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View Full Version : KMS Rocks!


Player0
08-17-2002, 06:26 PM
I received his 24v 65a powersupply last week. I finally got around to installing this monster today. I have to tell you, I was thoroughly scared of this thing. Its not only huge in size, but at something close to 1500w-1600w in power, quite dangerous if you screw up. I blew up a 550w antec last month, this is 3x as powerful!

So yeah, I was shitting my pants. I had to go to the hardware store to pick up special 14guage power cord and 10gauge cord to run inside to the peltiers.

I loaded up my massive custom machined pelt heat exchanger with four 172w peltiers (these are 24v beasties). Using minimal AS3 and a quarter ton of clamping pressure. I wired these all up nicely this time with a wiring bridge from radioshack and used spade-type crimp terminals, much better than those old wire nuts and hopefully less likely to catch fire. Anyway, i ran 10g wire to these (this is 48amps at 24v after all, thats like 96amps at 12v if you think in car terms). Made everything nice and neat and double checked the hell out of everything. A short at 1600w is BAD!

So evrythings wired, I have the heat exchanger in, but no water in it yet. I put on safety goggles and rubber gloves, and plug it in to a power strip, grab the fire extinguisher and hit the switch.

5 seconds of nothing, which at first worried me, and then a noise which sounded like a chainsaw on acid came from the PSU and I jumped back and hit the switch. LOL. It turns out that during the shipping from UK to NY, the fan grill got bent inwards. I pried it out of the way and turned it on again. Green light, it hums perfectly, no fires or nothing. Hooked up the voltage meter, 17v. KMS must have turned it all the way down. So a few dozen turns of the adjustment pot and I brought it up to about 25v which should work spiffy. Its nice that i can adjust it like that...way nice.

The heat exchanger started getting really hot at this point. It really needs some water flowing through it. So im letting it cool off before playing anymore.

I bought another little gizmo yesterday at RadioShack. Its called the Kill-A-Watt. Basically all it is, is a little digital meter that you plug in to the power outlet, and then plug whatever in to this meter. It tells you how many volts, amps, and watts that the device plugged in uses. Its great! At 17v, the powersupply draws about 7amps. At 25v it draws about 12amps hehe :)

Of course, this little powersupply can provide a whole lot more. I will be powering ALL my fans off the 24v PSU from now on as well, with a custom fan controller i still have to finish. I will have to plug this powersupply in to another house circuit, as the one it's currently on shares with my air conditioner, and it will blow the 20a fuse most likely (although i need to check).

Thanks again KMS, who cut me a great deal on this beast! Only a matter of time before i have all 880w of this new peltier cooling system running :)

It's ironic that this Kill-A-Watt thing is meant for people trying to save energy, and im using it to tell whether or not im going to blow the breaker box ;)

4.6POWER
08-17-2002, 07:18 PM
lol, damn thats quite a setup. What kind of rig is this thing going in? Any specific task in mind for this machine? I smell SETI, just thought I'd ask :o

Player0
08-17-2002, 08:35 PM
Its my main gaming rig and overclocking box hehe. No specific task except to get some good 3dmark scores. Probably wont run seti no.

kms
08-18-2002, 09:13 AM
lol nice one Tom glad it got there ok, heavy 'init :D ? Its been redundant for a while, was part of a m8's uncles amateur radio setup, left him all sorts noones any idea how to use :) :D, said i could have the psu for tec chilling but got the flash cooler a couple of days later & took that route (easier :D), offered it back but he said to keep or thow it lol as he'd never ever use it hence you getting it for shipping :) Looking forward to seeing how your chiller performs when on full steam :)

Player0
08-18-2002, 12:11 PM
Hehe, its quite funny. My first overclocking experience in life was my uncle and cb/ham radios ;) Some of the stuff he has is quite insane, like a 8 foot, 1" thick aluminum antenna that sticks off the back of his old police car (which he got at auction). Most of the stuff ain't exactly legal, but I remember lugging around some pretty massive powersupplies, that even put this one to shame hehe. But those guys definately know about power!

SleepO
08-18-2002, 12:57 PM
Hey Player, are you actually pulling 48 amps on that 10 gauge wire? The reason I ask is 10 guage is only good for 40 amps in free air.

Player0
08-18-2002, 05:38 PM
Hi SleepO,

10guage should be fine since it is only like a 4ft run, so the resistance isnt as bad as for say a 10ft run. I looked in a couple electronics books around here and they all recommend about 12guage, so I went 10guage to be safe.

Heres a similar table: http://www.rbeelectronics.com/wtable.htm

*sigh*, the bad news is that something is MAJORLY wrong. I got the rest of the watercooling system done today, and under no load, my water temperatures are 27c, hot water temperatures 34c!

Its not the powersupply, all those numbers seem to add up. The peltiers must be messed up or something. Dammit.

SleepO
08-18-2002, 06:10 PM
ah yes, I always forget that if it is a short run of wire the code lets you derate the wire size. At work we always go the other way and install larger than needed.

Player0
08-18-2002, 07:33 PM
Huge damn set back. i took the heat exchanger apart tonight, and all four peltiers are at least somewhat cracked. I can see that the top of the pelter was getting hot while the bottom wasnt.

dicki
08-19-2002, 04:28 AM
ouch what caused that? too much clamping pressure?

Player0
08-19-2002, 11:51 AM
Uneven clamping pressure I guess. I have no idea how it happened. The tops were all cracked, the bottoms were okay.

Im worried about bolting it down again now tho.

kms
08-21-2002, 06:29 AM
aghh tec massacre :( sorry to hear that P0