the coin door. The bulbs will be sharing either 12v or 5v with the CD-ROM. Will this cause any problems? Or should I install a switch to use one or the other and not both at the same time?
Odonadon
Carsten Carlos:
--- Quote ---Can I splice either the 12v or 5v from the PS (not sure which one I need yet) to light up my coin bulbs?
--- End quote ---
Of course, no problem! I was to lazy to add an additonal 12v-line from the PC, so I bought 6v bulbs for the coindoor. (I need the 5V-line anyway for lighting up the LED's)
The lamps I got draw 0,3A each. A 1A fuse should still be enough including spinner & LED's, but maybe you should take a slightly higher value.
seaner:
--- Quote from: Carsten Carlos on March 27, 2003, 02:44:11 pm ---The lamps I got draw 0,3A each. A 1A fuse should still be enough including spinner & LED's, but maybe you should take a slightly higher value.
--- End quote ---
Of course, a 12V lamp will probably draw much less current than a 5V lamp. Just be careful not to put in a fuse that has a higher rated value than the ratings on the power supply. Also remember that a 5V bulb that draws 300mA will draw about 700mA at 12V. As always, just make sure you don't draw more current than the supply claims it can source.. otherwise you either run into voltage drops or fried power supply bits.