Handy Bench Power Supply - 2
The wiring of this power supply is pretty simple. Since the XBox power supply has an unusual proprietary connector, the first step is to cut off the connector and strip off the jacket. The cable has a number of conductors:
Black Conductors – the black wires are the common/ground connection
Yellow Conductors – the yellow wires are the switched 12 volt connection
Red Conductor – the single red conductor is the always-on 5 volt connection
Blue Conductor – the single blue (or possibly green) wire switches on the 12 volt supply when connected to +5V
I suggest using a 4-conductor connector that can handle 20 amps to connect the XBox supply to a pigtail of the panel; a long pigtail allows putting the XBox supply out of the way.
To control the 12 volt supply, I used an automotive switch with a built-in LED. In the switch I used, the LED designed for 12 volts is plenty bright when operated at 5 volts. The switch I used to shown to the right, which is available in several colors from Amazon and other suppliers. This switch is convenient because it mounts in a 1/2" round hole. Note that this switch is only switching a logic level; it does not need to handle the full current of the supply.
The schematic of the power panel is shown here. The colored dots are binding posts but in hind-sight, I might recommend banana jacks that will handle test leads with shrouded 4mm banana plugs.
The 12 volt binding posts can serve as anchor points for the +12 volt and common/ground wires. Common/ground will be connected to the common/ground binding posts and the switch's common LED connection. The power supply negative connections are common across the power supply. The power supply +output goes to the variable binding post.
The red 5 volt wire goes to the switch and the 5 volt binding post, and the blue enable wire goes only to the switch.
The panel for the power supply is laser-cut 3mm acrylic. It's designed for flatted-binding posts. The section above the meter is designed to screw into a thick LAC Ikea shelf.
