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The Novice and the SMPS

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Hi Kiss

Yes, the coloured tape solution would be ideal wouldn't it, but there are 18 machines and each one has 3 x 18 way Faston spade blocks in very limited space. The only real access is to take the machine out from it's site and partly dismantle the case, which you can't do with Jo Public milling around !

No, the real answer is to drill a hole in the side of my head and pour in some memory retaining fluid so that I remember to look up and read the sticker I have put in each machine that reads ' Remember, Black is Live '

I'm afraid this issue is a standing joke in my family .. .. ..

S
 
If I were to review the enclosure for commercial purposes, there would be a lot of changes, but minor.

e.g. long wire voltage drop can cause ground shift on shared grounds, thus paired Vout + return jacks would be referred, but 2 is good.
The rear could also have wire insert screw terminals and commercial types might have remote sensing to maintain constant voltage at remote wires.

You may discover when the 5V line is heavily loaded that the other voltages increases because they are only tracking the 5V out by magnetic coupling on the same transformer.

Also a good choice for connectors is used by the HDD's which is the 4 pin Molex (+12,gnd,gnd,+5) as an additional interface on the rear.

A possible home improvement is to use zeners or LDO's to regulate intensity of the LEDs to indicate the voltage within the range of normal use

... or better yet have a $5 DMM strapped to the side with a rotary switch wired up with 30AWG magnet wire inside.

I found by drilling 2 holes thru the back of the DMM and using hot glued banana plugs, you can mount the DMM directly to the case with the banana pins on the side, so it can be removed.
 
Hi Tony

Thank you for your thoughts.. ..

you may not know that I am a complete novice, only venturing into electronics as a hobby after retiring from teaching last November and as such I was impressed, if not surprised that this creation of mine actually works, and consequently, the finer points you mention are icing a cake I don't yet have. Having said that, I'm always grateful for the comments because it gives me something to explore on those dark winter nights and learn from for the future.

I did consider adding paired outputs but as all the grounds go back to a huge block of solder on the PCB only inches from the front fascia, and with my current ability I'm not likely to use more than two outputs at the same time, I decided it was unnecessary. For the same reason, I can't see heavy loading of any output being a problem.

This was as much a project about practise as practice, when I've got another 12 months of the benefits of being a member of this marvellous forum, I'll build another PSU that opens the front door when the bell rings and tells jokes to visitors !

I appreciate your help, as usual

S
 
This was as much a project about practise as practice, when I've got another 12 months of the benefits of being a member of this marvellous forum, I'll build another PSU that opens the front door when the bell rings and tells jokes to visitors !
I admire your efforts, Mm.

And you remind me (and, I'm sure, many others on this forum) of my own first efforts (back in '58) with electronic stuff. The pride (and utter amazement) when something I had built actually worked... :woot:.

Then came the question: "OK, how does it work??": many, many days, months and now years still doing the same thing. A hobby that became one of my professions and then segued back into a hobby. Hobbies are a lot more fun :cool:.
 
Another trick is to attach a $5 DMM to the side of the unit with the Amp plug pre-wired in series between board and output , so as to measure A or V with no fuss and use a 2P2S for 12V, or +5 rated for >10A unless you plan not to switch the max current and use a PC soft power switch for logic to gnd to disable before switching say 100W of LEDs in the house garden on 12V. Then you can monitor current or voltage cheap and handy.

I find 2 banana plugs into the back holes thru the DMM cover is stiff enough to hold the meter by itself. Although if you might have live DC power exposed on banana plugs if you remove the DMM. Just a handy solution.

Then you can use a timer or Panasonic Photo diode for daylight sensing from 5V for many things.
 
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