detachable cables on psu's

Alistair · Post by **Alistair** » Sun Jan 05, 2003 5:12 am

problem: too many untidy power supply cables. there are always twice as many power cables than I need, even in a pc with 4 drives and a floppy I have half a dozen cables that need strapped away. it seems that psu manufacturers boast about how many connections they have, but i need less. idealy i'd like to choose...

so it occurs to me that it would be nice if there were ports on the back of the psu just like there are on drives. nice long, single, double ended power cables could be supplied with the unit so you only have to use as many as you needed. furthermore those cables should be properly shielded all-in-one, not in a bunch tied together.

i hope manufacturers are reading these forums and taking notes.

ll.

Gandalf · Post by **Gandalf** » Sun Jan 05, 2003 5:15 am

That would be nice yes! I personally cut off some cables and put the others behind my motherboard tray

nerotek · Post by **nerotek** » Sun Jan 05, 2003 11:49 am

of course cutting off your cables is not good, since it voids your warranty... (unless u dont care about it)

loply · Post by **loply** » Sun Jan 05, 2003 2:58 pm

My personal technique is to put a sticky back elastic cable tie on the PSU itself and just wrap the unused ones on it - Keeps things quite neat.

Just buy a decent size case and do the above, should be allright.

Here are some more extreme measures which spring to mind:

1) Open the PSU and severe some of the unneeded cables

2) Open the PSU and reroute unneeded cables (so they dont all come out of the same tiny hole). This should make things seem easier to work with.

3) Open the PSU and braid the cables - makes things much neater

4) Chop the cables off right near the PSU, and just have female molex connectors hanging near the PSU (ie dead short leads). Then buy a few extensions incase you need em (ie make them detatchable).

mudboy · Post by **mudboy** » Mon Jan 06, 2003 4:24 am

nerotek wrote:of course cutting off your cables is not good, since it voids your warranty... (unless u dont care about it)

If you worry about voiding your warranty, you have picked the wrong hobby!

Yeah, I agree on the idea, but seriously doubt if manufacturers would ever do it. I usually crack open my PSU and nip off whatever leads I don't need, it does cut down on clutter and airflow noise so long as you don't ask yourself "Yeah, but what if?" too many times during the process. The remaining ones I will zip-tie tightly and affix to a non-airflow side of the power supply.

Pete

Gandalf · Post by **Gandalf** » Mon Jan 06, 2003 10:11 am

Well you can always re-attach cables and connectors, so it's not a problem really.
Voiding warranties my hobby. Lol. Whenever I see one of those "opening will void warranty" things I OPEN IT UP! lol.

sanity · Post by **sanity** » Wed Jan 08, 2003 1:22 pm

I've done this to my Enermax PSU. I chopped all the excess off, and left an inch sticking out of the PSU. I put some Molex connectors on the wires

It's really cleaned up the mess in the case.

What I'd like to find is some panel mount female molex connectors. Can't find any, but it seems Antec has a source of them.

hopefully that worked.

Note the tape blocking the vents, that's so the air can only exit out the back where there is no fan, just the botom 92mm fan.

TerryW · Post by **TerryW** » Fri Jan 10, 2003 3:45 pm

Hi all.

What I have done is to remove the offending harnesses and insert a 15 to 20-pin MOLEX connector with all the coloured wiring in a neat and orderly fashion (yellows together, reds together, etc.). Then I made a mating connector with only the connectors I needed.

Another simpler idea is to bundle the extra connectors together, cover the ends with electrical tape and tie-wrap them back through the vents on the PSU.

Either way, nice & neat.

TerryW

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Jan 10, 2003 4:14 pm

Only trouble with any of the above solutions is the extra breaks in the connection between PSU and motherboard, which becomes more important at higher power levels. As long as the voltage drop stays reasonable...

TerryW · Post by **TerryW** » Fri Jan 10, 2003 4:35 pm

Ah... But of course! Choose poor connectors = poor connections.

If using poor connectors, you might even let the smoke out of those solid state components, wiring, etc.

TerryW

Alistair · Post by **Alistair** » Fri Jan 17, 2003 2:06 pm

aren't serial ata drives coming with new power connector types? finally we are seeing a beginning to an end of big ribbon cables, hopefully the ugly and messy power cables also. with better connectors i think my suggestion would be more possible, as you suspect MikeC, the current connectors may not be reliable enough.

TerryW · Post by **TerryW** » Sat Jan 18, 2003 10:18 am

Hi there,

Up to now, the defacto standard for the power connectors to the FDD, HDD, CD-ROM, etc., have been MOLEX (an inexpensive product). If the pins are crimped properly and inserted into the mating connector bodies properly (hear a 'click' sound), they should provide years of reliable service.

In a multi-pin MOLEX conector configuration, each pin is rated for approximately 8-amperes. However, the wiring to that pin is # 18 gauge with an electrical rating of 5-amperes per CSA, ETLc, NEMA, etc. Both values would be de-rated for use in free air, bundles, temperature, etc.

I had suggested modifying the PSU case & wiring harnesses to remove all the wiring. Then find a suitable multi-pin connector and modify the case to mount or accept the connector body, and rewire the new connector to the internal board. Then make a mating connector with ONLY those wires that are required.

Words of wisdom: "The weakest point in a wire between A and B will be the connector used". Choose a cheap / inexpensive connector, you get what you pay for.

Good luck.

TerryW

jhh · Post by **jhh** » Tue Jan 21, 2003 7:38 pm

There's a really great idea here - why don't you email some of the psu companies about this? Let's face it, I doubt they'll read this.

btw, my Zalman PSU came with THREE of the little connectors for floppy drives - who the hell has three floppy drives???