hello this is my first post and though I've tinkered with electronics and built a few boards I really have no idea how to troubleshoot electronics.
I had a extra power supply from a old dell computer and i want to use it to power my G gauge train since I've out grown my old mrc tech II 1500. Ive read online about people using one or 2 computer power supplies as power so I thought it would be educational and a way to save some money.
I used the following link to make some small modifications and get rid of the extra wires and I purchased a maxx tronic mxa033 dc motor speed control
http://www.wikihow.com/Convert-a-Computer-ATX-Power-Supply-to-a-Lab-Power-Supply
so my question is as follows: the switch i used to power on/off has a led and resistor built in and it blinks when i turn it on. the light i used to test the power output at 12v/24v and with and without the speed control the light also blinks. as I turn up the speed control the blinking seems to be more prevalent. however when I use the voltmeter the voltage is stable so is this normal for this type of pc power supply?
the speed control is a pulse with modulation unit so perhaps this is normal since voltage for a motor is a bunch of pulses and the pulses control the speed in a series of on/off pulses. Im concerned that the lights are visibly blinking and i did not expect to see it. my existing mrc train power supply/speed control transformer does not behave like this so I wanted to find out if this sounds normal or if something is wrong with my power supply or perhaps the way i hooked it up.
is there a way to make the power light not blink?
I would also like to change the direction of my train so I was going to use 2 relays to switch the +/-. I could also just use a DPDT switch to do the same thing with less wiring. any thoughts? thank you.
I had a extra power supply from a old dell computer and i want to use it to power my G gauge train since I've out grown my old mrc tech II 1500. Ive read online about people using one or 2 computer power supplies as power so I thought it would be educational and a way to save some money.
I used the following link to make some small modifications and get rid of the extra wires and I purchased a maxx tronic mxa033 dc motor speed control
http://www.wikihow.com/Convert-a-Computer-ATX-Power-Supply-to-a-Lab-Power-Supply
so my question is as follows: the switch i used to power on/off has a led and resistor built in and it blinks when i turn it on. the light i used to test the power output at 12v/24v and with and without the speed control the light also blinks. as I turn up the speed control the blinking seems to be more prevalent. however when I use the voltmeter the voltage is stable so is this normal for this type of pc power supply?
the speed control is a pulse with modulation unit so perhaps this is normal since voltage for a motor is a bunch of pulses and the pulses control the speed in a series of on/off pulses. Im concerned that the lights are visibly blinking and i did not expect to see it. my existing mrc train power supply/speed control transformer does not behave like this so I wanted to find out if this sounds normal or if something is wrong with my power supply or perhaps the way i hooked it up.
is there a way to make the power light not blink?
I would also like to change the direction of my train so I was going to use 2 relays to switch the +/-. I could also just use a DPDT switch to do the same thing with less wiring. any thoughts? thank you.
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