Running PCs on 12v

From: Joe <rigdonj_at_cfl.rr.com>
Date: Fri May 16 12:56:06 2003

Rich,

   Any chance of using 48VDC? There's plenty of surplus industrial PCs (and
PSUs) that run off of that. I've often wondered if you couldn't run a PC
directly off of 12VDC (with a regulator to drop one line to 5VDC).

     Joe

At 11:34 AM 5/16/03 -0400, you wrote:
>Hello, all:
>
> This is a bit OT (because of the PC being used) but I believe that
>the application of the solution is timeless :-)
>
> Anyway, I want to run a "book" PC on 12v while I'm outside using the
>telescope (the PC will run the CCD camera setup). I gave some thought to
>simply using an AC inverter, but converting 12v to 120v AC and then back to
>PC power supply voltages seemed horribly inefficient.
>
> The power supply is rated 12v/5.5a and 5v/1a. It's an NLX-type
>motherboard, so the 12v is converted to 5v for various peripherals at the
>point of need. The 5v from the power supply is to support system standby
>mode only.
>
> I went hunting for DC-input PC-form-factor supplies but they're
>upwards of $200. I thought about directly connecting the battery to the PC
>and using a small DC-DC converter for the 5v, but the battery voltage isn't
>really 12v (it's more like 13.8v) so a regulator would be necessary.
>
> Any thoughts as to a simple, low-cost yet efficient solution?
>
>Rich
Received on Fri May 16 2003 - 12:56:06 BST