More on Fav Designs - switchmode power supplies

[Steve Jones]

> [Dave Halliday]  I think that the question is more one of using
> computer surplus supplies and these have been designed without analog
> considerations.  With PC Clone supplies selling for $20 new, it would
> be tempting to be able to re-work one of them to give +/- 15 volts at
> a couple of amps - maybe a good design project...

Is this feasible at all?  I'm philosophically very
much in favor of gleaning what ever we can from the mass
manufacturing machine; let it work to *our* advantage once
in a while.  Since they're cranking out enough of these
things to make them dirt cheap, it'd be excellent if they
could be adapted to our purposes; even if that adaptation
is a little convoluted (I think I have a couple of blown
PC PSs in my basement right now).  Or would one still
spend more in the process than on a from-scratch approach.

steve - the scavenger!