Can someone help me figure out how to re-purpose a PC voltage Reg Card? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: rwgast_lowlevellogicdesin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2016, 07:08:46 pm
content: So I have been rebuilding an old 15v PSU, I added some linear reg and other things. I happend to come across an old gateway server which had this really weird card on the mobo, up near the 400mhz Xeon cpu. It is a voltage regulator.. and I have no idea what kind of card slot it went in to, maybe a proprietary gateway thing, im not sure ive never owned a xeon server system. At first I had hoped it had multiple rails on it but I think it may just be a 9.11v regulator. Either way it looks like it puts out clean power. The model number is DELTA12S1555AI have found a bunch of refurbished ones for sale, but I cant find any information on it including what type of car connector it is! I rang it out, figured out the ground pins but thats about all. Unfourtantely the PC was dead the mobo had bad caps and I just trashed it and kept this card and the SCSI array. Now I wish I would have repaired the mobo just so I could have tested the signal on this card, it has test pads EVERYWHERE.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2016, 07:17:45 pm
content: Don't know what the pinouts are, but they are the CPU low voltage converter. Xeon servers of that era, adding a second CPU included the CPU plus the power module. The output should be less than 9 volts, either 3.3 or a 1.x, or maybe both.

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 04, 2016, 07:45:32 pm
content: Look up the datasheet for the 8 pin SMD ICs.The power for those chips can be traced back to the main DC input.One thing I noticed, no large caps on the regulator board, so you'll need to add some to whatever you plug it into.

author: rwgast_lowlevellogicdesin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2016, 08:12:32 pm
content: Ya my next step was to look up all the chips, there really faded and I need to get them under a magnifier with a bright light. I was hoping someone actually knew what kind of socket that goes in to I figured that would help me easily figure out the pin out. Ya the PSU has some pretty big caps in it 6MF plus 4700uF caps I have added. I just saw a bunch of LT and AD opamps and other chips along with those toroids and figured it mus put out pretty clean power!

author: station240
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 04, 2016, 10:55:24 pm
content: I vaguely remembered some of these modules being some sort of standard.Sure enough there is for Xeon VRMshttp://download.intel.com/design/Xeon/guides/29864601.pdf

author: rwgast_lowlevellogicdesin
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2016, 06:01:13 am
content: Im going to take a look at that pdf thanks!What is VID? Maybe i can simulate it for the card? I have a feeling after i read that PDF and what was said above this post i migjt end up cutting the toroids off becuase the thing is either more trouble than its worth or just doesnt do anything id hoped it dod.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2016, 08:15:09 am
content: If nothing else, you have some nice beefy low voltage transistors, low-ohm current sense resistors, ceramic caps maybe, and uh, not sure what kind of cores the inductors are -- if the back side is white, they're #26, which is utterly boring, but whatever. I would imagine control is SPI or I2C, or whatever the PC equivalent is called (SMBus?).Interesting, just noticed the SCR. Which explains the fuses. It's got a crowbar (overvoltage protection) circuit, too.Tim

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2016, 11:08:12 am
content: It's a low voltage, high-current switching regulator. According to the PDF linked above, 1.1V to 1.85V in 25mV increments at up to 81A.