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I am working on trying to get a reliable power supply primarily for my Electrolytic Cell, and secondly for any other power supply needs that should come up.
I have pretty much concluded that a computer power supply will suit me best. In the past, I hav been using a AT power supply, but I never got it to work very well, it generally would output very low and I was forced to use only the +5V output or else it would shut itself off.
I am now experimenting with ATX power supplies. I have two I am working with trying to see which one is the better choice.
In my electrolytic cell, the more current I can get the better, because this will reduce the time I need to run the cell (the difference between months and weeks of continuous opperation). I took some readings using both power supplies in similar conditions to what would be used in real usage.
For the first power supply:
+5V
-Volts = 4.9
-Amps = 1.10
-Calculated Ohms = 4.45
+12V
-Volts = 11.1
-Amps = 4.6
-Calculated Ohms = 2.4
For the second power supply:
+5V
-Volts = 4.9
-Amps = 1.21
-Calculated Ohms = 4.05
+12V
-Volts = 10.6
-Amps = 4.5
-Calculated Ohms = 2.35
the two were similar to each other. There were however a few things I noticed. First, the calculated resistance using tghe same cell, is remarkably difference between the +5 and +12 V outputs on both power supplies, I can only assume that there is some type of built in resistance. Also, on all the reading I took (except for 1, I'll get it it in a second), the current was slowly rising, asd I watched the meter, it would gradually increase, which I would suppose means that the resistance though the cell is changing (getting smaller) the longer the cell opperated. This is great that I am getting a high current through the cell, but it won't take long for the current to over load the power supply and it will shut it self down (assuming there isn't some minimum resistance the cell will eventually get to, but the question is whether it will over load the power supply before it gets there or not). There was one output, the +5V on power supply 2 that was pretty steady. it held very close to 1.2 amps for as long as I sat there and watched it, and then some, occassionally it would drop down to about 1.19 or get up to 1.22, but compared to the others, it was constant.
Is there something in the cicruit that will limit [I can't believe I am asking this, I normally would want the max current I can get], the current so that it will keep the power supply from over loading and shutting itself off if the amps should get too high, it will simply increase its resistance automatically to maintain the current? I doubt it is that simple.
Any other suggestions on how to make this power supply work idealy for my application?
I have pretty much concluded that a computer power supply will suit me best. In the past, I hav been using a AT power supply, but I never got it to work very well, it generally would output very low and I was forced to use only the +5V output or else it would shut itself off.
I am now experimenting with ATX power supplies. I have two I am working with trying to see which one is the better choice.
In my electrolytic cell, the more current I can get the better, because this will reduce the time I need to run the cell (the difference between months and weeks of continuous opperation). I took some readings using both power supplies in similar conditions to what would be used in real usage.
For the first power supply:
+5V
-Volts = 4.9
-Amps = 1.10
-Calculated Ohms = 4.45
+12V
-Volts = 11.1
-Amps = 4.6
-Calculated Ohms = 2.4
For the second power supply:
+5V
-Volts = 4.9
-Amps = 1.21
-Calculated Ohms = 4.05
+12V
-Volts = 10.6
-Amps = 4.5
-Calculated Ohms = 2.35
the two were similar to each other. There were however a few things I noticed. First, the calculated resistance using tghe same cell, is remarkably difference between the +5 and +12 V outputs on both power supplies, I can only assume that there is some type of built in resistance. Also, on all the reading I took (except for 1, I'll get it it in a second), the current was slowly rising, asd I watched the meter, it would gradually increase, which I would suppose means that the resistance though the cell is changing (getting smaller) the longer the cell opperated. This is great that I am getting a high current through the cell, but it won't take long for the current to over load the power supply and it will shut it self down (assuming there isn't some minimum resistance the cell will eventually get to, but the question is whether it will over load the power supply before it gets there or not). There was one output, the +5V on power supply 2 that was pretty steady. it held very close to 1.2 amps for as long as I sat there and watched it, and then some, occassionally it would drop down to about 1.19 or get up to 1.22, but compared to the others, it was constant.
Is there something in the cicruit that will limit [I can't believe I am asking this, I normally would want the max current I can get], the current so that it will keep the power supply from over loading and shutting itself off if the amps should get too high, it will simply increase its resistance automatically to maintain the current? I doubt it is that simple.
Any other suggestions on how to make this power supply work idealy for my application?