A few T200 + Power Supply questions

General Discussion
1

Hi guys.

So we ordered a T200 thruster with Thruster Commander + ESC. Setup works as it should, but as you know the T200 is quite “current hungry” at higher RPM’s. What I used for the prototype setup, was to “hack” a 500W (almost never used) ATX Power Supply from a PC tower.

The hack consisted of using all the +12V wires @ max 30 Amp, so I connected everything and the T200 spins happily in either direction. The Keysight multimeter I use at work is fused at 10A max measurements, but when I run full speed on the T200, I get up to ~14 Amps which equals about 170ish Watts, and the PSU simply shuts down after some seconds, even if it should be able to deliver around 360 Watt (max). After 1 minute cool down and a power off from the 230V, everything starts up again.
Not sure I wired something wrong, or could that be normal behaviour from an ATX power supply for some reason?

I know it isnt normal to run full speed with the T200 at all, but can you think of a smart way to limit the potentiometer so you can max turn it halfway or less, so you dont turn the T200 on to full speed by accident?

Another question: Howcome the wires on the T200 are so thin compared to the thick red + black wires on the ESC?

If we get this little project up and running we would most likely invest in a more professional power supply up to 20V, but so far everyting is at a prototype stage.

2

Does it do this when you are full throttle one way or when you either stop or change directions?

If its the later, put a diode inline as the breaking of the ESC and coils in the motor causes the voltage to almost double on the power supply and might trigger a safety that shunts the output.

Have a read on this thread which explains this in more details: New Basic ESC r3 on power supply (no batteries)