Power Supply's Coolice PSU

[Lee]

Just purchased a PSU from a well know guy here in the UK called Coolice (Ian)
Coolice PSU's

As a few of you have made your own, I was keen to have a go, until i found out about the issues people had with chargers loosing there magic smoke due to one PSU shutting down and the other dumping high voltages into your precious charger and destroying it.

Well, what Ian has done, is to add a little circuit that if this should ever happen, it will shut down both PSUs together. Therefore eliminating that over voltage problem.
He also wraps them i a cool cover, that can be custom made to have what ever you want written on it.

Once i receive it, i'll give you a more detailed review.

 

[cml001]

Kool!!!!

 

[Graham Lawrie]

Hi Lee, I saw this when I was looking at doing my own

would be nice to know what his circuit is?

You could always do a what's in the box series when you get yours and cut the shrink wrap offLOL for the good of RC-Help of course

 

[Lee]

HAHA i won't be cutting my custom wrap off
Im also getting a ready made bluetooth module for my Ikon from him, so look out for that post too.

 

[Graham Lawrie]

Good prices Lee. Did not realise it was the same guy from Youtube Would be interesting what mod he has done?

 

[Lee]

He has a number of options price and power wise.
I went for the badboy 2400W 100A beast. £125 to the door.
Just tell him what charger its for to get the right connectors put on.
I have a few days to decide what to have printed on mine.
I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Graham Lawrie]

What issues have you come across about the set up I am doing?

 

[Lee]

Only the one I mentioned about the possibility of one PSU shutting down causing the voltage to spike from the remaining one into the charger.
But this only happens as far as i know, if you are pushing it to the limits with high power chargers. And seems to be a 308 and 4010 Duo charger issue.

 

[Graham Lawrie]

I am looking at external and internal surge protection. It mentions that some of the PSU,s have them built in already.

What I would be wary about is if Ian has built an external add on unit that will just get hot or "pop" when surged, really interested to find out what he has done. We have similar systems to protect our PLC,s at work.

I may be talking out my wrong end, don't know enough about it on these PSU,s so will look into it

 

[Lee]

It was designed for him by the guy that makes the Simstick.
I know nothing about nothing to do with electronics

 

[Graham Lawrie]

Me to LOL, well industrial, not RC

I think it may be a thing Called MOV which is like a sheep tic, which takes the surge as heat. Or it could also divert the energy else where, think its referred to as a "crowbar"

I am really intrigued to find out

Maybe an electronics guru on here might know?

What ever it is I would like to build the same surge protection on my system.

 

[pvolcko]

A crowbar doesn't really shut down the supply directly. They detect over voltage on the output and then effectively short circuit the output forcing the fuse or protection circuit of the supply to trip the supply off. By shorting the output the device connected to the supply will be saved from the over voltage condition, at least as long as the triac in the crowbar circuit holds out. When/if the component fails there is a good chance it will fail into a permanently short circuited condition, still providing protection but also meaning you'll need a new triac installed since the output will be shorted no matter what. But, ultimately, it is up to the built in over power/current protection circuit (fuse, breaker, or other current limiting/protection circuit) in the supply to actually trip it off.

It is likely that it is what he is adding to the supply since it is relatively simple and low cost, and provides fast protection to the stuff connected to the supply while possibly sacrificing itself or the power supply in the process. Many will have these circuits already built into them, as you mentioned Graham. Particularly higher end computer PSUs that drive relatively expensive hardware and house even more valuable data (compared to the cost of a potentially fried power supply by shorting it).

 

[treff]

Graham When I was into radio amateur things the circuit we used is called a crowbar circuit. It can be set up for under voltage
or over voltage. When tripped it can be set to blow a fuse in its simplest form or to activate a relay. It is design to save the equipment
if things fail like the pass transistors in old type of psu. Hope this helps. Cheers

 

[cml001]

Collective knowledge for the benefit of the masses at RCH... Love u guys! AWESOME!! U can learn so much here. U guys rock!

 

[Lee]

Has anyone got a design idea for the cover of my PSU? Obviously RC-HELP on it, but any other ideas?

 

[pvolcko]

Thermo-reactive covering. Should wash over in various colors as it heats up and cools down.

Lightning bolts are an obvious choice graphically.

 

[cml001]

I dig the color change'n thing... Call it "Hoy Stuff"!.. Lol

 

[coolice]

I am looking at external and internal surge protection. It mentions that some of the PSU,s have them built in already.

What I would be wary about is if Ian has built an external add on unit that will just get hot or "pop" when surged, really interested to find out what he has done. We have similar systems to protect our PLC,s at work.

I may be talking out my wrong end, don't know enough about it on these PSU,s so will look into it

Hey Buddy.

No, there isn't anything in the protection circuit that requires getting hot to activate.
Basically what we have done is design a circuit board that controls the on/off of the PSU's and allows us to program in a voltage window if you like, with an upper and lower voltage set point.
In run mode, the unit then monitors the output voltage and if it deviates outside of the set points, switches both PSU's off. Thus avoiding the iCharger trying to pull more amps from the single remaining unit causing it's output to spike and kill the charger.

It has been designed in such a way that it can be used on various server PSU's, based on what pin-outs they need switching to turn on.
Obviously I am offering it as an option on any PSU's that I build, but this protection add-on is available on it's own for the DIY'er to build his or her own PSU based on server power supplies. The price on it's own is £29.99 including post within the UK, or +£8 post to outside of the UK.

This unit has been designed by Steve Smith (xygax) of SimStick fame, a very skilled bloke with the knowledge to take my problem and idea of how to solve it and make something even better.

Any questions please feel free to ask me.

Ian Contessa

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry meant to add, on one particular PSU type, the DPS-600PB, we have also included temperature control for the cooling fan.
The user needs to reverse the cooling fan flow so that warm air from within the PSU is blown over the back of the PCB and the chip switches the fan to full speed if the temperature rise's. This unit also has the ability to make use of the voltage control pots on the circuit board to adjust individual PSU output voltage within a certain range.

Ian

- - - Updated - - -

Here is some good info on the unit itself;

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2070862#post27115099

Ian

 

[Graham Lawrie]

Hey Buddy.

No, there isn't anything in the protection circuit that requires getting hot to activate.
Basically what we have done is design a circuit board that controls the on/off of the PSU's and allows us to program in a voltage window if you like, with an upper and lower voltage set point.
In run mode, the unit then monitors the output voltage and if it deviates outside of the set points, switches both PSU's off. Thus avoiding the iCharger trying to pull more amps from the single remaining unit causing it's output to spike and kill the charger.

It has been designed in such a way that it can be used on various server PSU's, based on what pin-outs they need switching to turn on.
Obviously I am offering it as an option on any PSU's that I build, but this protection add-on is available on it's own for the DIY'er to build his or her own PSU based on server power supplies. The price on it's own is £29.99 including post within the UK, or +£8 post to outside of the UK.

This unit has been designed by Steve Smith (xygax) of SimStick fame, a very skilled bloke with the knowledge to take my problem and idea of how to solve it and make something even better.

Any questions please feel free to ask me.

Ian Contessa

- - - Updated - - -

Sorry meant to add, on one particular PSU type, the DPS-600PB, we have also included temperature control for the cooling fan.
The user needs to reverse the cooling fan flow so that warm air from within the PSU is blown over the back of the PCB and the chip switches the fan to full speed if the temperature rise's. This unit also has the ability to make use of the voltage control pots on the circuit board to adjust individual PSU output voltage within a certain range.

Ian

- - - Updated - - -

Here is some good info on the unit itself;

Coolice PSU Controller - RC Groups

Ian

Brilliant reply Ian. Sounds like a good idea for mine. I am near finished my build. Is it easy to fit?

- - - Updated - - -

Hi Ian. I got the link and will be in touch later. Cheers Graham

 

[Lee]

Got mine today Thanks Ian.
I'll be fitting it into a case i the next week or so.