Is it possible use two laptop chargers with one Pico PSU for a gaming PC?

[Elf_Knight]

So basically I want to mod the Fractal Define Nano S to have an ATX moherboard. I know I need to change some of the panels and stuff but then I wouldn't be able to have enough room for an atx PSU. I might try to fit the Corsair SF 600 watt mini PSU in there but then I would have to mod it further. So basically I was thinking of copying this laptop I saw in a video of Pax Prime that had two laptop chargers each with 300 watts. On Ebay there is a laptop charger with 250 watts. I wanted to come up with a way to allow a Pico PSU to pull 400-500 watts from 2 of the chargers at the same time if that is possible. The idea would be to save space on the inside of the case. Not sure if that's possible or not but I wanna try this mod in the summer. Any thoughts on getting this to work? Has anyone done something similar before? Many thanks in advance!!

 

[13thmonkey]

the pcio psu also has to be able to manage 400-500W, I don't think there are any that can do that.

 

[boosted1g]

"Its a bold stategy Cotton, lets see if it pays off for em"

Being serrious though...2 250w laptop adapters from ebay sounds like quite a risky endeavor.
Bottom line you cant have small size AND high performanace you have to compromise somwhere. There are plenty of cases that support full GPUs and full ATX psus that are smaller than a mid tower, just not Define nano small.

 

[bliq]

if you're willing to hack up the case to fit in a full size ATX motherboard, what's a little more to be able to add a SFX PSU? What you'd want to do is probably relocate the PSU to the front by putting some metal bracing up there and cutting holes for the screws and the exhaust fan. Just put a plate in where the old PSU goes.

 

[Solandri]

This is one of those "if you have to ask, you shouldn't do it" situations. Theoretically, it's possible. But since you can't buy something to do it for you, you'd have to build it yourself. Meaning you're an electrical engineer and wouldn't be asking the question in the first place.

I'd also strongly discourage buying these high-Wattage AC adapters off eBay. Anything over about 180 Watts is probably an unlicensed product straight from a Chinese factory. In the U.S. and EU, electrical devices like this need to comply with government regulations for safety and to limit RF emissions which can interfere with radio, TV, WiFi, and emergency (police/fire) radios. The ones from China could cause a host of RF problems, or even represent a fire hazard (the ones I've see are very cheaply made).

PicoPSUs are able to work at lower wattages because the waste heat from the AC-to-DC power conversion is small enough to be dissipated by simple radiation, or with a small fan mounted to the power brick. But once you start getting to higher wattages, even a 80%-90% efficient conversion results in 10%-20% waste heat. For 400-500 Watts like you're proposing, this is about 40-100 Watts. That's as much heat as a modern CPU under full load, and you need a similar power fan to dissipate that much heat. Which is why computer PSUs are as big as they are.

You may be tempted to get three PicoPSUs (and three power bricks); one for powering the GPU, one for powering the CPU, and one for powering everything else. But powering with three independent power sources like this may result in small voltage differentials causing unwanted current. e.g. Your GPU PicoPSU is delivering 11.9V while your motherboard PicoPSU is delivering 12.2V (the voltage delivered drops slightly with load). So now you've got a 0.3V difference between the GPU and motherboard, causing current to flow between the two. This could cause system instability or even fry your hardware, so I wouldn't recommend it. You'd need to add some sort of voltage regulation to the system, which gets back to "an electrical engineer wouldn't be asking this question."

I suspect most EEs would be reluctant to offer DIY instructions over the internet. 400-500 Watts and circuitry which modifies voltage can easily kill you if you screw something up. The reason 3.3, 5, and 12V are relatively safe is because the voltage isn't high enough to create enough current to kill you. But once you start messing with modifying the voltage, all bets are off. If you really want to pursue this and have an EE friend, see if they're willing to help in person. Otherwise, do as bliq suggests and go with a regular (but smaller) PSU.

 

[bliq]

I actually am an engineer. Don't do it. Trust me.

 

[Elf_Knight]

Sorry for the stupid question! I will save up for SFX PSU and rig it up to the top of the case somewhere. The modular cables should help also. Just wondered what I could do to save space. Ah well. Probably for the best that it won't work. Save money and time and components. Cheers!