So far this part has been a great success. It's been great to be able to try out all this stuff before the new boat comes, both to confirm it works as expected, and to iron out the inevitable gotchas.
#Testing a mac mini power supply full#
Then, with a quick turn of the brightness knob, it's back at full brightness anytime I need it. When not in use I just dimmed the monitor all the way down and that cuts it's power draw down to nothing as well. Leaving it on not only gives full access to the nav computer for route planning, weather checking, tides and current, etc, but it also serves as an anchor alarm. I turned it on when I left Gloucester, and never turned it off until we left the boat in Florida. Most of the time it's closer to 1.5 than 3. It only draws between 1.5 and 3A 12VDC depending on what it's doing. It works great, and you can't argue with the power consumption. I would carefully remove the black plastic cover over the power supply connector on the logic board, and check each pin with a DVM for a +5V trickle voltage. I used a locking power connector from Radio Shack so it can't accidentally get unplugged which I think is a risk with the power jack shown in the directions above. I won't repeat the directions, but after an hour or two I had a Mini with a pig tail wire and connector hanging out of the place where the power cord used to attach. Plus, it will surely void the warranty on the Mini, so there is clear risk in undertaking this. This is very much a you-are-on-your-own project. Or at least don't come crying to me if you mess it up.
Unless you are comfortable doing such things, don't try this. You will be digging into your Mini, pretty much tearing it down to its bones, cutting wires, soldering wires, then putting it all back together. Now, before you go rushing off to do this yourself, a few words of caution. Here's the example that I used Mac Mini Power-Supply-Ectomy
#Testing a mac mini power supply how to#
A little web searching uncovered a number of step by step instructions on how to perform a power-supply-ectomy.
It turns out that the power supply that's built into the Mini produces 12VDC which couldn't be more convenient. It's also nice to have one less piece of equipment (the inverter) that the navigation system depends on for operation. In the case of the Mini, I don't think it's a lot of power savings, but every bit counts. Plus, getting rid of the Mini's power supply is another step towards greater efficiency, not to mention the losses in the inverter. Even with an inverter, 120VAC is less dependable than DC battery power. One thing I wanted to do was get the Mini running off 12VDC rather than 120VAC.