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I'm not asking for specific products or places to purchase them, I'm asking if such products exist and, if not, why, considering we have modular power supplies for the PC market.

I've done some research, but I can't figure out if there are modular power supplies on the market like the ones I use for my PC, which power different devices with different voltages but for non-PC devices.

I currently have a myriad of electronic devices, again computer-related, such as routers, firewalls, switches, mini-PCs, NAS, etc., and each has its dedicated power supply, resulting in clutter and cable hell.

I'd like to use something similar to what we have in the PC world, but with 'interchangeable' and 'normal' connectors, not tied to the motherboard's connectors.

I don't think I'm the only one with this problem, but I don't see any around, so maybe I'm missing something, and there are impediments to making them (although I honestly don't see the difference with a PC power supply).

Any help understanding if this is a solvable issue is welcome.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ 3rd party testing of electronic devices usually involves a testing specific supply, so the manufacturer of the device will have to provide one for that reason and using a different one would mean the product no long conforms to EMC standards. Also, if you let average Joe hook up some generic supply directly to various household devices, a whole lot of devices would get destroyed and a whole lot of houses would burn down... \$\endgroup\$
    – Lundin
    Commented Jul 5 at 11:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ yes there are .... your phone uses one \$\endgroup\$
    – jsotola
    Commented Jul 5 at 17:56

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I'm not going to answer directly your question (I don't know such a product, but haven't searched for it either), but I will explain why, in my opinion, designing such a product seems complicated :

  1. There are many different voltages involved:
  • A USB hub often needs 5V
  • a switch might need 5V, 12V, 24V, 48V, ...
  • a PoE Switch needs often either 48V or 57V (or something else and converts to 48V or 57V internally)
  • a laptop requires some precise DC voltage, but which one depends on the model (often 15V, 18V, 19.5V, 20V, ...)
  • recent laptops, and other recent equipment require USB-C, often in "high power" versions (ie voltages higher than 5V, that need to be negotiated)
  • ...
  1. There are many different connectors involved:

Even supposing you can generate all the needed voltages at once with enough power : each device has a different plug (barrel plugs are particularly tricky, with different sizes, and the + sometimes inside, sometimes outside). So you would need plenty of custom cables.

  1. Very error prone:

If you do any mistake, and put for example 24V on a 12V device, you are likely to destroy it.

So far, the closest things I have seen are:

  • USB-C standard (including most recent laptops, phones, tablets, but also many other devices like charging of keyboards, ...)
  • PoE: power over ethernet : using the ethernet switch to provide power in addition to data over the ethernet cables (used to power other switches, wifi access points, phones, cameras, ...)
  • "universal" power supplies for laptops : you have a switch to select voltage among half a dozen voltages, and about a dozen different connectors. Make sure you use the correct voltage and polarity, or your fry your computer.
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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for the answer and the insight, really appreciate it. But aren't the problems you list the same PC power supplies already solved? I mean, my PC PSU has +2.8 V, +3.3V, +/-5V, and +/-12V output, all with different cables and connectors, so I cannot (too easily) mix them. \$\endgroup\$
    – Giuseppe Bertone
    Commented Jul 5 at 13:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ In the PC, there is a standard (in fact a few successive ones), specifying the voltages and connectors. In addition, you pretty much know in advance what goes into your PC, so you can choose a supply with enough current for each voltage. For other devices, each manufacturer basically does what he wants (excepted for laptops, I think those are now required to use USB-C). As long as there is no standard, it's difficult to do a "one size fits all". But let's hope, maybe in a few years, all equipment will be USB-C (that handles negotiating voltage) \$\endgroup\$
    – Sandro
    Commented Jul 5 at 13:31

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