Building an Unregulated Linear Power Supply

[elan120]

4 hours ago, Exocer said:

@elan120 it is now early February. Do you have any interesting updates for us?

 

Also,do you plan to pick up the recently available Noratel transformer?

 

I have replaced my Toroidy with the Noratel but made some other changes in my chain that make a direct comparison impossible. What I will say is my system sounds the best it has ever sounded. Although the Toroidy was no slouch.

 

-Rob

Not too much other than similar to your experience, my system sounds the best thus far with the two power supplies I build near year end last year.  I have no plan to swap for the Noratel transformer at this point, but I am consider building another supply with it later this year.  I delayed my server build for another couple month, due to few other things I want to try, but once I am done with them, I will report back my findings on the new server.

[rico25]

On 1/25/2022 at 10:37 AM, rico25 said:

Hello everybody :)
here is the project that I intend to carry out, with a Noratel/Taiko transformer (thanks to Nenon)

 

 

Hi,

as promised here is my Nenon V3 realization with Noratel / Taiko transformer, minimum lugs, minimum lengths and welds. A Vcap suffered during crimping but still works, the rest went well :)

 

 

 

 

[oneguy]

Closing the Saligny Rectifier group buy at midnight PST. PM me if interested. 

 

[oneguy]

I finally got the bulk of my components in so I can set the layout. The plan is to stack this on top of my server and drop the DC wire to the Taiko DC ATX where the red circle is here:

in the top of my server case here:

the ultimately to the Taiko DC in here (not my photo):

 

No connectors to worry about except the one into the Taiko and very direct. 

[MarcelNL]

I'd rather stack the server on top, did you consider that? You want the heat of the passive cooling to dissipate and convection drives it upwards.

[oneguy]

14 minutes ago, MarcelNL said:

I'd rather stack the server on top, did you consider that? You want the heat of the passive cooling to dissipate and convection drives it upwards.

My take was convection heat travels upwards. I am less concerned with the server preheating the air going to the the ULPS than the ULPS preheating the air going to the server since the server will already be running hot with upsampling. 

 

Also a nice secondary is the massive copper heatsink may provide an additional obstacle to EMI from the transformer in the case directly above. 

[oneguy]

@MarcelNLeither way I guess it’s good the top holes is one case don’t really line up with the bottom holes of the other case they won’t direct port hot air from one to the other. 
 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/4Pcs-Aluminum-HiFi-Speaker-Isolation-Stand-Feet-Base-Pad-Ceramic-Bead-Anti-shock-/373760117444?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

 

I have taller feet to separate the cases since the stock feet aren’t tall enough. They split into an upper and lower half so the top half will stay mounted to the ULPS and lower half mounted to the server. Dampening and perfect alignment each time there are stacked. 

 

The server is also getting those feet to elevate it so it traps less hot air below it. 
 

Other random touches: copper washers on all the screw terminals and copper screws. I just ordered the copper screws today now that I know the dimensions. M5x8mm for the 22,000 capacitor and M6x10mm for 47,000 capacitor. 
 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/99-9-Pure-Copper-ISO7380-Hex-Socket-Bolts-Button-Head-Screws-M3-M4-M5-M6-/185146765196?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SHYWDFK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_C5DE7T0N3AKNGV74S3V4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

[MarcelNL]

It's not about the holes, but the heatsinks. I can easily see a temperature difference when airflow is unhindered underneath and above my 300W heatsink for the CPU versus when something is blocking it.

[elan120]

Here is an update of ULPS V3 with Taiko (Noratel) Transformer.  The DC output is 34.3VDC compare to 35.4VDC from Toroidy Audio Supreme.

 

 

[Exocer]

4 minutes ago, elan120 said:

Here is an update of ULPS V3 with Taiko (Noratel) Transformer.  The DC output is 34.3VDC compare to 35.4VDC from Toroidy Audio Supreme.

 

 

Interested in your comparison between the two transformers. I enjoyed both quite a lot. But the Noratel was worth the purchase.

[ray-dude]

Love the busbars!

[elan120]

1 minute ago, Exocer said:

Interested in your comparison between the two transformers. I enjoyed both quite a lot. But the Noratel was worth the purchase.

I am also looking forward to compare between the two, but it won't be a complete comparison since it will only have maybe one day of burn-in before it leaves my bench.

[oneguy]

1 hour ago, MarcelNL said:

It's not about the holes, but the heatsinks. I can easily see a temperature difference when airflow is unhindered underneath and above my 300W heatsink for the CPU versus when something is blocking it.

Design is about trade offs and I’m prioritizing shorter cable runs over the server case being completely unrestricted above it. There will be an inch of clearance between the two cases and heatsinks. Also the heatsinks in the case above do not completely block convection airflow from the heatsinks below. If the cases line up perfectly, which is my intention, then the free space between the heatsinks will also line up perfectly so the convection air currents from the heatsink will have a direct path upwards. 

[oneguy]

Finally got to drilling and tapping holes today. The final capacitor will go in once I cut the screw for the foot that’s poking up to be flush. 

The blue tape represents where the shielding plate will be. 

[oneguy]

I read that comment that adding a screw through center of a toroidal transformer reduces it efficiency. Obviously not everything you read is true but has anyone come across that? My plan to avoid that was to use 3M Dual Lock tape to secure it. Thoughts?

I was uncomfortable with the distance of the the capacitor terminals to the lid so I added 1/8 adhesive backed neoprene to the lid. 

[Rovo]

Some time ago I asked a similar question to the guy from Paul Hynes Design Ltd and he told me that in the centre of a toriodal transformer the effect of a (steel) bolt is negligible. It is best to use the bolt because the transformer is heavy. 

[oneguy]

@Rovogood to know. Sounds like a trip to the hardware store is in order.
 

I wish I could use the hex head cutout on the opposite side of the transformer but the orientation doesn’t work for my layout. 

[bit01]

The steel bolt should not touch both the top and bottom chassis covers.

[oneguy]

The internal case size of the H5 is 88mm and the transformer is 67mm tall so I’ll be safe there. Hex bolt head and washer is probably 10mm max. 

[oneguy]

Wiring inside the server done for the most part. 

Im using the stock HDPLEX ATX power cable to connect the ULPS to the ATX until I can validate having the server on bottom due to heat concerns. Once that’s done I’ll make the cable out of 14 awg and drill the appropriate holes to pass the cable through. 

I also need to solder in the fuse holder that I drilled a hole for and remove the inline fuses that I am currently using as well as put in a thicker ground wire. 

I highly recommend this little guy for stripping the Teflon off the Neotech wires. It made it a breeze. 

 

Anyone else notice their CPU becoming audibly more noisy when using the ULPS? Mine is currently emoting a noise like its trying to read something. It’s the BIOS noise but with pulses. 

[Nenon]

1 hour ago, oneguy said:

 

 

Someone is really taking short wires to extreme levels. Nice. 

 

[MarcelNL]

Biggest question in my mind is whether the EPS should be short as heck or the 24 pin...

[Nenon]

No doubt the EPS is even more important (as well as the unregulated LPS to Taiko ATX). 

[oneguy]

3 hours ago, Nenon said:

 

Someone is really taking short wires to extreme levels. Nice. 

 

Thanks. My original plan was to put the Taiko ATX copper side up directly above the 24-Pin but with the RAM there it would limit how close I can get the Taiko so I decided it probably wouldn’t be any shorter than this for way more hassle. 
 

Those wires are each 4.5 cm long and I used a marker as a die to uniformly form them all into a U shape before inserting them in into the connector. 
 

For one of the EPS cables routings I could have shaved a few cm with this pathway but the thought didn’t occur to me until just now. 

[elan120]

1 hour ago, oneguy said:

Those wires are each 4.5 cm long and I used a marker as a die to uniformly form them all into a U shape before inserting them in into the connector. 

That is very short...👍  Mine is a bit longer, but same idea.