In a recent issue of Nuts and Volts magazine they detailed how to make a fairly nice PSU using one of those cheap chinese buck/boost converters (as well as how to fix a couple of issues with it) it has full current and voltage regulation, both adjustable, plus an LCD output, all for well around $50.00.
Granted, when you get beyond a couple of adjustable outputs, price goes thru the roof… Many hobbyists are willing to save about $400.00 for an o-scope (which isn’t completely essential, at least when beginning – a multimeter is the essential tool), but won’t plunk down a hundred or so for a decent PSU. Posted in computer hacks, Tool Hacks Tagged atx power supply, atx psu, psu hack Post navigationĪ lot of this is what I was going to mention as well. We’ve seen tons of nice ATX power supply builds, and they all have a slightly different design to them - it’s great! He’s even thrown in a voltage regulator with current metering and a nice set of 7-segment displays! He snagged a 500W ATX power supply from one of his kid’s old desktop PC’s, grabbed some old wall-warts for individual current limited supplies (apparently ATX PSU’s don’t have 5V rails anymore?), and put it all into a nice big project box. When set out on this project he wanted to use as many recycled components as possible, but still come up with an extremely functional bench top power supply. Computer ATX power supplies are a cheap alternative, although they usually tend to lack the features of real bench power supplies… unless you hack yours like !
Unfortunately, they’re really quite expensive, and a bit out of reach for most hobbyists. Power supplies are essential for at home tinkering and electronics hacking.