In early 2017 a friend gave me an old XBox 360 she no longer had any use for. After refurbishing it and getting it working i had no immediate use for it. I salvaged the 120GB SATA hard disk from it along with some other components and then sent it for recycling. I retained the 150W PSU from the XBox and developed this simple breakout box providing +5V @1Amp and +12V @ 12Amps using some components i had to hand. This will make a great PSU for lots of experiments, projects and prototypes. Click here to find out more about this projects.
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I recently came home from a business trip to find out that my Linksys/Cisco RV042 Router was not working and the power supply appeared to have tripped also. I have a backup plan for my network so it was not critical to have it fixed immediately and i was not offline for more than a few minutes once the backup plan was implemented. I suspected the problem to be within the router so dismantled it and investigated further. Click here to find out more about this project. My mother's neighbour tried to use her washing machine a few weeks ago. When she pressed the start button the entire button assembly disappeared from sight and dropped into the machine! As the machine had also started its cycle she had to wait until it finished before getting her clothes out. She thought she might have to buy a new machine but i suggested that i have a look at repairing it even if she had to buy a new panel or button assembly as it would be much cheaper than a replacement machine. Click here to find out more about this project. I recently repaired a neighbours 32 inch LCD TV which had started to behave erratically. It was difficult to get it to power on and when powered on it would switch off after 10 minutes. I suspected that the PSU capacitors had failed and as long as the TV would attempt to power up there was unlikely to be damage to the semiconductors, IC's and transistors so it would be worthwhile trying to repair it by replacing them. A simple repair that would take just a couple of hours to complete would avoid all the plastic and metal being recycled, a significant proportion of which, particularly the plastic would end up in landfill or being washed out to sea. Click here to find out more about this project. Recently i have been working on converting a cordless battery powered grass strimmer to operate from mains power using an old laptop PSU and a custom developed circuit to drive the motor. Unfortunately i do not have the original users manual nor does the motor have any markings that would allow me to search for specifications so i have had to do some testing to try to get some of the parameters such as the resistance, torque and electrical constant. Initial prototyping has gone very well and i should have a working machine in the near future. Click here for more details on this project. I purchased this Radio Shack PSU in the late 1990's during the closing down sale in the UK. I used it to power many experiments over the years and latterly it powered one of my network routers when it failed. I decided to try to repair it or salvage what ever parts i could if it was beyond repair. Click here for further information. Some months ago an HP laptop PSU failed when the output cable broke internally and the mains connector solder joints on the underside of the PCB started to arc. The original case could not be salvaged so a new case had to be used. I had to venture into what for me was the whole new world of 'gluing' a piece of equipment together! Click here for more details. The refurbishment of the spare battery charger for my Mother's electric scooter was recently completed. The internals were cleaned of all dust, dirt, cob webs and insects! The heat sink compound on all the semiconductors was renewed. The front and end panels were removed, disassembled and repainted. Click here for more details of the refurbishment. I have a number of HP laptop PSU's. One failed recently and i decided to see if it could be repaired or if not what components could be salvaged from it. The problem turned out to be a failed solder joint probably caused over a number of years by the mechanical stress of inserting and removing the mains cable. Click here for further details. I recently received an XBox 360 to attempt to repair or refurbish. It had been put out in a street side recycling bin. I planned to either attempt to repair the system or salavage what ever parts i could from it. This picture shows the dust on the main CPU heat sink. Click here for further information. |
AuthorAllan Faulds is an Electronic Design Engineer who develops Hardware and Software on a professional basis. He has a strong interest in applying his design and development skills to his areas of interest such as bicycle lighting and plant growing and greenhouse and garden control technology. Archives
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