What to do with a 150-watt 48-volt power supply?

[joshuabardwell]

I was digging through my closet today and found a 150-watt power supply that used to belong to a piece of computer equipment that I had. At first, I was pleased, and thought I might use it on the bench, but then I saw it was 48 volts output. Regulators that take 48 volt output are pretty expensive, especially if you consider I could get a 150-watt 19 volt computer PSU for around $30.

Does anybody have any clever ideas that might let me put this into service? Like, if I were to crack it open, might I find a trim pot in there that would let me turn it down to 36 or 24 volts, for example? I dunno... just seems a shame to let it go to waste.

 

[PHugger]

48volts sounds like POTS.



Best regards,
PCH

 

[joshuabardwell]

48volts sounds like POTS.

Sorry I didn't mention, but it's from an old Linksys/Cisco switch I used to own, that died.

 

[rcspaceflight]

Hot wire cutter? Wait, you want it to be variable to control the hotness of the wire. ... Make a transformer so you can adjust the volts?

 

[joshuabardwell]

Hot wire cutter? Wait, you want it to be variable to control the hotness of the wire. ... Make a transformer so you can adjust the volts?

48 volt DC.

 

[Piotrsko]

Trim pot might adjust the regulation if you find the control input or feedback circuitry, but if it's decently regulated, it won't change much. Easiest is to make a power trim pot out of steel baling wire for hot wiring, otherwise a lm338 or similar accross the output because 150 watts is like 3amps more or less and within the chips ratings of 5amp

 

[PsyBorg]

Trim pot might adjust the regulation if you find the control input or feedback circuitry, but if it's decently regulated, it won't change much. Easiest is to make a power trim pot out of steel baling wire for hot wiring, otherwise a lm338 or similar accross the output because 150 watts is like 3amps more or less and within the chips ratings of 5amp

Pretty sure Bardwell wont be paying attention to this mate. He hasn't even logged in since 2016.