Phil from Phil’s Computer Lab has teamed up with Necroware to design and release the “Voltage Blaster”. A device which is an ISA slot based adapter that helps facilitate the proper voltage needed to run many vintage ISA slot based sound cards. Some classic sound cards like the Sound Blaster 2.0 requires -5V to operate correctly. Which can be an issue for many modern power supplies (PSU’s) as that voltage standard is extremely uncommon. Not to mention that vintage PSU’s, especially those in the AT standard are increasing problematic and potentially hazardous. Thus the Voltage Blaster by contrast provides a safe alternative to use with modern safer ATX PSU’s.
The Voltage Blaster works by inserting it into one of the ISA slots on the motherboard. However keep in mind this will only work with motherboards that have two or more ISA slots. One of the interesting attributes of ISA slots is the sharing of power along the same voltage pins between each individual slot and PSU. The Voltage Blaster then acts as a go between for the PSU and the other slots regulating the power to properly feed -5V down to the cards that need it. The overall design is simple and only requires a bit of hand soldering to attach a few components to the PCB. All the details and instructions are down in the links below.
LINKS:
Phil’s Website | https://www.philscomputerlab.com/voltage-blaster–5v.html
github Page | https://github.com/necroware/voltage-blaster