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

[Sligolad]

Link here http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/ ... lator-mod/ if you want to try the riser cable mod of fixed riser.
Cheers, Pearse.

[rickmcinnis]

nige,

I am using the small ones ONLY for 12 volts as you will soon see.

I know you said you were using 28850s everywhere and I will probably make the switch before too long.

Using a giant OPTIMA battery for the CPU since I already had it.

I am confused by the capacitance comment. I have added no capacitors anywhere. And will not be adding any!

(unless you recommend it)

[rickmcinnis]

I will post another view of the insides in a subsequent post.

I am not a photographer as is clearly shown. The camera is set up to take photographs of fabrics while mounted on a tripod and I do not want to mess with the settings so they are blurry.

Used Allen Wright's speaker silver foil for the tabs on the big A123s - the small ones had have the welded tabs. Soldering tabs to the batteries is by far the worst part of the job. The fellow I got the big ones from did not offer tabs. He sold the batteries for nine dollars each! Sadly A123 will no longer sell to him. The new supplier wants seventeen dollars but that includes a good sized tab with four weld points. I have not used those, yet.

I do not think I could make this install any simpler. I see now I could have made the P24 harness a little shorter but I am not worrying about it now.

A question for those who have done this: Do I need to run a ground wire from the SSD and SATADOM supply AND the P4 connector to the P24 ground point? I have been running the P4 with a big OPTIMA battery (float charged) all alone - no ground connection other than at the motherboard - same with the linear supply for the drives. It works, I do not hear any funny noises but I wonder if this is not ideal? Could it have something to do with the motherboard sometimes not seeing the SATADOM?

I found last night the OPTIMA charger had become disconnected and I was down to 10.5 volts. The thing would get to the BIOS screen and would sometimes load my OS until it would not. Hoping that is the reason I am now not able to get to my player. But will not know for sure until this evening.

Both the 3.3 and 5 volts supplies had drifted low and this was corrected but without proper P4 voltage I just went to bed. Very disappointing.

So it worked really well for fifteen minutes when first started and has been strange since.

I will figure it out (with nige2000's help, of course)

PS
I think it is important to have your batteries atop a copy of PLEASE KILL ME an entertaining account of punk rock by Legs McNeil. The title taken from Richard Hell's homemade tshirt he would walk around middle '70's NYC - there were plenty ready to take him up on the offer especially then. Almost as good as Lydon's Pink Floyd tshirt where he scrawled I HATE above the PINK PIG's name. I agreed with him then and can only agree with him even more now. (though I think Gilmour and Mason are alright)

[rickmcinnis]

another view.

Eventually I will mount that switch better.

Give me a year or so ...

[nige2000]

nige,

I am using the small ones ONLY for 12 volts as you will soon see.

I know you said you were using 28850s everywhere and I will probably make the switch before too long.

Using a giant OPTIMA battery for the CPU since I already had it.

I am confused by the capacitance comment. I have added no capacitors anywhere. And will not be adding any!

(unless you recommend it)

the batteries are the capacitors :)

[tony]

Got some capacitors recently(well quiet a few months ago) and the intention is to try them somewhere in the chain and see what happens. Wondering if putting them between tx and regs will cause some affect. Hope is not a blow up of anything myself included.

[rickmcinnis]

All worked fine last night with the P4 battery charged.

My first impression, when things were funny, was that it was a little better.

Last night it was a LOT better than the SUPERFLOWER. Thought that thing sounded pretty good, and it does in comparison to other ATX but - the size of the presentation is so much wider, deeper and taller. I thought I was hearing lots of detail. Another layer of gauze has been removed and a rather thick layer at that!

nige you are correct that the floaters do require some adjustment to get everything settled. Still in the process of making tiny adjustments on the 3.3. By far the most sensitive voltage in my set up.

Wonder if I should parallel another? Can you parallel these things?

Should have known that you were referring to the batteries - absolutely the best capacitors I have ever heard.

[nige2000]

you need to buy 9 more large lifepo4s
two for ssd os
two for jcat usb 5v
one for jcat 3.3v
four for cpu

[rickmcinnis]

you need to buy 9 more large lifepo4s
two for ssd os
two for jcat usb 5v
one for jcat 3.3v
four for cpu

My OS SATADOM doesn't do anything after the OS is loaded. I think that would be a wasted effort. I will simply let it be powered by the music ssd's batteries, which are on hand, just a matter of putting them in. I only use one drive at a time for music and switch them out when I need to. The SSD in the picture is a music drive. The SATADOM can be barely seen stuck in a SATA slot.

JCat - I am a little nervous about divorcing it from the board; scared I might destroy it and, as you know, I spent silly money on it. It is only getting board power. Is there really that much junk between the power input from the main battery supply and the PCIe slot? Seems like it would be a straight shot. I have no idea, just my assumption.

I think my big OPTIMA is doing OK for the CPU. It has a much lower esr than one of the A123s much less four in series. I like to think this monster acts as a sink for the junk the CPU generates and there is plenty of IT. If I go with LiPo here it will be with something other than the 26650s.

Do you think it is possible my 3.3 battery is being stressed? The 5 volts have not required much fiddling - 12 has required none. 3.3 seems to bounce around which is why I think it could use more capacity.

Does that mean anything?

My next big move is to power the memory. Can't decide whether to just let it be a BELLESON reg (1.32 on hand) or to let the BELLESON be the float charger and use some kind of battery. Not a good fit for any available battery, though. I am tempted by the simplicity of just letting it be powered by the regulator.

[nige2000]

you need to buy 9 more large lifepo4s
two for ssd os
two for jcat usb 5v
one for jcat 3.3v
four for cpu

My OS SATADOM doesn't do anything after the OS is loaded. I think that would be a wasted effort. I will simply let it be powered by the music ssd's batteries, which are on hand, just a matter of putting them in. I only use one drive at a time for music and switch them out when I need to. The SSD in the picture is a music drive. The SATADOM can be barely seen stuck in a SATA slot.

what is this satadom thing?

JCat - I am a little nervous about divorcing it from the board; scared I might destroy it and, as you know, I spent silly money on it. It is only getting board power. Is there really that much junk between the power input from the main battery supply and the PCIe slot? Seems like it would be a straight shot. I have no idea, just my assumption.

i was surprised you bought it the funds could have bought several batteries and a decent clk for a silverstone card
and yes the blood coursing through the veins of a cleanly powered mobo is still toxic

I think my big OPTIMA is doing OK for the CPU. It has a much lower esr than one of the A123s much less four in series. I like to think this monster acts as a sink for the junk the CPU generates and there is plenty of IT. If I go with LiPo here it will be with something other than the 26650s.

maybe can it match lifepo4 for noise

Do you think it is possible my 3.3 battery is being stressed? The 5 volts have not required much fiddling - 12 has required none. 3.3 seems to bounce around which is why I think it could use more capacity.

this is what i meant about monitoring voltages is the 3.3v floater not able to maintain the voltage?
adding extra cells in parallel is great but wont fix the issue if the floater cant do the required amps

Does that mean anything?

My next big move is to power the memory. Can't decide whether to just let it be a BELLESON reg (1.32 on hand) or to let the BELLESON be the float charger and use some kind of battery. Not a good fit for any available battery, though. I am tempted by the simplicity of just letting it be powered by the regulator.

chances are the ram powers coming off the 3.3v rail so external power to ram might relieve a fair bit of the pressure
just keep in mind ram could require up to 7w per stick
whats the bellesons rated for?
ideally i think id like to use a linear reg with supercaps instead of the usual electrolytic and remove the caps from the mobo in favor of film caps