Life of PSU

Inspired by the last success I’ve triggered the BIG Blimp protocol again. My calculation is roughly that if we’ve been able to produce 3l of Hydrogen in 20 minutes … 12l per hour … still 41hrs. Also we haven’t pushed it to the limits, there is a good chance that we’ll get even better gain!

Started 8:38am – Let’s see!

Both thermometer and Watt-meter started doing excellent service – thermometer showing initial +16C and Watt-meter consumption 490 Watts. That means that our current current is 490W/12V -> 41A.

Second checkpoint 20 minutes later.

Temperature raised to 51C.

Wattage is now 747W meaning that we are on 62 Amps now – getting beautiful bubles.

Still another 20 minutes later –

With a known sound effect & smell of burnt electronic parts – our lovely 2000W PSU died again! Checking the Watt-meter before I think there was ~950W and electrolyte temperature was above 70C. Picture below depicts where the smell was strongest. 😀

Feeling very sorry for our brand new PSU, I’ve decided to replace some of those most smelly, but I’ve just got a proper buzz from one of those big capacitors. That text on the case “Do not open” makes much better sense now.

I’ve decided to overcome this disappointment by checking GumTree and found another 1850W for $60 near to Mt. Gravatt – South Brisbane.

It looks like some Chinese brand. I’ve noticed that it comes with a sticker claiming 90 Plus Gold certification, while that previous one had 95 Plus Gold!

Interestingly there is a optional energy conversion efficiency standard for Power Supply Manufacturers, which is called 80 Plus. Reading a lot about it, I couldn’t find any 90, or 95 Plus! There really is just 80 Plus – all the others are fake.

Well let’s do a little recapitulation of our situation here. First PSU – I am pretty sure that the first PSU died because I’ve pushed it too far (25A++ on 450W PSU) – ok, my fault.

Second PSU death – I am not sure. Circuit breaker was in place and I’ve put in Watt-meter, which told me that current was around 80A+- at the moment of its death. (Watt meter shown 950W/12V -> 80A). That should be still under a threshold of that circuit breaker as well as PSU limits (130A). So I assume it was a faulty PSU? Test ended after 30 minutes.

Third PSU is 1850W – unknown brand, but healthy components. Let’s assume for now (till I consult it with Richard & Vlada) that we can use it safely up to its 50% -> that makes it 925W cap -> 77 Amps.