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

[nige2000]

That sounds the same as we experienced in my battery PS with the 5v packs, right Nigel?

i think adolfo linears are 5v and your using two 2.5v so its a bit different

[rickmcinnis]

nige2000,

I need a reminder.

Do you need to do anything with the green, grey, or brown wires?

I don't think I used them way back when I did this before but that set up is long dismantled and I have no notes.

Thanks,

[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.....

[darkpink]

Thinking about building a couple of PSU's to the usbcard and SSD + HDD (musicstorage), already got a PPA LPSU powering the ATX and the other rail for the CPU.
But i dont know what kind/size of toroid is should use. That's my first Q if someone would be kind to help me?
Second is if I can use these regulators because I thought they be quite nice, from this site http://www.belleson.com/order.php

Thanks guys! Happy tweaking!

[tony]

2 Clock board becoming problematic unfortunately. I think it will need a warranty service call!
Hadn't used it for a week but had kept the TX on so batteries were fine. It was awkward to get fired up when Seb called yesterday.
Using it today it was bombing out after half a song. Eventually go to the point where I had to pull the mobo battery as I reckon the board
locked up after a few failed starts. Got it going again but no joy keeps locking up. Either ground issue or the two clocks are just a step too far for stability. Thought or maybe hoped it was 2012R2 going through end of trial hiccups but that is definitely not the case it is a power/mobo issue

[Sligolad]

Did you make any recent changes Tony as in changing the power supply to your music drive.....

[tony]

No didn't get near that yet Pearse. The one thing I noticed when I got it powered up into bios the 12v reading was fluctucating between 11.56 and 11.96v. The other supplies were stable. I charged up the battery 12v overnight and have just powered the pc back on . 12v is now stable in bios hardware monitor and it has remained up in bios for a few minutes. The screen was hazy at first and has cleared up now.

63's were clicking and popping last night.That sent palpitations aka Davef through the heart but it seemed to be emanating from LZ/PC. Once pc powered off issue disappeared.

One question if you can get a chance maybe Nigel also just to advise exactly the voltages showing in hardware monitor for 5v, 3.3v and 12v. I just wonder is the regulator setting just a tad low hence everything is just teetering on the edge?

[tony]

Yessss! I am a technical genius!! Despite lack of warranty support me powers of deduction have somehow worked. PC is now firing up again and de muzak is playing. The original issue that the warranty department reckons is a poor grounds layout during production run is still present. i.e switch on the dac or hdd drive or turn on 63's and pc locks up with garbled screen. Reboot sorts it out. So all is stable again for music playing so happy camper. Hate to lose the 2 clock mobo.

[Sligolad]

Power up sequence tends to be critical Tony when you go to multiple power supplies and clocks.
I used to power up the amps ahead of powering the PC as if I did it after the fact it would stop RamDisk load and boot sequence.
If you are powering up the 63s each time you start the Pc then you will definitely have problems.

Probably best to power up everything else a few minutes before starting the PC might be best.

Got 2 audio PC's in Streacom cases running off the one Teradak 210.4W/308W ATX-210 Linear Supply at the weekend, I split the power lines inside one audio PC and routed the second 20 pin connector out the back in in through the second PC.
I can run 2 audio PC's with 2 x 20 Pin ATX lines simultaneously off the one Teradak with ease, one of the audio PC's has the Paul Hynes running the 12v CPU connection and the SSDs and the other audio PC is powered off the Teradak 12v and 5v lines for SSD's.

Powering up both in any sequence is no issue which is a nice surprise with both setup on RamDisk in core mode.
Hope to try dual PC again in a couple of weeks after we get some of our demo work out of the way.

[tony]

Power up sequence tends to be critical Tony when you go to multiple power supplies and clocks.
If you are powering up the 63s each time you start the Pc then you will definitely have problems.

Probably best to power up everything else a few minutes before starting the PC might be best.

Hope to try dual PC again in a couple of weeks after we get some of our demo work out of the way.

Very true Pearse and I normally power everything up as you suggest. The 63's were just inadvertently plugged out as I was going crazy trying to get it working again and plugged out a 63 instead of sub. I was just drawing attention to the fact they are upsetting the pc also.

One can never be sure but I am fairly certain it was the 12v lead acid battery that was just down on power causing the issue. Even though I leave the tx on I am assuming switching the grounds off means possibly the 12v is getting no charge. The lifepo4's seem to hold charge well but the motorcycle battery is not great. I hadn't listened for nearly a week so 12v drain was a prob.

You are pushing the boundaries again fingers crossed as per usual that the twin pc set up is irrelevant!!