Combining two rails on a psu for added volts?
 

Hey.....I'm looking into this PSU that has 65A on the 12v line and 40A on the 10v, and was wondering if it's possible to connect the two together so I could get 22V at somewhere around 40A for running pelts. Thanks!

Using the same PSU? No.

Thanks for the quick reply :)


Also though: can you hook up more than one pelt onto a single output? Like if a psu has one knob for + and one for - but has enough amperage to sustain the pelts, could you hook up three onto one knob thing.


Like this:

http://www.rdrelectronics.com/skip/aug/hc103f3.jpg

Assumiing:

1> Your PS wires can handle the amps you are running through them

2> Your PS can actually handle the amps

Then, yes, you can run 3 pelts off of one PS.


The reason you can't connect multiple wires from one PS and get more volts is because there is only 1 12V (or whatever volt) rail in the PS. Combining the wires just reduces the load over each wire (amp load) and helps limit the chance of running too much current and melting the wire.


PS. Next time please shrink the picture a bit.

wrong, depends on the PSU. My SMPS I use has a 100amp 5v line and a 30amp 12v line i used to run 3x172watters happily @ 18v (10% adjust on each line)

But the ground lines on my PSU are intentionally split, So its dependant on the grounds inside the psu.

Read the manual and see what it says.

]JR[

Thanks for the correction!

Split grounds are rare though, but it is indeed what's preventing you from adding the voltages on the same PSU. The max amp would be the lowest of either supply.

Do gauge your power cables carefully: you're already looking at a 10 AWG gauge, at least.

I apologise for the wrong part, probably a bit harsh. Not entirely true would be more appropriate.

Its a pain with ATX psus also since tie-ing lines together in series requires removing one from ground, otherwise they are a good tec power supply.

I did have a url for converting a atx into a 13.8v many amp psu (13.8v is the max available from the controller they use on atx's) by simply removing a few components and a little rewiring, which is useful. It was a ameteur radio site iirc.

]JR[

First I'd like to say I've never made any electrical modifications to a PS other than desoldering some leads.

Lets say a PS can supply 15A at 12v, could I use the -12v line as the ground(effectively making 24v). This would effectively double the wattage output. Therfore I could run a 226W pelt at 24v with 9.5A?

I don't know about the electronics behind your PSU modding idea, but IIRC don't all 226w TEC's run at ~12v economically, with ~15v as their max voltage ? Or am I wrong here ? I'm only new to these concepts and formula's of thermoelectrics ... :p

Banzai