My Power Control Center

[TonyCooper]

OK, Before I finalize my design what am I missing? Maybe an inverter On/Off switch in the 120VAC section?

[bdosborn]

OK, Before I finalize my design what am I missing? Maybe an inverter On/Off switch in the 120VAC section?

Yes. The inverter takes a fair amount of juice just to sitting there doing nothing.
Bruce

[TonyCooper]

Okie Dokie...
Here is the completed panel. What do you think?

[bdosborn]

Okie Dokie...
Here is the completed panel. What do you think?

I think it looks *great*. The power strip circuit breaker is a great idea. I wish I'd thought of it.
Bruce

[BrianB]

That's very clean, nice work! Make a few more and sell them. I'm sure there are a bunch of people who'd like one that looks that nice

[TonyCooper]

Okie Dokie...
Here is the completed panel. What do you think?

I think you it looks *great*. The power strip circuit breaker is a great idea. I wish I'd thought of it.
Bruce

Thanks, I wish I could have found a 12VDC version of it. I looked everywhere and but finally settled on the glass fuse.

[toypusher]

Tony,

Try waytecwire:

http://order.waytekwire.com/CGI-BIN/LANSAWEB?WEBEVENT+L09347E7D8197E7ACDDA6C81+M37+ENG

One of these should due.

Kerry

[Steve Frederick]

That's very clean, nice work! Make a few more and sell them. I'm sure there are a bunch of people who'd like one that looks that nice

Can I place an order???

[Guest]

Tony,
That is really uptown!!!
I take it that you printed that on your computer, then laminated it somehow, eh?
I'm standing in line, right behind Steve...

[TonyCooper]

First thanks for the kind comments...

Hmmm,

Let me look at the possibilities. I am out of the extrusion I used, but I could easily have boxes fabricated, powder coated, and then have them silk screen printed.

They would be professional quality but the cost of the box alone would be $15-$20. Then you'd add in the switches and circuit breakers... probably another $10-$20 in bulk.

I would need to make a minimum batch of probably 100 to get the box prices reasonable.

So we are looking at a build cost of about $25 - $40.

Let me look around and see if I can find another section of extrusion that would work. That may cut the price of the box by half for parts but increase labor. I'd have to cut and drill and powder coat.... Hmmm...

I've had unique miata parts manufactured in the past so I've been down this road before ... Took me 2 years to sell those 100 miata parts. And a year to break even.


So I would have an outlay of $2.5K-$4K...

What could I sell them for?

Could I even sell 100 of them?

[TonyCooper]

Tony,
That is really uptown!!!
I take it that you printed that on your computer, then laminated it somehow, eh?
I'm standing in line, right behind Steve...

Thanks,

I used an old piece of aluminum extrusion that I had laying around.

I designed the panel in Visio, printed it out on my epson color printer, then hot laminated it. I used a Gordon brand 9" laminator (item 92499) I purchased from Harbor Freight for $19 last week when it was on sale. I then cut the finished panel to size and used a hand mechanical punch to put the holes in the aluminum and printed panel.

Picked up the switches at Lowes, the 120vac 15a circuit breaker came out of an old power strip I had. 12vdc fuse holder from Radio Shack.

Total cost is well under $20 not including the laminator. We wanted it for other projects.

[Guy]

Tony,

What are you using for your "power supply" on the 12volt side of your panel?

Are you also using a charger for your battery?

[TonyCooper]

Tony,

What are you using for your "power supply" on the 12volt side of your panel?

Are you also using a charger for your battery?

I modified an ATX PC Power supply ... It will output 14amps at 12volts. More then enough for my lights and radio.

Yes I will be automatically charging the battery everytime the teardrop is on shorepower. I invested in a type 31 yellow top Optima battery and I want to get the full useful life out of it so I figured go get a top of the line charger.

I picked up this automatic charger unit from BatteryMart. It's a waterproof, 4 stage intelligent charger and it is reasonably priced from these guys. I've seen it priced twice as much as they sell it for. It's also packaged quite small. Perfect for a teardrop.


Details Here

[Nitetimes]

Tony,

What are you using for your "power supply" on the 12volt side of your panel?

Are you also using a charger for your battery?

I modified an ATX PC Power supply ... It will output 14amps at 12volts. More then enough for my lights and radio.

I've heard this mentioned before, can I ask just what kind of modifications you made to it? Major re-write or something simple?I have a bunch of them laying around that I might as well put to good use. Thanks

[TonyCooper]

This thread gives a very good overview of whats required.
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=1713

It's an inexpensive and simple modfication. In fact if you have an old AT style PS you really can simply hook it up. The ATX style is intelligent enough not to power on without a load on the 5v line. 2 resistors in parallel is ample load.

Note that like everything else, not all PC Power Supplies are created equal. Check the 12V output listing on the PC Supply label and use the one with the most output (even if it is a smaller total wattage PS). Also be aware that sometimes the labels are overly optimistic (they lie!). I used a power supply that was designed to support AMD processors (400 watts total). Those chips are power hungry!

Here's a link to a general overview of power supply characteristics:
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/power/sup/output_Power.htm

BTW, Took about 30 minutes to complete.