So this will be an ongoing project.
I used to have some old PCs sitting in my closet. They take up a lot of space, and they’re heavy. So on a whim (as it always is), I decided to gut the PCs.
One of them, apparently I had already removed the power supply, so it was gone (if I remember, it was quite noisy, so no loss). The other still had its PSU, so I’ve selected it as the donor to my bench-top power supply project.
The PSU is effectively a 450 watt supply, more than enough for my needs. Also it’s one of the older supplies, so it appears to have a -5V wire (most modern supplies don’t have these anymore).
Reference
Here’s a video breakdown of ATX power supplies that seems quite informative.
http://www.instructables.com/id/ATX–%3E-Lab-Bench-Power-Supply-Conversion/?ALLSTEPS
http://www.instructables.com/id/A-Makers-Guide-to-ATX-Power-Supplies/?ALLSTEPS
Parts
I’m going to need parts. Banana plug sockets and some large resistors.
Something I’m thinking about doing is making one of these.
Ultimately the goal is to make an all in one, but I’m tempted to try building an external board you can plug an unmodified power supply in to.
I’m going to steal connectors and things from a couple obsolete motherboards. I’m never going to use these computers again anyway, so why not put them to good use (instead of the trash).