troypiggo
26-10-2011, 02:58 PM
G'day guys. I've bought some bits and pieces to put together a bit of a 12V power supply hub for my gear. Just need some advice to confirm how I'm attacking this little project.
12V power will come into this hub from a 12V power supply. On this hub I'll have 4 RCA sockets, into which I'll plug in power for mount (EQ6), imaging camera (QSI583ws), dew controller (Kendrick Digifire 10), and have one spare for future additions if it arises. The dew controller coming off this will power all dew heaters, and has 2 constant 12V ports that I'll use for primary fan and lightbox power as needed. So I don't need variable power supply from this hub itself.
Based on peter_4059's prototype that I'm cheating this off, I want an LED to display if power is running through that RCA, and a fuse to protect the gear. Fuse blows, LED goes out so I know where the problem is. Plus it makes it look more hi-tech :D
The dew controller requires an 8A fuse if you want to run all the supplies off it. The others I'll use, say, 2A fuses or whatever is appropriate but I think that's about it IIRC.
Refer to the attached sketch I just knocked up. Please excuse me if I've gone against any and all electronic circuitry diagram conventions, I don't know what they are. But I used pretty colours instead :D Hoping it makes sense what my intentions are. That's the background, now for some questions.
1. Guess I'd better ask if the wiring all looks correct for the above?
2a. Wire thicknesses. I understand that the cable leading into the box will have to be pretty thick. Refer (1) in green on sketch. I bought some heavy duty speaker cable WS1708 from Jaycar for this. Will that suffice do you think?
2b. If I were to put the 8A dew controller first in the series there, and split the heavy duty cable (2) into that first RCA socket and fuse, could I drop the wire thicknesses after that one? I have some hookup wire for that. Or should I keep the thick wire all the way through. Just that it's more difficult for me, inexperienced, to solder to sockets etc.
12V power will come into this hub from a 12V power supply. On this hub I'll have 4 RCA sockets, into which I'll plug in power for mount (EQ6), imaging camera (QSI583ws), dew controller (Kendrick Digifire 10), and have one spare for future additions if it arises. The dew controller coming off this will power all dew heaters, and has 2 constant 12V ports that I'll use for primary fan and lightbox power as needed. So I don't need variable power supply from this hub itself.
Based on peter_4059's prototype that I'm cheating this off, I want an LED to display if power is running through that RCA, and a fuse to protect the gear. Fuse blows, LED goes out so I know where the problem is. Plus it makes it look more hi-tech :D
The dew controller requires an 8A fuse if you want to run all the supplies off it. The others I'll use, say, 2A fuses or whatever is appropriate but I think that's about it IIRC.
Refer to the attached sketch I just knocked up. Please excuse me if I've gone against any and all electronic circuitry diagram conventions, I don't know what they are. But I used pretty colours instead :D Hoping it makes sense what my intentions are. That's the background, now for some questions.
1. Guess I'd better ask if the wiring all looks correct for the above?
2a. Wire thicknesses. I understand that the cable leading into the box will have to be pretty thick. Refer (1) in green on sketch. I bought some heavy duty speaker cable WS1708 from Jaycar for this. Will that suffice do you think?
2b. If I were to put the 8A dew controller first in the series there, and split the heavy duty cable (2) into that first RCA socket and fuse, could I drop the wire thicknesses after that one? I have some hookup wire for that. Or should I keep the thick wire all the way through. Just that it's more difficult for me, inexperienced, to solder to sockets etc.