Adjustable bench power supply from computer PSU

[x88x]

Hahaha, yeah...I'll be taking more precautions in the future, including actually wearing the nitrile gloves that I have a box of in the closet...and not reaching towards live wires.

IDK about 30A necessarily killing me though...I've had house run through my right hand and (presumably) out my feet before...though come to think of it, that may have had a different effect if it had been my left hand... Ah well, I was young, and kids heal fast, right?

BTW, I've also since redone the connection with larger diameter heatshrink, so there isn't a bare spot anymore...but still.

[mDust]

IDK about 30A necessarily killing me though...I've had house run through my right hand and (presumably) out my feet before...though come to think of it, that may have had a different effect if it had been my left hand... Ah well, I was young, and kids heal fast, right?

10-60mA through the heart or brain is enough to kill you...blood, being mostly water, is an ideal conductor leading throughout your entire body to and from your heart. Taking a full 30 amps for any amount of time would likely fry every bit of flesh and organ it passed through...might as well be struck by lightning.

[x88x]

I've done something even stupider with a PSU. I once read something about fixing a PSU with a broken fuse temporarily by just soldering some wire over the gap. I decided to try this by bridging the gap with the pair of scissors on my Swiss Army knife. There was a loud "CRACK," a large spark shot up scarily close to my face, and the current melted the tips of the scissors and blew some small flecks of molten metal around.

Heheh, I remember once when I was messing around with a house-current clock/timer thing, I accidentally touched one of the contacts with a butterfly knife I was holding..steel blade, brass handle..not much in the was in insulation there. I ate a small chunk out of the blade (fortunately the back of the blade), and gave me a not-insignificant shock. ...also knocked out the circuit breaker..

Taking a full 30 amps for any amount of time would likely fry every bit of flesh and organ it passed through...might as well be struck by lightning.

That would explain why parts of my finger were numb for several minutes...and one point on the tip still hurts occasionally when I'm typing..presumably where I touched the heatsink and the current came out. Gotta love high current levels.

[mDust]

Love them...but respect them too!

[Diamon]

Awesome project! I've been thinking about building one of these, as my only bench psu can only do 2 amps at 12 volts, and I have a pair of atx PSU's that do 27.

I've done something even stupider with a PSU. I once read something about fixing a PSU with a broken fuse temporarily by just soldering some wire over the gap. I decided to try this by bridging the gap with the pair of scissors on my Swiss Army knife. There was a loud "CRACK," a large spark shot up scarily close to my face, and the current melted the tips of the scissors and blew some small flecks of molten metal around.

Stupid, stupider, stupidest -_-

[Killa_Ape]

Nice job on the bench PSU! I should get unlazy and do one myself, Although mine are way older and can't get 30A off of it but shouldn't need that hopefully!

Getting the 30A would be hard due to V= I (amps) * R (resistance)
so assuming 5V and your body should have a decent resistance you shouldn't get too bad a shock but being DC it does hurt a bit more. Capacitors you have to watch for those bastard can be rated at 500V obviously your resistance doesn't change but the amps will increase! And that can kill you.

[x88x]

Well, it's done-ish for now. I'm waiting on some banana plugs coming from Mouser to finish it off, but for now it'll do. I made some heatshrink shrouds that can be pulled on and off fairly easily, but not so easily that they'll fall off on their own.

I'll eventually have plugs on the top, status LEDs, individual switches and fuses, and an adjustable 12V line, and so on, but for now wires sticking out the ventilation holes will have to do.

EDIT:
Yeah, I know...blue isn't standard. I accidentally cut off too many of the 3.3V lines and had to add some of my own.

[Oneslowz28]

Nice Job.

Props for the HF Hobby knife set in the background!!

[x88x]

Actually I got that for something like $3 on clearance at Microcenter. It does seem about HF quality though...I've broken 5 blades already...

[Jolly-Swagman]

Nice job so far ,,
yeah I have to done one of these a while back they come in very handy,
and yeah getting a belt from a capacitor is nice either.
Will you be putting banana plugs on it, for various voltages and a rheostat too