AC to DC inverter. Power supply to power HID units.

[soccrstar]

Hello,

I was wondering what you folks use to power your HID kits when not in the car for testing? I had a meanswell Power supply many moons ago that was used for my peltier water cooling setup for the computer and worked well til I accidentally killed it.

So I looked around for another and came across this MEAN WELL SE-600-12 12V 50A 600W Single Output Power Supply. Cost 99 bucks. More powerful then my last unit.

Do you folks have a recommendation of a power supply to power the HIDs?

thanks in advance!

[BrokenVisaCard]

I see a lot of members use a computer 12v power supply from desktop computers.

[Michelin Man]

If anything that's overkill, unless you plan to run other things off of it. Even then though, for testing automotive stuff you usually want a 13.8v power supply, but that'll do.

[adrian449]

I'm using an old pc power supply. There's a good how-to here:http://www.hidplanet.com/forums/show...t=Power+supply

[soccrstar]

I see a lot of members use a computer 12v power supply from desktop computers.

Oh? what size computer power supply do you recommend to power 2 50W HID ballast?

Theres a 250w I see for 16 bucks with this rating +3.3V@15A, +5V@14A, +12V@15A
Or a 350w from the same manufacturer for bout 25 bucks rated at +5@15A, +3.3V@15A, +12V@20A
Or a 450w power supply same manufacturer for 36 bucks rated at +3.3V@20A, +5V@20A, +12V@30A

If anything that's overkill, unless you plan to run other things off of it. Even then though, for testing automotive stuff you usually want a 13.8v power supply, but that'll do.

how bout something like this? http://www.ebay.com/itm/250W-DC-12V-...item3cc3d5a164


Output Voltage: 12V DC

Output Current: 0~20.0A



thank you both for your reply!!

[Genes1s]

Found few old desktop computers power supply laying around the dumpster area at work place awhile back. Brought it home and tested to see if it still have some life. 2 of them were dead, but the other 2 were still alive. I took the switches and fan from the dead ones since this would be usefull for building boosted ballast in the futrure. One of the good ones was a heavy duty power supply which is rated at 400W with dual rails, 12V @15 amp and 12V @ 14 amp. This would be perfect for quad aiming process. My old is is single rail and it was blowing up fuse when I tried to power up 2 ballasts at the same time, but with this dual rail, it would be do it.

Dual rails

Cleaned them up, cut/tie wrap all wires and connection that I don't need. There were a bunch of +12V yellow wires, so I just took a few and soldered it together to make one wire. Same thing with the ground (black). I added another 12+ conenction to hook up the selenoid also. I put a on/off switch and fuse on one +12V for one ballast so I can toggle it on/off during projectors aiming process.

9006 power inputs to both ballasts and selenoid.

10amp fuse and toggle switch just in case the ballast draws too much.

Jumper is needed to bypass the computer on/off

I'm only showing this jus to show the possibilities of powering your HID system outside your car with very little money.This setup works for me but may not work with your own application. Use this at your own risk. Make sure you wear proper eye protection when soldering and working with metal. Make sure you dump all the energy off the Capacitor when you strat digging/opening the case. Sometimes the caps still have some energy left, that if not grounded properly can cause short or shock.

[soccrstar]

Wowsers! GREAT stuff You got there!
Thank you so much for your post! I will see what I can come up with! I love your Idea!

Found few old desktop computers power supply laying around the dumpster area at work place awhile back. Brought it home and tested to see if it still have some life. 2 of them were dead, but the other 2 were still alive. I took the switches and fan from the dead ones since this would be usefull for building boosted ballast in the futrure. One of the good ones was a heavy duty power supply which is rated at 400W with dual rails, 12V @15 amp and 12V @ 14 amp. This would be perfect for quad aiming process. My old is is single rail and it was blowing up fuse when I tried to power up 2 ballasts at the same time, but with this dual rail, it would be do it.

Dual rails

Cleaned them up, cut/tie wrap all wires and connection that I don't need. There were a bunch of +12V yellow wires, so I just took a few and soldered it together to make one wire. Same thing with the ground (black). I added another 12+ conenction to hook up the selenoid also. I put a on/off switch and fuse on one +12V for one ballast so I can toggle it on/off during projectors aiming process.

9006 power inputs to both ballasts and selenoid.

10amp fuse and toggle switch just in case the ballast draws too much.

Jumper is needed to bypass the computer on/off

I'm only showing this jus to show the possibilities of powering your HID system outside your car with very little money.This setup works for me but may not work with your own application. Use this at your own risk. Make sure you wear proper eye protection when soldering and working with metal. Make sure you dump all the energy off the Capacitor when you strat digging/opening the case. Sometimes the caps still have some energy left, that if not grounded properly can cause short or shock.

[Michelin Man]

Oh? what size computer power supply do you recommend to power 2 50W HID ballast?

Theres a 250w I see for 16 bucks with this rating +3.3V@15A, +5V@14A, +12V@15A
Or a 350w from the same manufacturer for bout 25 bucks rated at +5@15A, +3.3V@15A, +12V@20A
Or a 450w power supply same manufacturer for 36 bucks rated at +3.3V@20A, +5V@20A, +12V@30A




how bout something like this? http://www.ebay.com/itm/250W-DC-12V-...item3cc3d5a164


Output Voltage: 12V DC

Output Current: 0~20.0A



thank you both for your reply!!

That will work as well, but those are meant to be mounted inside another enclosure hence why the mains terminals are exposed. Which is a bit too dangerous to be moving around and being near.

At the moment a computer power supply is what I think you should get.

Something to add to MSU2000's post is to bundle a few yellow and black leads together (just make sure they're from the same rail). Some PSUs protection circuit will kick in when you hook up a ballast, but should work when you have multiple wires combined.

You can purchase a quality power supply for this purpose such as antec, thermaltake, seasonic, coolermaster, corsair and others, but you should be fine with like a cheap weird brand you've never heard of before.


If you go the extra step further you can put a switch on the actual PSU itself (although if you get one with a power switch on the back, your in business), and have a terminal block on top.