2nd PSU

[tRaptor]

I would like to ad a 2nd psu in my system becasue i jsut got a Promise IDE controler and i need more power. I was wondering if anyone knows any sites where people have done this?

I know its not all that hard, i'd rather use an AT PSu since i have a few of them so any help/ideas would be appreciated

 

[zepper00]

It is pretty simple, the only problem being if you want to mount the second PSU inside your current case--that would probably require some cutting for proper cooling and AC power access. I would just plug all of the drives into your AT PSU and turn it on a few seconds before turning on the main PSU. Just be sure that your AT PSU doesn't have a floating ground. IOW, see if there is any voltage between the metal case of the PSU and any of the black (ground) wires. Then just make sure the cases of both PSU are grounded at a common point (run a heavy wire between a bolt on the AT PSU case to a bolt on your system case). That should do it. Good luck.
.bh.

 

[zepper00]

bumpity

 

[tRaptor]

thanks zepper

"Just be sure that your AT PSU doesn't have a floating ground." - Im not sure what that means tho. How do i test for that?

I know what you mean by seeing if my new psu will ahve any voltage between the grounds.

PS. what does "IOW" mean?

 

[amdskip]

Why do you need more power? Just use a 350w power supply that is a quality built name brand and use power splitters if you need more connections.

 

[zepper00]

amdskip,
Per first message: He already has what he considers an underpowered ATX PSU in his system and has some old AT PSUs lying around and apparently doesn't want to lay out more money.

tRaptor,
IOW is BBS (bulletin board system=what there was before Internet forums/user groups) shorthand for "in other words". We had to use a lot of shorthand then as we were running 110 then 300bps (bits per sec) modems, in order to make message txfer times reasonable. This habit has carried forward to the internet. There are many places around the web that have the more common ones collected. IMO=in my opinion (often seen as IMHO where the H=humble and the writer is usually not!), BTW=by the way, ROTFL=rolling on the floor laughing, IANAL=I am not a lawyer (a preface to offering legal advice), etc.

Floating ground means that the SG "signal ground" ( usually the black wires) is isolated from the CG "chassis ground" or case. You check it the same way I mentioned (check for resistance when PSU is unpowered and check for voltage when the PSU is attached to a load and powered up). This is not often the case any more, but worth checking, JIC (just in case). What you want is 0 (zero) voltage or resistance between SG and CG. for your PSUs to work together.

.bh.
p.s. YW=you're welcome. And one should never power up a switching PSU without a load attached.bh.

 

[amdskip]

Hey, I realize that he has a power supply but how does he know it's underpowered? He listed no systems/problems, quite possibly he is out of power connectors. An AT power supply would work but that's just hacking the crap out of a system to get it to work. A good quality power supply is not that big of an investment and you should not cringe here as it powers everything in a system and only takes 2 seconds to fry a system.