Enginursday: 60 USB Chargers in Parallel
Here I've got 60 USB charger power supplies wired in parallel, just to see what happens.
Sometimes engineers need to take a break from crunching numbers and furrowing their brows at data sheets, and do something fun instead. Today I wanted to find out what would happen if I took 60 5V, 2A power supplies and wired them together. It can put out 120 amps at 5 volts! Will it melt a wire? What about a spoon? Can it melt a quarter? Can I arc weld with it? Or will the whole thing catch on fire? The only question remaining is what to do with them next.
It doesn't make a lot of sense to actually do this (there are better ways of generating so much current), and my methods are definitely suspect, but hey! It's an experiment. Have a look to see what happens!
And...ahem... don't try this at home.
Enjoy!
Marshall
this video, refreshingly, has everything I might have hoped for: SPARKs and FUN!
I do not plan to do this but it was interesting to see a bit of insanity and science at the same time. I have wondered about combining chargers like this. Very interesting. I think it would be wild to split this and do 1/2 in serial and the other in parallel. Thanks again for doing this.
If there was no sustained arc with 5v... how would those supplies hold up to being placed in series?
I'd like to try that! Ran out of time on this one though. I was thinking, I have 6 banks that can do 20A each, so why not 30V and 20A? That sounds about like a welder. And then maybe I could get that pickle luminescent too
Without knowing the breakdown voltage spec on the transformers in the power supplies, I would not recommend connecting 100 of them in series. You might see sparks where you don't want them. Even if the 500V @ 2A supply worked, it would be very dangerous to experiment with.
Connect a load with lots of sodium to it like a pickle or a hot dog.
Marshall noooo, we already have a fork shortage in this building.
Don't worry, I saved it for you. It's on your desk
XD
Sparkfun is the best!