I'm trying to power a matrix of 64 servo motors through a board via a single power supply (it's separated from the Arduino board so I wont fry it). I've got the board and calculated the power required as 6v / 500mA x 64, so roughly 6v / 32amps. I purchased a power supply online that will supply 6v @ 60amps (so should be more than enough amps for the motors I'm hooking up). It arrived as a single unit without cables, etc and a slightly confusing (to a rookie) front panel that I certainly don't want to hook up incorrectly. Can anyone help point me in the right direction?
My guess would be to first buy a mains lead, clip the end connector off, and screw the wires into the appropriate terminals (on the left in the photo). The manual states to then link the mains to the appropriate voltage on the 3-way terminal block on the right (which is 240V as Im in the UK). How would this be done? Just a single heavy gauge wire from the live block on the left to the 240V block on the right? After that, I'm a little confused on what to hook up to what to get power from the unit to my board @ 6V.
Sorry for these rookie questions, just don't want to be electrocuted!
Short jumper goes from the top screw (220/240V) to the center screw (COM) on the right to set the input voltage for 220-240V.
If you look at the schematic in the manual it shows a dotted line jumper from +S to '+', form -S to '-' and from INT to PROG. Install those three jumpers.
+S and -S are the 'sense' inputs for the voltage regulation. For critical applications with long wires you connect the sense inputs at the load end of the wires rather than the supply end. That way the regulator can compensate for power loss in the supply cables.
PROG sets the voltage and INT is the connection to the Voltage Adjust pot in the front panel. You hook them together to use the Voltage Adjust pot.
thanks so much for the response! Seems to all make sense the way you described it. Is there a specific wire gauge you would recommend not going under for all these jumpers or does it matter?
For the power selection jumper I'd use between "12 to 18 gage" which is what is used in 110v house wiring (12 or 14) and in most extension cords (16 or 18). Use a wire from an old extension cord or power cable.
The current in the sense wires is very low so you don't have to worry much about voltage drop. The IN/PROG jumper is just a control signal so the current will be quite low there, too. Any meduim-duty hook-up wire should work and because of the low voltages it is not too important for the wire to be insulated as long as the jumpers are so short they would be hard to accidentally connect to. If you want to get REALLY fancy you can buy some terminal block jumpers which are stamped out of sheet metal. They have holes or notches for the screws and are just the right spacing to fit adjacent screws: http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts-kws/cinch-connectors-terminal-blocks-accessories-jumpers
Thanks again for the help. I will post a photo before I plug her in just to be sure!
Regarding the mains plug, does it matter if the mains plug is fused? A lot of the mains plugs I've got lying around are fused with fuses far lower than the power supply will want to draw and distribute.
Mains plug will need relavant fuse. Device is 360W with soft-start so it'll be fine with 5A fuse (it has its own fuse anyway, the plug fuse is to protect the mains cable really!)
A lot of the mains plugs I've got lying around are fused with fuses far lower than the power supply will want to draw
Remember that if the unit outputs 32 amps at 6V the unit is not going to draw 32 amps from the mains because that is at 220V. As mark says 6 * 32 = 192 Watts of power. Assuming the supply is 80% efficient that is 240 Watts it has to draw from the mains. If you have 220V input then the current will be 240 / 220 = 1.09 amps. So any fuse will do, even a 3A one.
Amazing, thanks for all the replies. It's even starting to make a bit of sense in my head! As soon as I get my hands on the materials needed to do this, I will post a photo up (no 12 gauge wires around at the moment but Im hunting tomorrow).
ok, i think i am ready to ramble. At closer look it appeared that the supply actually already had the jumper blocks attached to it in the combination johnwasser mentioned, so I just left them as was (see photos). I am using a mains plug with a 13amp fuse (but as mentioned by grumpy mike I suppose that isn't a factor with this voltage), and 12 gage (i think) stranded silver wire for the power hookups. Anyone see any red lights?
Well, I just tried plugging it in and the output light fails to come on. Nothing blew, but after about 10 seconds it starts smelling like its going to fail. (I unplugged it). Any ideas on what it might be?
