Power distributor

As I mentioned in the article about the Fusebox, I have a Fat Man transformer in a central place that powers a lot of machines that normally require a wallwart. So instead of a gazilion wall warts, I have one Fat Man plus a few cables running in a starshaped network, with FuseBoxes in between.

In my dungeon I occasionally need low power supplies (sometimes AC, mostly DC) for testing my homebrewn products and for powering the gadgets from Achatz or from US companies (the US wall warts can only be fitted here with a hammer).
So I made a small box that delivers the following voltages and levels of protection:

Voltage	Polarity	Filtered	Group	Fused at	Connector	Colour
9	AC	N/A	Raw	100 mA	Barrel, 2.4 mm	Metal
9	DC	No	I	300 mA	Banana	Yellow
12	DC	Yes	II	300 mA	Barrel, 2.1 mm	Metal
12	DC	Yes	II	300 mA	Banana	Red
12	DC	Yes	II	300 mA	Banana	Red

Group II consists of a fully rectified set of outputs with one collective 4700 uF capacitor.

To the right, you see the circuit drawing for the power distributor. The switch is there to cut off power immediately in case that would be required during an experiment, or for at night when no gadgest need power. The outputs are:

unprocessed raw 9 Volts AC via a 2.4 mm barrel connector, fused at 100 mA
rectified but unfiltered 9 Volts DC via a set of yellow/black banana plugs, fused at 300 mA
rectified and filtered (4700 uF and 100 nF) 12 Volts DC via two sets of red/black banana plugs, fused at 300 mA each
rectified and filtered (4700 uF and 100 nF) 12 Volts DC via a 2.1 mm barrel connector, fused at 300 mA

The drawing is incomplete since there is also a LED connected from 12 Volts DC to ground via a 1 k resistor to drain the voltage of the capacitor when the power is removed and to signal 'Power present' when all is OK.

Page created on 2 October 2006 and