Fanless power supply?

[steve_g]

I'm on my 4th Bot control computer in the last 7 years... This last one has lasted the majority of that time. What I did to make my computers last longer in my dusty environment was to build my computer with components sitting naked under the shop desk lid... no case, and easy to blow out the dust every day.

This AM I was greeted with a ball of flame when I turned on my computer... to make a long story short, even though I had faithfully blown out the dust in the power supply, the fan bearings froze up...

The question I have is...

I purchased a pricey "industrial" fanless powersupply. Does anyone have any experience with one of these? My shop can get very hot in the Texas summer heat and I'm concerned that ambient temperature + the heat it generates will be more than it can dissipate. Any thoughts?

SG

[myxpykalix]

Is this something you could use?
http://www.xoxide.com/watcoolcas1.html?location=topnav

water cooled..

[adrianm]

That's why I run small form factor PC's on the 'bot as they have external power supplies (like a large laptop transformer) rather than a built-in PSU with a big fan.

[dlcw]

That's why I run small form factor PC's on the 'bot as they have external power supplies (like a large laptop transformer) rather than a built-in PSU with a big fan.

Adrian, my small brain doesn't understand the term "small form factor PC". What is that? Sounds interesting.

[steve_g]

It looks like I can buy a small form factor PC for not much more than I paid for the fanless power supply. I'm rethinking this...

SG

http://www.logicsupply.com/categories/fanless_computers

[coryatjohn]

Maybe you could squeeze that fanless computer into your controller box. That would be a cool solution.

[adrianm]

Adrian, my small brain doesn't understand the term "small form factor PC". What is that? Sounds interesting.

Basically it's a normal PC but in a very small box, most are designed for use in living rooms so they have no fans at all to keep the noise down.

They have very limited space for expansion cards (if any at all) but that's not usually an issue as a 'bot controller.

The one I use at the moment is a Dell Optiplex SFF but I used to run a Shuttle which is tiny.

[steve_g]

Well... I'm finally back up and running after my computer cratered. My surmise that the power supply was the issue was wrong... At least after the "big bang" there were more issues than just the power supply. I was intrigued by Adrian's solution that has the power supply as a separate "brick" remote from the computer. The link below is what I went with.
http://www.frys.com/product/7578696?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Not included in the price is a solid state hard disk drive, memory, a power cord and the operating system.

This tiny computer is powerful! It boots up windows 7 pro in less than 15 seconds. Since the target market for this computer is running digital billboards, it only has HDMI outputs. If all you have is an old VGA display, this will be an additional expense.

Since this was a clean install I decided to up grade to the latest control software... I basically had a good install experience. Some strange or unexpected results can likely be attributed to "old man syndrome". You have to read the messages carefully... However It was unclear to me whether I should choose the PRT or PRS option since my PRT has the upgraded 2XX controller. Also if there is a way to get an Icon to Zero my second Z (A axis) I haven't found it yet. Initial cuts in Medex seem to be smoother though.

Tomorrow will involve an 8 hour 3D run for a mirror frame, this will surely test the new hardware and software!

SG

[Joseph clements]

What was total price $

[steve_g]

Joseph...

Bare bones box......................................... $179.00
4 gig of memory (SODIM)........................... $ 35.00
64 gig MSATA Solid State HDD ................ $ 75.00
OEM Windows 8 (had I needed it) ............. $ 99.00
HD display with HDMI input ........................ $199.00

My Bare Bones box has the Celeron CPU which is more than adequate to run the Bot... I use it as a dedicated machine and don't try to do any design work on it. You can get it all the way up to an i7 processer.

This version of the NUC box can run up to 16 gig of laptop type (SODIM) memory..... 4 is great for running the ShopBot.

I don't save my jobs on the control computer, but down load them from a mirrored 1 terabyte network drive, so a small HDD works for me. The 64 gig HDD is half full after loading the operating system! The MSATA drives that this system requires are a newer wrinkle in storage and were hard for me to get my hands on locally. I have a lot of wholesale and retail suppliers available to me in the Dallas area and it still took me the better part of a day to physically get my hands on the solid state drive. The price I paid was more per gig than I should have paid... but that supplier knew what a MSATA drive was and had one in stock.

I reused my operating system license from the old computer... A 64 bit version of Windows 7 Pro. If I had bought a new operating system I would have bought the OEM version of Win 8.

The output of this box is HDMI... This means that the sound is incorporated in the video output. If you want sound, you need a display with the speakers built in. A 1080P HD TV works great and there are lots of options under $200.00.

I hope this gives you an idea of what a system to run the bot will cost... A lot depends on what you might happen to have already and how you plan to use the system. I personally have less than $300.00 in the system but it could have gone close to $1000.00 had I chosen other options.

A side note... the wireless module is not included and I didn't price it. My experience with wireless mice and keyboards is less than satisfactory.

SG