I'm gearing up to do a case mod for a disembodied iMac, and am wondering about power supplies. The box I'm putting the iMac into is plenty small, so I'm trying to scrimp on space and use the smallest PS possible, but I'm also trying to keep the engineering to a minimum.
Lots of people have hacked iMac boards (and other models) to use ATX power supplies, but one of the perrenial problems with this is soft boot; ATX supplies weren't designed for that. So I was wondering if it's possible to use the PS from a different Mac — one that is designed for soft boot — as a short cut.
I've got several old 7100 PS's lying around, and if one of those would work, well that would just be dandy! This seems to be something that ought to be fairly straightforward, so I'm hoping I don't have to blaze any trails here. I pulled one apart today to see if the components removed from the metal enclosure would fit my case, and they would, but I have no idea what the pinouts are for the thing. Does anybody have any info they could pass along on this?
Thanks!
What do you mean "Soft Boot". I'm pretty sure I know what you mean. I'll give you an example.: I recently had to replace the PSU for my PCC PowerBase and the only thing that turned on the power was the butten that was connected to the MoBo. When I want it to start up at a certain time, I set it and the clock in the computer tells the board to start the psu. I have no direct connection between the button and the PSU./
Is that an example of what you are talking about? Where there is no direct switch between the button and the PSU?
BTW: It is an Off of the shelf ATX Powersupply that I found at a local PC Parts carrier store called DIT
Yes, by soft boot, I mean the ability to turn the thing on and off without flipping a rocker switch, and the ability of the machine to shut down properly when you tell it to, unlike so many of the ATX iMac case mods that just restart instead of shutting down. Sorry if that isn't very clear; I'm not sure what the exact technical term would be.
I think the iMac will need 3v and IIRC the 7100's PS doesn't have 3v.
eh?
dan k
Do you know what the 3v is used for on the iMac? If it's a low current draw, a power inverter might be able to be rigged up, or maybe that complicates things too much.