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By MrZ2u
#198055
I am having trouble finding a powersupply to suit my needs. I am working on a more functional ATO or Automatic Top Off controller for an aquarium.

The one you see here is a simple five volt relay board and the powersupply is an AC/DC making 5v/12v but only at 1a. Fine for the 5v side and in its present configuration on 12 as well. The pump I am presently using is not drawing but about 750ma max. I want to have it able to supply more amps to support a larger pump...while still remaining as small as possible. I can find plenty as big as a juice box but also with more amps than I might ever need...I figure 2a to 3a should suffice. Anyone seen any like that?

...or, know how to make one from scratch?


Image
By n1ist
#198060
Two other ideas come to mind:
- Use two power supplies - one for 5V and one for 12V. Tie their negative outputs together to the circuit ground, or keep them separate and use the 12v one only for the loads
- Use one larger 12V supply and add a switching buck regulator to drop the 12v down to 5V. I would guess that your 5V requirements are quite low so you may even be able to get away with a linear regulator
/mike
By MrZ2u
#198062
I neglected to mention the "later" part. This current set up is very manual. Plain old float switches to a relay and thats it. On/off with no intelligence. This is in a reef tank so there is a lot of motion so it does a lot of micro cycles each time it needs a top off. I am working on learning Arduino and the intent is to use optical fluid sensors and build in a buffer between cycles to prevent the aforementioned micro cycles. So, the arduino would power the relays and optical sensors just fine I believe but I still think I would need a dual output power supply wouldn't I?

This one might work but its external, I cannot tell its physical dimensions and I dont know if that 2a is shared or one and one.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11296