Connecting multiple drives to only one adapter/transformer

StefanL · Aug 15, 2023

Hi everyone, I have several external disk drives, all from the same manufacturer and all using the
same type of transformer - input 220V, output 12V, 1.5A, 18W. Currently I plug them all in a multiple socket
plug the length of a Dachshund

) and it looks just horrible. Is there a way to have only one transformer powering
all the drives at the same time? If so, what should I look for?
Any suggestion is much appreciated. Thank you!

Avo Mk8 · Aug 15, 2023

Say each drive requires 1.5Amps (18watts), then multiply the number of drives you have by those numbers to get the minimum size of power supply. Eg if your Dachshund is six PSU's long, you would need a 6 x 1.5A = 9A supply.
Round it up to 10A to be safe. So a 12V 10A (120W) power supply. But do the sum for the number you have.
I suggest you need a proper stabilised and filtered supply, not one for LED's etc, so you have a choice of a computer type "in-cord" type plastic box such as:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adapter-100-240V-120Watt-Transformer-Monitors-Black/dp/B08K4BGKM3

or you could use a chassis mount metal enclosed type, which you would need to put in a housing of some sort to protect the live mains connections - this is a higher power one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Redrex-Universal-Regulated-Switching-Transformer/dp/B01MRSAT39/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?

Appreciate you are in Romania, so you would find local equivalents.

There is a possibility of conducted electromagnetic interference between the drives (because they would all be connected directly together, where previously they had the filters in the individual power units) and if that did happen it might be quite expensive to add filters between them all.
You also have the possibility of simultaneously blowing up all the drives, if you have a wiring problem, or if the power supply fails in such a way as to put excessive voltage on the output. Dachshund redundancy can be a good thing!

DPG · Aug 15, 2023

Avo Mk8 said:
Say each drive requires 1.5Amps (18watts), then multiply the number of drives you have by those numbers to get the minimum size of power supply. Eg if your Dachshund is six PSU's long, you would need a 6 x 1.5A = 9A supply.
Round it up to 10A to be safe. So a 12V 10A (120W) power supply. But do the sum for the number you have.
I suggest you need a proper stabilised and filtered supply, not one for LED's etc, so you have a choice of a computer type "in-cord" type plastic box such as:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adapter-100-240V-120Watt-Transformer-Monitors-Black/dp/B08K4BGKM3
or you could use a chassis mount metal enclosed type, which you would need to put in a housing of some sort to protect the live mains connections - this is a higher power one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Redrex-Universal-Regulated-Switching-Transformer/dp/B01MRSAT39/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?

Appreciate you are in Romania, so you would find local equivalents.

There is a possibility of conducted electromagnetic interference between the drives (because they would all be connected directly together, where previously they had the filters in the individual power units) and if that did happen it might be quite expensive to add filters between them all.
You also have the possibility of simultaneously blowing up all the drives, if you have a wiring problem, or if the power supply fails in such a way as to put excessive voltage on the output. Dachshund redundancy can be a good thing!

Always have a backup dog

. Good advice.

StefanL · Aug 15, 2023

Avo Mk8 said:
Say each drive requires 1.5Amps (18watts), then multiply the number of drives you have by those numbers to get the minimum size of power supply. Eg if your Dachshund is six PSU's long, you would need a 6 x 1.5A = 9A supply.
Round it up to 10A to be safe. So a 12V 10A (120W) power supply. But do the sum for the number you have.
I suggest you need a proper stabilised and filtered supply, not one for LED's etc, so you have a choice of a computer type "in-cord" type plastic box such as:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adapter-100-240V-120Watt-Transformer-Monitors-Black/dp/B08K4BGKM3
or you could use a chassis mount metal enclosed type, which you would need to put in a housing of some sort to protect the live mains connections - this is a higher power one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Redrex-Universal-Regulated-Switching-Transformer/dp/B01MRSAT39/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?

Appreciate you are in Romania, so you would find local equivalents.

There is a possibility of conducted electromagnetic interference between the drives (because they would all be connected directly together, where previously they had the filters in the individual power units) and if that did happen it might be quite expensive to add filters between them all.
You also have the possibility of simultaneously blowing up all the drives, if you have a wiring problem, or if the power supply fails in such a way as to put excessive voltage on the output. Dachshund redundancy can be a good thing!

Wow, thank you for such a detailed explanation! Much appreciated. The problem is that I have already 12
hard disk drives and this number is only going to grow as I store large amounts of data. On top of that some drives are back-ups, so I have duplicate data just to be sure I don't lose it. I will keep in mind all your comments and decide what to do. The thought of blowing them all at once suddenly makes the Dachshund cute after all!!