element14 Community
element14 Community
    Register Log In
  • Site
  • Search
  • Log In Register
  • About Us
  • Community Hub
    Community Hub
    • What's New on element14
    • Feedback and Support
    • Benefits of Membership
    • Personal Blogs
    • Members Area
    • Achievement Levels
  • Learn
    Learn
    • Ask an Expert
    • eBooks
    • element14 presents
    • Learning Center
    • Tech Spotlight
    • STEM Academy
    • Webinars, Training and Events
    • Learning Groups
  • Technologies
    Technologies
    • 3D Printing
    • FPGA
    • Industrial Automation
    • Internet of Things
    • Power & Energy
    • Sensors
    • Technology Groups
  • Challenges & Projects
    Challenges & Projects
    • Design Challenges
    • element14 presents Projects
    • Project14
    • Arduino Projects
    • Raspberry Pi Projects
    • Project Groups
  • Products
    Products
    • Arduino
    • Avnet Boards Community
    • Dev Tools
    • Manufacturers
    • Multicomp Pro
    • Product Groups
    • Raspberry Pi
    • RoadTests & Reviews
  • Store
    Store
    • Visit Your Store
    • Choose another store...
      • Europe
      •  Austria (German)
      •  Belgium (Dutch, French)
      •  Bulgaria (Bulgarian)
      •  Czech Republic (Czech)
      •  Denmark (Danish)
      •  Estonia (Estonian)
      •  Finland (Finnish)
      •  France (French)
      •  Germany (German)
      •  Hungary (Hungarian)
      •  Ireland
      •  Israel
      •  Italy (Italian)
      •  Latvia (Latvian)
      •  
      •  Lithuania (Lithuanian)
      •  Netherlands (Dutch)
      •  Norway (Norwegian)
      •  Poland (Polish)
      •  Portugal (Portuguese)
      •  Romania (Romanian)
      •  Russia (Russian)
      •  Slovakia (Slovak)
      •  Slovenia (Slovenian)
      •  Spain (Spanish)
      •  Sweden (Swedish)
      •  Switzerland(German, French)
      •  Turkey (Turkish)
      •  United Kingdom
      • Asia Pacific
      •  Australia
      •  China
      •  Hong Kong
      •  India
      •  Korea (Korean)
      •  Malaysia
      •  New Zealand
      •  Philippines
      •  Singapore
      •  Taiwan
      •  Thailand (Thai)
      • Americas
      •  Brazil (Portuguese)
      •  Canada
      •  Mexico (Spanish)
      •  United States
      Can't find the country/region you're looking for? Visit our export site or find a local distributor.
  • Translate
  • Profile
  • Settings
Power & Energy
  • Technologies
  • More
Power & Energy
Forum Power for Desktop PC??
  • Blog
  • Forum
  • Quiz
  • Documents
  • Polls
  • Events
  • Mentions
  • Sub-Groups
  • Tags
  • More
  • Cancel
  • New
Actions
  • Share
  • More
  • Cancel
Forum Thread Details
  • State Not Answered
  • Replies 7 replies
  • Subscribers 287 subscribers
  • Views 592 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Related

Power for Desktop PC??

Former Member
Former Member over 10 years ago

Right now our area is suffering from heavy blackouts and this got me thinking about my desktop computer now rotting away... It is just way to sad and expensive to let it go to waste. So can I power my PC computer via a 12volt car battery without the use of an power inverter?

 

Judging on most of the PC wiring it uses 5volt and 12volt also {negative} -12volt and {negative} -5volt  also there is a 3.3Volt. I included a picture I found on the net to help explain the pins there locations and designation. I hope this helps. I am looking at the ATX 24 Pin connector.  

 

Now I am a complete layman with electronics and have no idea to go about this. That said I know that most cars use onboard computers and even hard drives surely there is enough power to get a gaming computer up and going again?

 

Right now I am using a 700 Watt PSU and it is working really well. But it is no use to me when dead... and running the generator to drive my PC at midnight might be upsetting to others that want some sleep and really a power inverter feels wrong to me as the computer is build to actually use DC not AC and as we know a inverter does consume a lot to function "depending on make and model".

 

So any inexpensive MOD with easy to find parts would be a massive  help.   image

  • Sign in to reply
  • Cancel
Parents
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 10 years ago

    Power is becoming a real pain lately, and moving to another country is a bit extreme... Here is the thing to consider. the "negative voltage" how on earth does that work I mean how do you get a negative voltage to begin with?

     

    Maybe the best way to go about this is get a PSU hook it up to a multi meter and find the components that are responsible for the "negative voltage" and see how it looks and what components are being used. Maybe even take it out make it stand alone "maybe" or not...

     

    That said some boards don't actually need those voltages but again I am not willing to burn a board to find out.

     

    I will look into it some more...  

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Verify Answer
    • Cancel
  • jw0752
    0 jw0752 over 10 years ago in reply to Former Member

    Hi Geen,

    Here is a quick description of how there can be positive and negative voltage in a circuit. I have made a drawing of (2) 12 Volt batteries that are hooked in series. We call the connection between the two batteries the 0 volt point and we make all of our measurements from that point. The top of battery B1 becomes +12 and the bottom of battery B2 becomes -12. Many circuits like to operate with this split or double supply and if the circuit is designed for it there is really no way around it.

     

    image

     

    John

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Verify Answer
    • Cancel
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 10 years ago in reply to jw0752

    Hi John

     

    thank you for explaining it to me, I will do a test and see what happens on smaller batteries and then work from that point forwards. Really thanks for the drawing!! It helps a a lot!! 

     

    Much appreciated  image

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Verify Answer
    • Cancel
Reply
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 10 years ago in reply to jw0752

    Hi John

     

    thank you for explaining it to me, I will do a test and see what happens on smaller batteries and then work from that point forwards. Really thanks for the drawing!! It helps a a lot!! 

     

    Much appreciated  image

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up 0 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Verify Answer
    • Cancel
Children
No Data
element14 Community

element14 is the first online community specifically for engineers. Connect with your peers and get expert answers to your questions.

  • Members
  • Learn
  • Technologies
  • Challenges & Projects
  • Products
  • Store
  • About Us
  • Feedback & Support
  • FAQs
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal and Copyright Notices
  • Sitemap
  • Cookies

An Avnet Company © 2025 Premier Farnell Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Premier Farnell Ltd, registered in England and Wales (no 00876412), registered office: Farnell House, Forge Lane, Leeds LS12 2NE.

ICP 备案号 10220084.

Follow element14

  • X
  • Facebook
  • linkedin
  • YouTube