Astec 12V / 24A as external AC/DC adapter?

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

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shleepy
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Astec 12V / 24A as external AC/DC adapter?

Post by shleepy » Tue Jul 13, 2010 10:00 am

I ran into one of these PSU's on eBay... The OEM model is Astec AA21660, and there are a bunch of used ones on eBay for pretty cheap. I guess it's mainly used as a power supply for NAS's and whatnot.

What's interesting is that it's fanless, doesn't seem too big (could be wrong but it seems roughly the size of the Dell DA-2), and outputs a whole 24A on its 12V rail. That's 288 watts that could be used with a PicoPSU + a couple 12V lines going straight to a video card, for example.

Am I wrong, or could this potentially be used for the purpose described above (as an external "power brick," maybe with some ghetto modifications to make it safer for being outside of a case)?

Has anyone seen any other medical/industrial/etc power supplies with similar characteristics - not too huge, fanless, and with a 20A+ 12V rail?

This is just a theoretical question, really... I think I'll stick with the DA-2 for the overpowered HTPC that I'm building. But could be interesting for a future main PC build. :) Besides, most people would presumably prefer an ATX power supply.
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MikeC
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Post by MikeC » Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:26 am

Fanless? Not sure why you say that, I mean I don't see one on the pic, but that means nothing. Medical power supplies are built for reliability. My guess is that it has an embedded 60mm diameter (maybe 50mm thick) screamer dual-ball bearing fan somewhere in there. The one you linked to states - "This unit does not power on".
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shleepy
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Post by shleepy » Tue Aug 03, 2010 4:31 pm

MikeC wrote:The one you linked to states - "This unit does not power on".
True enough, but there are certainly other working ones out there. I think the link I chose was just for the sake of pictures and info being included in the listing.
MikeC wrote:Fanless? Not sure why you say that...
Hmm... perhaps you're right, but I haven't seen any evidence of a fan in that model on any other pages. It's actually a PSU for something like NAS boxes, if I remember correctly, rather than than a medical one, so it might be designed for a system that has a lot of screamer fans already in it.
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AznJason
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Post by AznJason » Wed Aug 04, 2010 1:45 pm

I had something like that hooked up to my picoPSU for a while. At some point (over time) the picoPSU fried and almost took the MB with it.
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shleepy
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Post by shleepy » Thu Aug 05, 2010 2:06 pm

AznJason wrote:I had something like that hooked up to my picoPSU for a while. At some point (over time) the picoPSU fried and almost took the MB with it.
:shock:

I take it that it's a bad idea, then. My condolences about your Pico.
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