Building a specialized power supply

Hi ya’ll, time to wander around again at the Monster-Hardware Secret Labs down in Silicon Holler - this time, we are going to make a hybrid power supply capable of pumping lots of juice. A buddy asked me to recently build him a power supply for his grandiose overclocking plans that include a peltier; he also does some occasional testing and mods on computer parts (that’s putting it mildly!). herefore, the design criteria was such that the power supply needed to provide lots of amps at the common PC voltages, plus something a little higher for the big peltier he planned to use.

So… after thinking for a bit, I raided my scrap parts bin and did a little digging on the internet. Fortunately, in my “real job”, I work at a power plant and have access to some people with a lot of knowledge and advice. I decided to make a hybrid box – using some existing components as well as designing a separate power supply within the main box. My plan was this – utilize an old AT power supply that was more than capable on the lower voltages, and build a separate section to handle the higher voltage needed by the peltier.