Nasty, Lazy and Cheap (12v 5A Charger Power Supply)
I don’t know about you, but I think the cost of RC power supplies is simply ridiculous. I have a hefty 30A bench supply that I was fed up of lugging around. I wasn’t about spend £50, £100 or even more on a ‘proper’ RC supply.
I wanted a small and light, and above all, cheap power supply to run my HOT POWER (AMAZING name!) charger off. So I made one…
In my Graupner Ultramat 14 charger I knew there was what looked like a laptop power supply to provide mains input capability. I know other chargers use something similar.
My charger only needed 5A input, so I trawled ebay for a laptop supply with 12v 5A output. £8.99 including delivery! Bargain.
Chopped the cable off short, soldered on some 4mm sockets. Then I ruined it by Shoe Gooing the cable to the side of the supply.
I could have gone to the trouble of putting it in a nice box etc, but that would have made it bigger. I could have left the leads dangling, but I wanted it neat and tidy.
The end result is brilliant, perfect for running a regular charger, or a soldering iron.
The boys laughed at my nasty construction skills, but funnily enough they agreed it was a perfect solution for less than a tenner.
Make one today. Hell, if you really want one I’ll make you one, for about £50.
Written by simon.
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2 Responses to “Nasty, Lazy and Cheap (12v 5A Charger Power Supply)”
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I suppose this is the lengths you need to go to when you are spending crazy money off-roading.
Its an amusing solution to a common issue.
Hope it doesnt get to hot.
Hardly gets warm at all. It’s brilliant!
If charger is charging at 5A @ 8.4v then input will only be around 4A @ 12v.