Pico PSU

[Daishi]

I'm considering changing my A1200 PSU (450W ATX PSU with a converter plug, overkill much) to the much more elegant internal Pico PSU. The reason I'm hesitant is that the spec of my Amiga is rather high so lots of internals.
Apollo 1240 (currently but may go 060) 64 MB RAM
RapidRoad USB
Indivision AGA MK2cr
Gotek
4xEIDE'99
8GB DOM (solid state HDD)
CF HDD
Squirrel SCSI + CD + HD
Does anyone have experience with a Pico PSU. I'm not worried about the wattage just reliability and heat dissipation.
It's either that or a Brick from C64PSU web site.

Thanks for any comments.

[Lord Aga]

Originally Posted by Daishi

Apollo 1240 (currently but may go 060) 64 GB RAM

That's a hell of a lot of RAM right there...

[trixster]

I use Pico PSUs for 3 systems - a Falcon with an 060 accelerator and 2 X68000s. I've had no problems whatsoever, all work absolutely fine with no active cooling for the psus.

[Daedalus]

Yeah, I've used a PicoPSU for a project before, and it works fine. I used the universal input type that also regulates 12V, so it could use any old laptop charger as a power source. However, I found that it didn't have particularly good noise suppression, and it was passing through noise from the old (Dell) PSU to the Amiga, resulting in some interference in the video and audio output. Changing to another main PSU sorted it.

I would recommend buying an official PSU though, as there are a lot of clones around that I wouldn't necessarily trust with a precious Amiga. I would wonder though if it wasn't simpler to get (or build) a compact external PSU based on one of the popular industrial PSU modules like a Mean Well. Even with a built-in PicoPSU, you'll still need the main power brick housed externally anyway.

[Hewitson]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

I would recommend buying an official PSU though, as there are a lot of clones around that I wouldn't necessarily trust with a precious Amiga. I would wonder though if it wasn't simpler to get (or build) a compact external PSU based on one of the popular industrial PSU modules like a Mean Well. Even with a built-in PicoPSU, you'll still need the main power brick housed externally anyway.

I would personally prefer a Mean Well or other similar solution;

- Doubt there are any fake Mean Well PSU's.

- More compact (due to not requiring two separate power supply units).

- I would assume better noise/EMI suppression.

And as a bonus, if it burns your house down or blows up your computer, at least you can say it Meant Well.

[McTrinsic]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Yeah, I've used a PicoPSU for a project before, and it works fine. [...] Even with a built-in PicoPSU, you'll still need the main power brick housed externally anyway.

Unless you get a HDPlex one, that is.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by McTrinsic

Unless you get a HDPlex one, that is.

I had to look them up because I'd never heard of them. Nice modules! But the ones that do mains AC are substantially bigger than their DC-DC ones and the PicoPSU, so I'd wonder about fitting them in the Amiga case. I've only had a very quick look though - is there a type I'm missing?

[Daishi]

Originally Posted by Lord Aga

That's a hell of a lot of RAM right there...

I have no idea what you are talking about! ;-)

[McTrinsic]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

[...] But the ones that do mains AC are substantially bigger than their DC-DC ones and the PicoPSU, so I'd wonder about fitting them in the Amiga case. I've only had a very quick look though - is there a type I'm missing?

Sorry, no, I was mixing up the intended use a bit here. I assumed the AC ones would fit in the external housing (A500,600,1200) or inside big-box amigas incl A1000.

I thought the very small footprint would allow nice solutions.

[mr.spiv]

Originally Posted by Daishi

I'm considering changing my A1200 PSU (450W ATX PSU with a converter plug, overkill much) to the much more elegant internal Pico PSU. The reason I'm hesitant is that the spec of my Amiga is rather high so lots of internals.
Apollo 1240 (currently but may go 060) 64 MB RAM
RapidRoad USB
Indivision AGA MK2cr
Gotek
4xEIDE'99
8GB DOM (solid state HDD)
CF HDD
Squirrel SCSI + CD + HD
Does anyone have experience with a Pico PSU. I'm not worried about the wattage just reliability and heat dissipation.
It's either that or a Brick from C64PSU web site.

Thanks for any comments.

I am running a setup like this - a600 but anyway works:
http://deadcoderssociety.net/pics/pico2.JPG and later also added a power switch
http://deadcoderssociety.net/pics/a600_picopsu.JPG