Testing Astec AA21430 power supply
 

Hello:

For a Raspberry Pi 3B+ setup I am working on I would like to use an Astec AA21430 power supply I can get for ~ US$10.00.

It seems to be ex-Cisco (part# 34-1609-02) and would be ideal as it puts out 9.50A @ 5.0V which I expect that given its provenance should be stable and solid at least up to 8.50A.

The thing is that I *already* have a couple of Sun Microsystem power supplies I have never been able to use because I have not found a way to actually *start* them (power switch does nothing) and although I searched high and low, never found a way to do it.

I don't want to pile up *more* unusable hardware so I'm asking here before I go out and fetch it.

This Astec PS seems to be a simpler affair: the cable connector is a keyed Molex 90331 and the outputs are labeled P1 through P6.

P1 - purple = -12.0V 0.5A max
P2/P5 - black = COM
P3/P4 - red = +5.0V 9.5A max
P6 - yellow = +12.0V 1.2A max

In another life, when tested ATX power supplies to recycle, had a bridge with a female 24 pin socket and wire shorting PS_ON to ground but I have no idea if this power supply will start with its own power switch or if it needs something else.

I'd appreciate any input from those who know more about this type of PSs.

Thanks in advance.

JHM

Testing Astec AA21430 power supply
 

Julius Henry Marx wrote:


This Astec PS seems to be a simpler affair: the cable connector is a keyed
Molex 90331 and the outputs are labeled P1 through P6.

P1 - purple = -12.0V 0.5A max
P2/P5 - black = COM
P3/P4 - red = +5.0V 9.5A max
P6 - yellow = +12.0V 1.2A max

In another life, when tested ATX power supplies to recycle, had a bridge
with a female 24 pin socket and wire shorting PS_ON to ground but I have
no idea if this power supply will start with its own power switch or if it
needs something else.

I'd appreciate any input from those who know more about this type of PSs.
Most supplies of this type need a load to regulate properly. Probably 1 A
on the 5 V output would be sufficient. Find a 5-10 W 5 Ohm resistor and
then just apply AC power and it should work.

Jon

Testing Astec AA21430 power supply
 

On Sunday, May 31, 2020 at 6:28:14 PM UTC-3, Jon Elson wrote:

Most supplies of this type need a load to regulate properly. Probably 1 A
on the 5 V output would be sufficient. Find a 5-10 W 5 Ohm resistor and
then just apply AC power and it should work.

Thanks for such a fast reply.

Apparently there's no other connection between the PS and the equipment it belongs to, so that may well be the solution.

I'll get the PS and try that.

Thanks for your input.

JHM

Testing Astec AA21430 power supply
 

On Sunday, May 31, 2020 at 5:48:51 PM UTC-3, Julius Henry Marx wrote:

... *already* have a couple of Sun Microsystem power supplies ...
... not found a way to actually *start* them ...

While waitng for delivery for the Astec AA21430 subject of the OP, I decided to pull one of the Sun PSs from the bin to have another look.

It is a Japanese made 360W FDK PEX737-40 from a Storedge D2, really impressive hardware.

After a closer inspection and some further web searching, I've found that it seems to be very much an ATX design with some minor differences, which makes sense.

How did that detail escape me when I got it?

I found a post on-line that said shorting green and blue turned on the system, which it did but I did not try shorting it to ground, just in case.

The plug at the back of the slide-in box has 24 pins just like the usual male Molex 39-01-2240 (?) used for ATX MBs but with a different pinout.

Of the 24 pins, 10 are for power and 10 for GND:

10 x GND - black
6 x +5V - red ---- 5.11V to GND
3 x +12V - orange ---- 12.29V to GND
1 x +12V - yellow ---- 12.01V to GND

My guess is that the (red) +5V and the (orange) +12V are for the drives and the (yellow) +12V for a fan located in the main box, one for each redundant PS.

Being a storage box must be why there's no 3.3V, -12V or -5V in the connector and only one rail for each voltage as the same colour wires (red, orange) read 0.1 ohms between them.

The remaining 4 pins are as follows:

1 x green - PS_ON --- 5.07V to GND
1 x grey - PG --- 5.06V to GND
1 x blue - ??? --- 5.10V to GND
1 x brown - ??? --- 5.10V to GND

The PG pin to ground will give me a way to have a LED indicating this and the PS_ON is used to turn the unit on.

There is a manual reset 10A protection not accessible from the outside and a thermal protection on one of the heatsinks.

I expected to turn on the unit via PS_ON + GND (instead of the blue cable), which I will promptly try to check.

If it works, that will leave me without knowing what the blue and brown cabling has to be used for.

eg: which one is the remote sensing wire and which is +5VSB?

I'd be grateful for any input on this.

Thanks in advance.

JHM

Testing Astec AA21430 power supply
 

Hello:

On Tuesday, June 2, 2020 at 10:04:56 AM UTC-3, Julius Henry Marx wrote:

... turn on the unit via PS_ON + GND (instead of the blue cable) ...
I can confirm that shorting PS_ON + GND will *not* power up the unit.
There's an immediate 'click' but no power-on.

I'd be grateful for any input on this.

Thanks in advance.

JHM

Testing Astec AA21430 power supply
 

On 6/3/20 9:51 AM, Julius Henry Marx wrote:
I can confirm that shorting PS_ON + GND will*not* power up the unit.
There's an immediate 'click' but no power-on.

I'd be grateful for any input on this.

That's easy, ****ing with a defective power supply isn't worth killing
a mother board. Throw it in the trash.




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http:foxsmercantile.com