# High powered 12v power supply



## qwertydude (Dec 22, 2008)

If you guys read some of my recent posts and are wondering how I'm able to test high powered amps at a stable voltage. I use two modded server power supplies hooked up in parallel.

In particular I use a pair of these. each capable of 75 amps of stable current output and with a little tweak can be boosted in voltage from 12.7 with loose regulation to 13 volts with rock solid regulation from 0-75 amps. And can you believe you can buy these things for like $20 each or even less!

HP PROLIANT DL580 power supply | eBay

There's a pretty involved thread on an RC car forum but it's definitely an interesting read.

A simple high quality 12Volt 100Amp Power Supply- Part1 - RC Groups

Only disadvantage is they are freaking loud like a leaf blower. I ended up gutting the original 2 fans putting a quieter single fan in it that runs just above the safety trip RPM. I haven't had problems with them overheating, in fact it seems they run hotter idling than they do at 1000 watts, probably something to do with the bucking circuits on the output.

But if you need a lot of 12v power you definitely can't beat these power supplies in terms of value.


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## drumcrusher (May 4, 2008)

i just ordered one of these off of ebay. killer deal. do you know of anywhere where i can get instructions on how to do the mod you are talking about? that thread is a long one, are instructions burried somewhere in those pages? also, from what i see, its mainly soldering those wires to the back pins, and adding a servo switch for convenience... is that really all there is to it really? seems too easy to be true. thanks


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## drumcrusher (May 4, 2008)

im beginning to wonder if i got the right one... i ordered p/n 348114-b21, which he specifically says is the one he used. but then 100 pages later somebody seems to say that its the wrong model number... which kindof sucks, too much information in that thread to take in without getting confused as hell. do you have any idea if that p/n will work??? thanks for any help you can give me.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

post the picture of pinouts, i lltry to help you.


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## cornholio (May 13, 2012)

how do you get this thing to put out a steady 13v? i am very interested in this because i don't have a car but have lots of high current 12v audio stuff. my current power supply wont put out more than 78 amps before it shuts off.  i wasted a hundred bucks on this thing.


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## qwertydude (Dec 22, 2008)

To get it to output a steady 13v you need a variable 5k or 10k pot. Then wire it like this.










I use the variable pot because you can vary the voltage. Center tap on the pot goes to the green. Doing this will give you 12.9 volts automatically. Careful playing with the volts because even though you can push the power supply to 13.2 volts, when it's in regulated mode, the voltage will actually rise on the power bus as current goes up. This was probably designed in so that wire voltage drops downstream of the power supply are compensated for. But it means if you're going to be running at maximum amps you can realistically only run 13.0 or maybe 13.1 volts before the over voltage protection kicks in.

Keep in mind this power supply is only rated for 74 amps at 120VAC input. I've got two I run parallel with each other and are voltage balanced to each other if I need up to 150 amps of current which realistically is actually more power than a standard wall socket is capable of providing.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

what qwertydude said . always measure what your PSU out is. Server PSU can go nuts and supply 16V if overloaded. would your amp take 16V some would and happily so. others will go to protect and some just puff in white smoke.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

I use one o exactly like that HSTNS-PA01 HP PROLIANT DL585 G2 DL580 G3 1300WATT POWER SUPPLY | eBay
Tame cooling fan's a bit and it's perfect, 1300 W only if 230V input used. 
half of it with 110 outlet. two in parallel will supply 150amp Inever needed more then 50 on my bench, can test pretty much any amp. So unless you going nuts with kilowatts of amplification one server PSU will cover your need for bench power supply. I also have cascade 75amp and it's better because it dead quiet even at full load. stock fans were crap, I replaced both with quiet 80mm fans. never got hot even at full load.


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## drumcrusher (May 4, 2008)

Victor_inox said:


> post the picture of pinouts, i lltry to help you.


i havent recieved it yet. ive tried contacting the seller and getting them to send me the hp dl580 p/n 337867-501 instead of the 348114-b21. unfortunately the guy on the rc forums was naming that model as the one he bought and used so i ordered it, then somebody pointed out to him that it wasnt the right one.... from what i can tell the 348114 doesnt look like it has the 8 pins in the back. ill see if i can find a clear picture to post.


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## cornholio (May 13, 2012)

so to run two of these in parallel you would solder the leads of one pot to three pins on each psu? 150 amps would be very nice.... and that link that victor posted is a pretty nice price, like ten bucks cheaper than i could find


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## RMAT (Feb 13, 2007)

This is the one I use. My fan is actually quiet. I'll post pics/vid of my mod.

DELL PowerEdge 2850 Server Power Supply 700W/ NPS-700AB A R1446 | eBay


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## goodstuff (Jan 9, 2008)

RMAT said:


> This is the one I use. My fan is actually quiet. I'll post pics/vid of my mod.
> 
> DELL PowerEdge 2850 Server Power Supply 700W/ NPS-700AB A R1446 | eBay


Bump. Got one coming in the mail.


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## cornholio (May 13, 2012)

Does anyone know if i need to disconnect the connection on the case to one of the supplies? I remember hearing something about doing that when you have two supplies in parallel. The pics aren't the best but i can upload more. Also, this is my first time posting pictures here so i don't know if they can be seen. Thanks for posting this thread, its a great idea!


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## The Tube Doctor (Nov 24, 2009)

Used to have 2 of these monsters:
Audison Symbatt 100 Alimentatore 100 A Ampere 12 V Volt | eBay

Quiet, able to jump-start a dead car, adjustable current. 
I don't remember how much I paid, but the link above shows a pretty scary price.
Although I never load-tested them, there was NEVER a time that they choked, no matter the amp or how far over the ammeter swung.


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## cornholio (May 13, 2012)

How did you tame these fans? They are freakin loud! Would you be able to post a picture of your work qwertydude? Some info or ideas would be awesome, even a link to somewhere else, I don't mind reading and studying.


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## andreasmon (Apr 22, 2015)

hello there,
This is my first post.
I saw your forum and i bought 2 power supply hp 1300w part no:
337867 spare no: 405421-001 and i want to use them for lab-power supply and for charge lipo batteries.
But i can not find the female conector to put in power supply and with a custom pcb control the voltage.
Anyone know where i can buy the female connectors;
Female conector, i mean like this in the picture:
Thank you very much for your help.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

andreasmon said:


> hello there,
> This is my first post.
> I saw your forum and i bought 2 power supply hp 1300w part no:
> 337867 spare no: 405421-001 and i want to use them for lab-power supply and for charge lipo batteries.
> ...


 Old HP server female connector, my best guess would be ebay. that line of servers discontinued a few year ago.


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## andreasmon (Apr 22, 2015)

Thanks a lot for your help.Did you know how the name of them;how can make a search,what i must type;
Sorry for my bad english.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

andreasmon said:


> Thanks a lot for your help.Did you know how the name of them;how can make a search,what i must type;
> Sorry for my bad english.


 By power supply model number. should be there on the sticker somewhere.


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## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

I picked up an old unused server supply a while back, supposed to push 83 amps at 12V but it's an Ablecom, SuperMicro PWS 1K01-1R and it uses a backplane.

so, I haven't been able to use it, and believe it or not it's still on the Supermicro site's list of power supplies, as it must have been a popular one.


if anyone thinks they could source me a diagram to solder some pins for this, I'd be able to do the work of soldering.

for their time and expertise, especially expertise, I have lots of stuff I could send out, some of which might reach retail values of over 100 bucks.

(amps, speakers, stereos, etc.)

I would like to get this thing working, since it's brand spanking new.

I checked out the guts, it's really well built, looks like it'd work well. I expect to have to change out those leaf blower fans, but that doesn't look too hard to do.


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

cajunner said:


> I picked up an old unused server supply a while back, supposed to push 83 amps at 12V but it's an Ablecom, SuperMicro PWS 1K01-1R and it uses a backplane.
> 
> so, I haven't been able to use it, and believe it or not it's still on the Supermicro site's list of power supplies, as it must have been a popular one.
> 
> ...


 post a picture of connectors.


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## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

it's the second one down:

Super Micro Computer, Inc. | Support

I don't have the skills to put pics on the internet, it's been a "thing" that I can say that to all the assorted kids I deal with, when I explain to them about how living online is a detraction compared to the alternative...


there's a bad pic of the connector side in this auction:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ABLECOM-Sup...b4a3518&pid=100011&rk=3&rkt=4&sd=111610389426


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

that looks like HP connector to me. knife style connectors on each side is neg and positive sides. one thing is hard to do about these, those turbo fans is stupidly loud and unless they moving at certain RPM PSU will shut down. there is a way to cheat that logic but I don`t know how to do it with this particular model. maybe it`s the same circuit as HP use maybe not. technically you can start it up grounding one of the small pins, try it one at the time, it will start up at full speed so you can hear how loud it get. apply friction to the fan with a piece of rubber or something and as it slows protection kicks in unless supermicro did it differently.If so you got lucky and fans can be slowed down. It might be the case since there is 2 fans in that case.


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## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

Victor_inox said:


> that looks like HP connector to me. knife style connectors on each side is neg and positive sides. one thing is hard to do about these, those turbo fans is stupidly loud and unless they moving at certain RPM PSU will shut down. there is a way to cheat that logic but I don`t know how to do it with this particular model. maybe it`s the same circuit as HP use maybe not. technically you can start it up grounding one of the small pins, try it one at the time, it will start up at full speed so you can hear how loud it get. apply friction to the fan with a piece of rubber or something and as it slows protection kicks in unless supermicro did it differently.If so you got lucky and fans can be slowed down. It might be the case since there is 2 fans in that case.


that's a lot of help, thanks Victor.

I would need a diagram showing each connector to solder the 12V+, grounds, and of course the power inputs since I would have suspected those to be on one side of the supply.

then, if I did get it started by grounding a pin, I believe from reading about it, that it helps to do some kind of pin to pin connection, and then adding a resistor as well...

I mean, if I don't get this thing to work it's no big deal, but it would be nice to get working.

anyways, it's just one more project in the list, so don't put forth too much effort on it, although it would move up in the ranks if I had a diagram...


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

I don`t have the diagram, ask supermicro.


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## cajunner (Apr 13, 2007)

Victor_inox said:


> I don`t have the diagram, ask supermicro.


that's cool, I won't feel comfortable plugging this thing into a wall socket without reassurances, so on the shelf she sits...


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## Victor_inox (Apr 27, 2012)

Plug it in, it wont turn on dont be a puss.


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## elsyst1958 (12 mo ago)

Hello, It Is possible to see the mods required to raise voltage output on a HSTNS-PA01 Power supply unit? I read that a pot Is required, but how it Is Wired? Thank you in Advance


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