![\"Here's](\"http:\/\/cwackduck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/203watt-PSU.jpg\")
<\/a>Here’s what showed up from Amazon. A knock-off XBOX 360 power supply; 203watt. Capable of outputting 16.5amps at 12volts.<\/p><\/div>\n
The original XBOX 360 power supply is a 203 watt model. \u00a0It outputs 12 volts, which is what my chosen printer takes to operate, and can give up to 16.5 amps. \u00a0 That should be ample power for a printer without a heated bed. \u00a0It *might* power a heated bed if the power draw is small enough but that’s something I’m not planning on testing right away.<\/p>\n
**Heads up: \u00a0There are 3 different kinds of XBOX 360 power supply. \u00a0203 watt, 175 watt, and a 150 watt. \u00a0Other than the label, there is an easy way to identify them. \u00a0I give an example later on in a graphic that makes it pretty clear.**<\/p>\n
I searched my local craigslist for adapters and had no luck, so I ordered mine from Amazon.com. \u00a0I checked and double-checked to make sure I was getting the 203 watt model as I had read some angry reviews of people expecting this model and getting a weaker one. \u00a0I have a link for the one that I purchased in my BOM, but here it is too: So, the PSU’s will likely come from a variety of sources if you buy them online. \u00a0Mine was a pretty convincing Chinese knock-off. \u00a0I’ve checked it all out. \u00a0For all intensive purposes it will work just fine. \u00a0The only difference is this doesn’t have a Microsoft logo or brand name on it anywhere. \u00a0No biggy. Aww, it comes with a free dust bunny!<\/p><\/div>\n A little loose ball of dust clearly visible through the vent holes. \u00a0Hmm. \u00a0No reason to live with that, right? \u00a0So I opened it up and cleaned it out. \u00a0Turns out, it needed it pretty badly.<\/p>\n This is where the fan butts-up against the heatsink.<\/p><\/div>\n Clearly it was in need of a cleaning…<\/p><\/div>\n You can click on those to see the larger versions in all their glory. \ud83d\ude00 So, for some people, they choose to just use the Power Supply as is. \u00a0They cut off the proprietary XBOX connector at the head, strip the wires, and have at it. \u00a0If you’re one of those people and this is your first time trying anything like this, I recommend you check this site out: While searching for more information on using the XBOX Adapter as a supply, I saw another forum user’s suggestion in this topic: This was the first thing I started testing on. \u00a0No one had tried this method before and I wanted to make sure it was going to be able to transfer the full power of the XBOX360 PSU through it. The XBOX-Slim adapter with the end cut off and inner wires stripped back and spread out.<\/p><\/div>\n So, it being an adapter, I knew it was going to be different on the inside than the original wiring. \u00a0And so it was. \u00a0The XBOX supply, as pointed out in the Instructables link I posted above, has 8 wires inside. \u00a0This adapter has only 6, and they’re all differently colored. \u00a0This is because the XBOX Slim doesn’t require as much power, so the adapter ignores the middle prongs of the XBOX head, sending its power through 4 wires instead of 6. \u00a0The other two smaller wires are the +5v and “Jumpstart”, or “COMM” lines. \u00a0After poking around with a multimeter a bit, I figured out where everything goes and made this fancy little graphic for visual people, like me.<\/p>\n This shows the pin-outs for both the XBOX360 Power Supply plug and the XBOX-Slim adapter. Also, the quick way to identify the power rating of an XBOX power supply.<\/p><\/div>\n ** Continuing from earlier: \u00a0On the right of the image above is the quick way to identify what power rating a given XBOX supply is capable of. \u00a0 If you google around a little, you can likely find actual pictures that make it clearer, but I think this should help. \u00a0No notch in the center, like mine shown in the bottom-center image, is 203 watts. \u00a0175 watts has a notch blocking the center horizontal section, and 150 watts has a notch blocking both the center and bottom horizontal sections. \u00a0**<\/p>\n Note that in this image, I’ve included what you should expect the color of the cables to be if you skip the XBOX Slim adapter and just cut the head off of the Power Supply directly. \u00a0While cleaning out the fan on my supply, I double-checked the color of the wires going to the board and they are the same in my Chinese version of the adapter as they are in the official Microsoft adapter. \u00a0I can’t promise yours will look the same so always check your wires with a multimeter.<\/p>\n So after I’d figured out which prongs go to what wires, I decided to wire it up and see if I could get the power supply to come to life after it was plugged into the XBOX Slim adapter. \u00a0First, I noticed I had done a crummy job and removing the outer wiring jacket and had cut into the colored jackets on the individual wires. \u00a0So, just to be safe, I used heat-shrink tubing to cover the small holes I’d made…<\/p>\n Heat Shrink tubing from Harbor Freight has been incredibly useful for more than a few of my recent projects. I trust it to hold on more securely in the long-haul than regular electrical tape, and it looks more professional on a finished product, too.<\/p><\/div>\n So, that small inconvenience out of the way, I started hooking things up. Here’s what you’ll need to do to prep the wires in the XBOX Slim Adapter for use.<\/p><\/div>\n To test your power supply, you just need to follow the instructions in the graphic above. \u00a0With your multimeter, connect the Black Test Lead to the Green Wires and the Red Test Lead to the White Wires. \u00a0Now, using a gator clip or some other way of shorting the wires (NOT YOUR BARE HANDS, DUMBY) connect the Red and the Black wires together.<\/p>\n Once wired up, if everything is good, the Orange Standby light on the PSU should turn green and you should show a steady 12 volts on the multimeter display.<\/p><\/div>\n 12.24 Volts under no load.<\/p><\/div>\n And that’s all there was to that! \u00a0When I disconnect the +5v and the COMM, the power goes out and the voltage slowly discharges as the capacitors drain. \u00a0Connect them again, and the power comes back right away. \u00a0Seems to me to be a successful test!<\/p>\n So, to finish off the adapter now, until it’s ready to use, I just tinned the ends with solder to keep them from fraying and did a little more heat-shrink\u00a0wrapping.<\/p>\n I tinned the ends to keep the two wires together, to keep them from fraying, and to make hooking the ends up to anything easier later.<\/p><\/div>\n
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\nAnother thing I quickly noticed… \u00a0This was very much a “used” power supply. \u00a0It was listed as “new”. \u00a0Now, let’s be honest here. \u00a0For the price I paid, I wasn’t expecting new. \u00a0As long as it worked, I’d be happy. \u00a0But what gave it away for me was this:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
\nSo, I took the PSU outside and hit it with vigorous amounts of compressed air. \u00a0In my haste, I didn’t take an “after” picture, but suffice it to say it looked MUCH better. \u00a0Fortunately it was loose dust (not owned by a former smoker) and it cleaned off really well. \u00a0Dust ball removed, I put it all back together and it’s functioning well.<\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.instructables.com\/id\/How-to-turn-an-X-Box-360-PSU-into-a-12v-lab-PSU\/
\n<\/a>
\nThis is a great tutorial on exactly what you need to do to use just the adapter as a power supply. \u00a0If you go this route, I must suggest you put a switch in between the +5v line and what he calls the “jumpstart” line. \u00a0This will give you an easy way to turn the supply on and off, and keeps it from being “always on”, unless that’s what you’re going for.<\/p>\n
\nhttps:\/\/groups.google.com\/forum\/?fromgroups=#!searchin\/deltabot\/xbox\/deltabot\/suRLdd-yPN0\/-ux5FeI_XhMJ
\n<\/a>He had found an adapter that converted the original XBOX360 power supply to the newer XBOX360 Slim models. \u00a0 More importantly, the adapter had the female side of the proprietary XBOX connector. \u00a0This appealed to me for cable-management reasons. \u00a0I could simply plug in my adapter instead of having to solder or bolt the adapter directly to my controller board. \u00a0 So, I looked it up. \u00a0For $4.00 I thought, “Eh, what the hell.” and added it to my cart. \u00a0It’s also in the BOM, but here’s the direct link from Amazon.com:
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\nSo, first things first, I cut the XBOX-Slim side of the Adapter off.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
\nNow, as per the Instructables tutorial, to get power coming out of this thing there are three basic steps. \u00a0Combine both negative wires into one. \u00a0Combine both positive wires into one. \u00a0Then short the +5v and the COMM lines together.
\nThe XBOX360 power supply has a feature built in that only lets it turn on when it senses it’s plugged into something. \u00a0It accomplishes this by using the COMM line and the +5v. \u00a0The COMM line wants to see a steady 5 volts coming through it. \u00a0If it’s not present it will not allow the power supply to turn on. \u00a0So, all you have to do to meet that requirement is connect the +5v line to the COMM line. \u00a0In the Instructables \u00a0tutorial, the kid just twists these two lines together and calls it a day. \u00a0This will result in a power supply that’s always on. \u00a0That’s not quite what I’m after here so I will be using a simple switch in my design so I can turn the power on and off easily.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>