IDE drive power supply

This forum is for the discussion of the CFFA for Apple II project.

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Postby Dark Schneider » Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:48 pm

Before ordering a CFFA card (which I think is a wonderful thing) I was asking myself about supplying power to an IDE hard drive... someone could explain this part? thanks!
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Postby rich » Wed Nov 10, 2004 11:27 pm

That is a good question. Since very few people are actually using hard drives with my card, it has not been much of an issue. But if you want to use a desktop hard drive, you may need to come up with an separate supply for that drive. Having just checked the specs on a 160G drive that I use in my PC at WD site, I found that the peak spin up current for that drive is 2.2 Amps at 12v. That will definately exceed the Apple II supply rating. In general I have tried and have had good luck using some of the smaller "lap top" style 2.5" drives with the CFFA card. These drives are single 5volt drives and typically draw no more than 1Amp during spin up and about .5A for normal operation. A typical Apple //gs power supply can deliver about 4Amps at 5v. So you would have to measure your current usage to see if there is another .5A continuous available.
In general the physically smaller the drive the lower its power consumption.

If you really want to try a 3.5" desktop IDE drive, you may want to get a PC power supply to run it. It just wouldn't be a very elegant solution, but would keep your Apple's supply from overloading.

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Thanks,
Rich

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: rich on 2004-11-10 23:29 ]</font>
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Postby Dark Schneider » Thu Nov 11, 2004 6:22 am

I have an Apple IIe, so I'll need another power supply. By the way, I ordered the card from you the same (I'm Carlo from Italy) :smile: I'll use compactflash cards!

Thanks!
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Postby h.katz » Sat Nov 13, 2004 1:36 pm

I've never used one, but would a Buggie-power supply (a modified AT power supply that sits external to your Apple II - for those folk who've never heard of it :smile: ) be capable of supplying enough power for both the Apple // and an 3.5" IDE drive?

Personally, I'm very happy with using CF's in my interface card--I can't see myself really wanting to go back to a hard drive. :smile:

Later..................Howard
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IDE Drive Power Supply

Postby gsmcporet » Mon Apr 18, 2005 9:41 am

From the looks of the card you could use the IDE power supply connections to power a cooling fan while still using the flash card.
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IDE Drive Power Supply

Postby rich » Tue Apr 19, 2005 8:48 pm

I suppose you could use the IDE connector for a fan. If you were to try that, I would definately recommend you use the 12v connection with an appropriate fan. Using the 5v connection would be asking for trouble from electrical fan noise getting back into the CFFA card.

You may even have trouble using the 12v connection due to the added electrical fan noise. In any case test thoroughly!
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