I performed a pretty simple and generic conversion of an ATX power supply to a bench power supply for projects. Theres tons of information on the web about how to do it. I thought I’d share my thought process on a few of my choices.
One project used all of the lines from each rail and wired them to the posts. Since I was using 2A (for 3.3V and 5V) and 3.75A (for 12V) I figured the power running through a single wire would be safe. The gauge of the wires is sufficient to handle the 2 or more amps I’m running. For instance my PSU maxes out at 35A over the 5V rail. This was spread between only 6 wires. At full draw thats nearly 6A over each line. I could be wrong, I’m very bad at the analog side of things.
However if you do want to use all of the rail lines so you can use 35A I can recommend RadioShack part 274-661. The inside of the posts are a lot longer than most of the parts I saw people using online. You could probably get 6 rings on one post easily.
I ended up having to take out my fan too, like others. But this was due to a complete lack of planning on my part. When I placed the LEDs put them far too over to the left. Just plan better, everything should fit in really easily. From what I can tell older power supplies seem better for this in a lot of ways. You get -5V, you don’t have to deal with the 3.3V sense line. And the power resister may not be a requirement.
And now pictures. The external isn’t cleaned up and labeled yet. I need some rubbing alcohol to take the pin off.
