AUDIO PC: Direct power to motherboad 24 and 4pin (picoless)

[nige2000]

think itemaudio was the first to use/come up with this system
after much tinkering got it figured out

well whats the point ?
well its to remove the switching dc converter which is sending noise into the system, there also may be a better esr to the power as bass response and weight is much improved as well as the reduced noise floor

CONFIRMED WORKING MOBOS
gigabyte
h97m d3h
z97m d3h
MSI B85M G43
Z87M G43
H81M-P32
H81M-P33
asus
h81i-plus

well the whole system is based on this


all is colour coded red is 5v purble is 5v standby which powers the on switch
yellow is 12v orange is 3.3v and black is gnd

ive merged all the 12's 5'5 and 3.3's and ground as seen in the pic with a solder joint
why?
because if you continuity test all the 12's 5's 3.3's and gnd on the 24 pin socket they have very little or no resistance,
so i couldn't see why any other method would be better
gnd routing is one of the most interesting aspects of the build (the way different methods effect sq)

one of the best metods is to have a star ground point to which the 24 pin, 4pin,ssd,usb card etc etc gnds connect to somethimg like a copper bar like aleg mentions below would be perfect

linear power supply:
the minimum recommendation would be three separate rails 12, 5, 3.3v each with their own transformer, bridge rectifier and regulator
additional benefit can be achieved by having additional rails with the same method an additional 12v solely for the cpu leaving one dedicated for the 12v on the 24pin
additional 5v rails for ssd, usb card one each is optimal but im a fan of batteries especially for these extremely sensitive devices

battery solutions:
long and the short of it is that lifepo4 seems to be the best where noise floor is at its lowest, bass definition and weight are at its best which again is probably due to low esr

so can i tell difference between lead acid, nimh and lifepo4 ?
i believe i can, although all of them is an improvement over the simple linear supplies

ill be back later.....

[Aleg]

Nige

Nice piece of work you managed to do there.

How did you connect the incoming silver wire to all the outgoing wires?
Esp red 5V and black GND seem to go into many outgoing wires. It appears there is some kind of connector underneath the shrink, looking at the silver end of the connection?

All have a different voltage feed of course, how did you create a common ground? A copper bar?

So I'm also very interested in the other side of this loom.

Cheers

[nige2000]

Nige

Nice piece of work you managed to do there.

How did you connect the incoming silver wire to all the outgoing wires?
Esp red 5V and black GND seem to go into many outgoing wires. It appears there is some kind of connector underneath the shrink, looking at the silver end of the connection?

just soldered

All have a different voltage feed of course, how did you create a common ground? A copper bar?

something like a copper bar would be perfect

So I'm also very interested in the other side of this loom.

ideally id run a/the gnd from each power supply up to the gnd bar/point in the audio pc case

why silver plated copper in teflon, initially i was skeptical, but an a b test on the 24 pin loom changed my mind

[adolfo.a.aguiar]

I intend to go picoless and I have the following questions:

1. With LPSUs, what are the 5V and 3.3V linear PSU current requirements? Models recommendations?
2. With batteries, which models are you using for 12V, 5V and 3.3V?

Nige2000, congratulations for the innovative work.

Adolfo

[nige2000]

I intend to go picoless and I have the following questions:

1. With LPSUs, what are the 5V and 3.3V linear PSU current requirements? Models recommendations?
2. With batteries, which models are you using for 12V, 5V and 3.3V?

Nige2000, congratulations for the innovative work.

Adolfo

i dont have conformation that the 1200kpr works without the -12v
need to make a list of confirmed working motherboards

do you want to use some of your old lpsu's?
usually just buy parts and connect them together to make lpsu

i recommend A123 18650 and ANR26650M1 Nanophosphate cells
but already owned batteries can be used if there good without loosing too much sq, but im picky so i go the whole way
the 18650 x4 are ok for 12v mobo 24pin
anr26650m1 x4 for cpu 12v
anr26650m1 x2 for 5v for 24pin
anr26650m1 x2 for usb card
anr26650m1 x2 for ssd
anr26650m1 x1 for 3.3v 24pin

[adolfo.a.aguiar]

I e-mailed Intel on the S1200KPR use of -12V (pin14).

If I opt for linears, I would like to keep most of the ones I already have.
Then, I would need to know the capacity (amperes) required by the 5V and 3.3V linear PSUs.

How do you get 5V from 2 x 3.3V and 12V from 4 x 3.3V batteries?
Do you trickle charge them? How?

Thanks.

[nige2000]

I e-mailed Intel on the S1200KPR use of -12V (pin14).

i doubt theyll offer much support

If I opt for linears, I would like to keep most of the ones I already have.

what voltages and current capabilities have the linears you got have?

Then, I would need to know the capacity (amperes) required by the 5V and 3.3V linear PSUs.

5v on the mobo 24 pin socket usually around 1-1.5 amp would be nice to have a peak capability of 2.5a
3.3v runs at about 1 amp but 2amp capability would be good too

How do you get 5V from 2 x 3.3V and 12V from 4 x 3.3V batteries?

good question
we all know how a car battery gets charged by the alternator
the alternator feeds in 13.8v(maybe a little more) in a constant voltage when the car is running
the voltage drops as it discharges so 11 volts its time it was charged
imagine if the alternator only outputted 12v so the battery can never go above that voltage

so each cell for the 12v pack will be discharged to 3v and 3x4 are 12v
the 5v is two cells discharged to 2.5v each (which to be fair is a minimum charge state but no other battery sounds this good)
i use a car headlamp bulb to discharge

Do you trickle charge them? How?

if you think of a house or building alarm system, theres always a backup incase of power outage well there usually either 12 or 24v systems
basically these systems have their dc power supply 12/24v coming from the mains electricity which powers the alarm system but it also float charges the backup batteries which maintains their voltage,
i use the same theory in my battery picoless system, although i use good sounding linears as a float charge source, because they sound better to the extent that it no longer matters to sq that they are been float/trickle charged during playback

[adolfo.a.aguiar]

what voltages and current capabilities have the linears you got have?

I have:
- PPA LPSU 2 rails 12V 5A, powering the pico and the CPU
- Kingrex PSU MkII 5V 3A, powering the PPA USB card that powers the Calix DAC
- Teradak U9 5V 1A, powering the Samsung SSD
I also have (not in use):
- Teradak 24V 5A
- Keces DC-116 19V 6A

Did you assemble the battery packs or did you buy them?
Any recommendations on these?

[nige2000]

I have:
- PPA LPSU 2 rails 12V 5A, powering the pico and the CPU

ok for cpu and 12v on the 24 pin

- Kingrex PSU MkII 5V 3A, powering the PPA USB card that powers the Calix DAC

will be well fit to power the 5v on the 24 pin
i will also mention that having the ppa card and the dac powered by the same supply is not optimal
this is mostly because the ppa clock is powered directly from the molex connector on the ppa card

optimally the clock board on the ppa card should be powered separately with either 5 or 3.3v id use a battery cell

now that yould be using the kingrex mkii 5v on the mobo 24pin socket
you will need another supply for your dac otherwise youll be taking one step forward and a half step back
5v lifepo4 packs can be used between the kingrex and usbcard/dac/ssd etc which would be optimal

i assembled the battery packs

maybe something like this

[adolfo.a.aguiar]

Thanks, Nige.

I received the following reply from Intel:
"Case 8000939175:
We inform that Intel® Server Board S1200KP does not use pin14 and is even capable of working with a 20-pin power supply".

Good news.