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Question regarding electronics

FlutterPie

FlutterPie

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So I have a few bitcoin miners that require barrel connectors. I have 3 setup currently. Here is a question, I have the barrel connectors, can I just solder the barrel connectors to a plug which I cut off something else. Plug in the bitcoin miner and expect it to work without a problem?

The 3 I have going now are hooked up to a PSU. And unless I wanted to basically destroy it I can't hook up more. The miners require 12 volts. So if I just solder a plug to the barrel connector, the miner should only pull what it needs (12 volts) and it should work right?
 





Sigurthr

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As long as you match the polarity and ensure that the power supply can supply enough current to all of the loads without the voltage dropping too low, yes it will work just fine.

Edit: reread your post. Voltage doesn't work that way, you'll need to make sure that the power supply you use is outputting the same voltage the miners are rated for (12V). A device pulls only the current it needs, voltage forces its way in regardless of what the device needs.
 
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FlutterPie

FlutterPie

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Sigurthr said:
As long as you match the polarity and ensure that the power supply can supply enough current to all of the loads without the voltage dropping too low, yes it will work just fine.

Edit: reread your post. Voltage doesn't work that way, you'll need to make sure that the power supply you use is outputting the same voltage the miners are rated for (12V). A device pulls only the current it needs, voltage forces its way in regardless of what the device needs.
Click to expand...

Thank you, Im probably not good at explaining things. I was talking about how the 3 that are running currently are running off a PSU. The 4th I will not be able to connect to the PSU.

I actually cut off the plug from an old electronic. So I have the part that plugs into the wall and wires at the other end.

If I match the positive and negative on the barrel connector to the plug, solder the barrel connector to the plug. Would that work just fine?
 
Sigurthr

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NO, do NOT do that. That will blow up your miner instantly. That's what I was worried you were talking about when I re-read it.

Power supplies work by taking in the high voltage alternating polarity (AC current) power from the wall and transforming it to a lower voltage unchanging polarity a modern electronic device can use without blowing up. Power supplies are either constant voltage, constant current, or both, with constant voltage being the most common.

When you see a 12V 1Amp "wall-wart" power supply for something, it takes in the 120/240 volts alternating current from the wall, and steps down the voltage to 12 volts and rectifies the current so the polarity doesn't alternate. The 1amp part means that it can supply one amp before the voltage starts to drop below 12volts. You could probably pull several amps through it, but the voltage would drop significantly.
 
FlutterPie

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Sigurthr said:
NO, do NOT do that. That will blow up your miner instantly. That's what I was worried you were talking about when I re-read it.

Power supplies work by taking in the high voltage alternating polarity (AC current) power from the wall and transforming it to a lower voltage unchanging polarity a modern electronic device can use without blowing up. Power supplies are either constant voltage, constant current, or both, with constant voltage being the most common.

When you see a 12V 1Amp "wall-wart" power supply for something, it takes in the 120/240 volts alternating current from the wall, and steps down the voltage to 12 volts and rectifies the current so the polarity doesn't alternate. The 1amp part means that it can supply one amp before the voltage starts to drop below 12volts. You could probably pull several amps through it, but the voltage would drop significantly.
Click to expand...

Yeah I figured, I have a wallwart that is exactly what I need. But I had it plugged into the bitcoin miner for a while, it would power up, but not mine. And I checked like an hour later and the wallwart is dead. Not sure what I did, but its done for.
 
Sigurthr

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Due to cost cutting measures manufacturers often cheap out on design and use inferior quality electronics and parts as well as insufficient overhead ratings. The result is if you too heavily load a device (or power supply) it will simply give out. It is likely the miner required too much current for the wall wart to handle and the rectifier diodes overheated and went open circuit or the primary winding on the transformer used too thin of wire and it overheated and blew apart. If it was a switchmode wall-wart it could be any number of failure points.
 
FlutterPie

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Sigurthr said:
Due to cost cutting measures manufacturers often cheap out on design and use inferior quality electronics and parts as well as insufficient overhead ratings. The result is if you too heavily load a device (or power supply) it will simply give out. It is likely the miner required too much current for the wall wart to handle and the rectifier diodes overheated and went open circuit or the primary winding on the transformer used too thin of wire and it overheated and blew apart. If it was a switchmode wall-wart it could be any number of failure points.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was one where you could change voltage. I just have no idea how to power the rest of these damn things. Time is money, and the longer I don't have the other 4 miners running the less I make.
 
Sigurthr

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What is the current requirement marked on the miner?

Depending on how much juice you need there are several relatively inexpensive options ranging from ATX power supplies to inexpensive chinese switchmode power supplies to Ham Radio power supplies.
 
FlutterPie

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Sigurthr said:
What is the current requirement marked on the miner?

Depending on how much juice you need there are several relatively inexpensive options ranging from ATX power supplies to inexpensive chinese switchmode power supplies to Ham Radio power supplies.
Click to expand...

For the 3 that are hooked up now I am using an ATX PSU. I cant hook up more to it though. They need 12v, 5A, 40-50W each.
 
Dr_Evil

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12v x 5A = 60W. What's the max number of watts or amps the PSU can put out on the 12v rail? You might be able to run all of them off of it. You might be able to get another computer PSU to run the other if your current one can't handle the load.
 
FlutterPie

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Dr_Evil said:
12v x 5A = 60W. What's the max number of watts or amps the PSU can put out on the 12v rail? You might be able to run all of them off of it. You might be able to get another computer PSU to run the other if your current one can't handle the load.
Click to expand...

Its hard to explain, I have a modular PSU and I rigged it up. Maybe tomorrow I can take pics of it to explain what I did better.
 
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