power consumption - was RE: [K12OSN] Get rid of my PCs

[Gavin Chester]

On Sat, 2005-01-29 at 09:44, Eric Brown wrote:
-snip-
 
> My problem is, when I get 22 of these old machines going with 20+ kids in
> the room, it gets HOT.  What's more, we are maxing out our electrical
> service in our building.

This is a perfect scenario for keeping your legacy client systems and
swapping out the old, hot, electricity-guzzling 350W power supply and
replacing it with a fan-less low voltage supply.  This is picking up on
a thread I started late last year, which was met with naysayers claiming
that it wasn't worth the effort.  That may be true if argument is based
on electricity cost savings alone :-), but not with what you are
experiencing.

A power supply that I'm going to trial is an ATX 60W power supply
intended for a thin client (VIA eden, or whatever) that I'm going to put
into an old, disk-less i586 instead.  I will report back to the group
when I do - but don't hold your breath because I've been going to do it
for a few months now :^).
  
If anyone else has similar ideas, the unit I'm going to use is a Morex 
ATX 60W DC-DC converter with all the requisite power cables for
motherboard and disk drives supplied
http://www.morex.com.tw/mainpage2003.htm - look for "DC power supply" in
the menu.  The only disadvantage of this unit is that an external,
regulated 12V adapter is required as well.

Another type of unit that I'm going to look at has the advantage that
it's a self-contained, fan-less adapter that converts from mains power
(110-240V AC) to dual 12V and 5V output (ie, no other adapter
required).  These units are MUCH cheaper, but the disadvantage is that
electrical knowledge is required to create the ATX power cables from the
adapter to your motherboard.  One unit I have is a Mean Well MP3108, but
other Mean Well models exist that may be even more suitable (eg, triple
output - not just dual output).  Again, I'll report any results when I
have them.

Comments and sharing of similar experience welcomed. 
     
-- 
	Regards,

	Gavin Chester