New HDPLEX 200W LPS

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On 1/10/2019 at 8:51 PM, Lebouwsky said:

Would it make sence to invest in hdplex’s dc-atx converter if my motherboard (supermicro X10SBA) accepts 12v input by 4 pin molex? It seems the voltage regulators in this converter are of high quality.

It does make sense, the hdplex dc-dc converter is better quality than the pico in the Zenith. What would be better is to use the converter with one rail for the 24 pin and the 4 pin with a seperate (lt30451) 12v rail, that would make the board sing.

Even better use all four rails of the HDPlex to power the board, 3.3v, 5v & 12V for the 24pin and 12V (you can get it configured 2x12v in lieu of 19v) for the 4 pin. Now we are in high end server territory. No need for the DC/atx converter.

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4 minutes ago, FredericV said:

and then one of those rails start to fluctuate and the motherboard is gone .... I have several of these HDPLEX supplies where the voltages started to drift upwards, or downwards

I thought this is a new improved model. I had the old model a few years ago and was pretty solid.

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33 minutes ago, rickca said:

How can I use an HDPLEX adjustable rail at 12V into a motherboard 4-pin or 8-pin?  Where can I get an appropriate cable?

 

I guess this would be better than using a fixed rail 19V into the DC-ATX and then connecting the DC-ATX into both the 24-pin and the 4/8 pin on the motherboard?

If you look up ''4 pin ATX extension cable'' / ''8 pin....'', companies like Startech. Akasa, Silverstone etc, make them. Cut off the male end and join the yellow (12v) and black (ground) together. If you don't want to cut up your HDPlex cables, then you'll need a dc female plug/socket to connect to.

Some of these cables are not color coded so you can check how your current ATX connector is wired and also Wikipedia has good ATX wiring diagrams, the side where the retaining clip is should be +12V.

Companies like mod diy sell ATX connectors and casings even pre - crimped ofc cable, so you could also make up your own connectors.

 

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6 minutes ago, rickca said:

I have an 8-pin ATX extension cable.  Don't you mean cut off the female end?  The male end plugs into the motherboard.

Thanks, but I have zero DIY skills to start making my own connectors/cables.

The male is the one on the motherboard (the pins) but I could be wrong, cut off the identical one, leaving the one that connects to the motherboard and cable. Join the yellow wires together and the black together. Get a 12Vdc jack connector female 5.5 x 2.1 ? and screw the bare wire in yellow to +ve.

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32 minutes ago, Lebouwsky said:

This sounds interesting but have no clue what you mean. Is there a picture or scheme that would make this more comprehensive?

This is a diagram of the 24 pin atx and 4 pin atx on your motherboad.

You will need a 24 pin atx extension cable and a 4 pin one.

Cut off the male ends, leaving the ends that will connect to your motherboard.

On the 24 Pin:

Strip the wire ends approx 1 - 2cm.

Connect the yellow 12V together.

Connect the orange 3.3V together.

Connect the red 5V together.

Connect the black ground together.

Connect the purple 5V SB to the red 5V

Connect the grey PowerOK to the red 5V.

Ignore / Cut off the Green PS ON, white -5V and blue -12V.

You now have 3 connections, 3.3V, 5V, 12V for your HDplex rails, the black is common on the board so all 3 power supply rails ground can be joined together or daisy chained, with the motherboard black ground cables.

Similar principle for the 4 pin 12V this will connect to the 4th HDplex (12V rail) seperately powering CPU.

 

 

 

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35 minutes ago, austinpop said:

24-pin to mobo, 4-pin to CPU, 8-pin for PCIe?

I"m guessing for your Dell server, but generally, on a high powered set up, you might have an 8 pin plus 4 pin, for CPU plus 8 pin for PCIE graphics high power cards. I would just connect the 24 pin plus CPU. The CPU will benefit from its own rail, the NVME can be powered from the 24pin.

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31 minutes ago, rickca said:

If you get the 400W ATX LPS you don't need a DC-ATX unit.  Make sense?

Pretty much so, it also depends on the make up of the 400W, is it a single rail with a built in DC to DC converter, or multi rail.

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31 minutes ago, rickca said:

If you get the 400W ATX LPS you don't need a DC-ATX unit.  Make sense?

Pretty much so, it also depends on the make up of the 400W, is it a single rail with a built in DC to DC converter, or multi rail.

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38 minutes ago, Lebouwsky said:

This is really helpful for understanding atx, thanks for that. It raises more questions though

 

Powered like you suggest, does the ssd now gets it’s own ‘clean’ 5v or is it still wise to power is separately?

 

 Second, I cant find any 4 or 8 pin cpu power on my Supermicro X10SBA, is the cpu in this case fed by one of the 12v 24pin atx? And if so, could that be a disadvantage soundwise?

 

I can imagine a very low tdp server board like this mine (about 10 watt iddle, 15 watt at use) doesn’t need it’s own dc (4 pin) or even double (8 pin) to deliver the juice like a very powerhungry cpu does. But it’s just a guess. Could not find any info about that on the internet.

When you Use the 24 pin atx, then the 12V 4 pin atx which you are now using to power the entire board diverts to the CPU. from the motherboard manual:

''These power connectors meet the SSI EPS 12V specification''

There is a benefit to this as the CPU with its own regulated rail results in a fuller sound, there are some posts from @nuno of Innuos confirming the sound improvement.

However in the Zenith SE, the 24 pin atx is fed from a single rail via a pico (DC to DC converter), what I'm suggesting goes one stage further with 3 separate rails for the 24 pin atx. They don't have to be very powerful rails on a low power motherboard but we know from experience from posters powering low power items with massive SR7's that the better the supply (not necessarily bigger) the more the benefits.

Its important to power the ssd separately with it's own 5 Volt supply otherwise noise from the SSD will feedback- doesn't need to be from the HDplex, but that's 3 rails in total if you use a dc to dc converter for the 24 pin or 5 rails as I'm suggesting.

The new Statement has full regulated linear atx rails on an outboard PSU I think 8 in total.

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5 hours ago, tboooe said:

The second pics shows each pair of wires from the pcb and transformer going into separate blocks.  

Those are bridge rectifiers in the second pic, the diode circuits, the transformer's AC output rails are converted to DC and passed onto the regulators in the first pic, which regulate down to the  voltages required for the various outputs on the power supply.

It looks like 2 rails from the transformer are used, its not uncommon to use 2 rails and then split them up further, but you can take a closer look at the wires going to the rectifiers from the transformer, it could be 4.

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1 minute ago, tboooe said:

Thank you.  I see 4 pairs of wires from the transformer going to 4 bridge rectifiers.  Does that mean there are 4 independent rails?

Yes 4 rails.

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2 hours ago, Lebouwsky said:

Thanks for that Frederic. Not sure what negative voltage means in dc, but this seems more complex then I previously thought. I’ll wait for Ghent to respond my request first

There aren't any negative voltages on your board, or most boards for that matter that's why I left them out.

I also left out pin 16 PS on - since you cannot switch a linear power supply on or off from your computer / server unless it's specially designed to do so.

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Hi Lebouwsksy,

On your 3 pin schematic we need the red positive and black ground for our DC. No negative.

From your DC power supply there will be only positive and ground. On a 3 pin connector only 2 pins will be connected.

From your DC power you will connect + 3.3V, 5V, 12V to the corresponding connections, You will connect a ground from each DC supply to the Ground on the motherboard, since the grounds are common they can be connected together or individually.

Connecting the DC ground to AC earth or an earth block for emi drain off is viable and will reduce some HF noise, you can connect 1 end of your shield to ground. Because all the grounds are common, and as is probably the PC case, you can just take one ground point to your earth block.

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Out of interest, here's a pic of the rear of the supply showing pin 3 as 'not connected' so the barell connector at the other end has positive and ground.

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34 minutes ago, Lebouwsky said:

Do I understand you correctly that if the motherboard is connected to the pc’s chassis, that the atx cable’s ground is indirect connected to the chassis and that connecting the chassis to the ground is sufficiënt?

 

Yes that's correct, if you use metal screws without washers to connect the board to the chassis the screw holes are ground points, in effect the case becomes 'ground', you can check for continuity with a meter.

Connecting to your earth rod from any ground point on the PC, or on the case will 'ground' the entire PC including power supplies attached.

I can hear a definite reduction in noise when I connect this way, but only when using pretty thick earth/ copper cable (from PC to ground block) - lowest impedance seems best.

Looking forward to hearing about the results.

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6 minutes ago, henke said:

But is good that the voltage is only 25V across the caps at least.

Voltage is fine - but I would send it back and get the power supply as specified or get your money back.

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2 hours ago, austinpop said:

And maybe someone can explain how you get a "400W Hi-Fi DC-ATX Power Supply" while fed from a single 19V rail of a 200W (or 160W?) LPS?

400W is the maximum rated input meaning it can power a high current board / large CPU etc.Its regulators and components are chosen for high current operation. It doesn't need high current to work you can power it with a low power supply depending on your boards current requirements.

1 hour ago, rickca said:

I don't understand the technology inside that 400W AC-DC unit.  If someone can explain what's on the website in layman's terms, I'd appreciate it.  In particular, why would a 400W AC-DC plus a 400W DC-ATX be better than a traditional PC power supply?

The 400W ac-dc unit looks like a single rail SMPS using LLC Resonant converter, basically a higher grade SMPS using higher switching frequencies and less loss / higher efficiency and performance, the resultant use of smaller value components therefore less noise generated.

In 'theory' one or 2 of these feeding a dc-dc converter and its linear regulators should outperform a traditional PC supply, which in general would not be designed for audio use / low noise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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21 hours ago, Lebouwsky said:

The 200w I’m expecting somewhere at the end of this month will be on 24/7. This worries me a little bit since we’re having small children. Is this project work risking the safety of my family?

Your board will not draw much current and is unlikely to stress the components. Hopefully your unit will have the problem resolved.

You could also install a lower rated fuse for added safety if it's a worry. I do wish some manufacturers would test their products more thouroughly.