Power Connectors and Sleveing Questions

W

W.Feather

[H]ard DCOTM x4 & [H]DCOTY x1
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Messages
11,715
Ive got a few questions, as I have never done either of these :)

I am working on putting together a mod(to take place after christmass) which is going to incorporate alot of sleaving.....I intent on buying the HX-750 , or 850, PSU from corsair....I have a few questions....


1) How much sleeving should I purchase?(Ft wise....im ordering it in bulk i think...so i can practice on an old PSU)

2) Any idea where to buy pure white power connectors ??? (The theme is white on black....should look ok when done.....), cant find these things for the LIFE on me, been looking for 2 weeks....would prefer w/o any writing9just pure white), but i can paint over any writing, i just need white ones

3) Is there a white sleeving kit anywhere (im doing each wire individually, not combining anything), i would like to use a murder mod one, but they are only in black
 
should 10 m be enough ?? (ive never done sleeving before, so I expect a few mistakes and redo's)


any ideas where I can get some REALLY dirt cheap sleeving(dont care about quality), just for a bit of practice....


I didnt see on the site any white powerconnectors, or many power connectors at all, did I just miss them?

[Thanks for the quick reply]
 
I don't know of anywhere to get white connectors. The closest you'll probably find is the standard translucent white. I don't think that's quite the white you'd want. What you could try is white vinyl dye on the connectors when you have them detached from the wires.

Since you're doing each wire individually from end-to-end 10m won't be enough. My Corsair TX-750 would require over 50m to do each wire on the PSU individually. You can probably find the lengths of the wires for the PSU online (that's what I did for my estimate) and then multiply the length by however many wires are in the connector.

I don't think it would be worth it to get cheap sleeving just for practice. The hardest parts about sleeving are removing the wires from the connectors and getting multiple wires through one piece of sleeving. You'll be eliminating multiple wires through one piece of sleeving so you won't have to worry about that and even if you did it would be hard to mess up the sleeving. Just make sure to measure the length of the sleeve appropriately.

Also a bit of advice from my own experience, if you have a plunger style male and female molex pin extractor DO NOT simply insert it over the pin and push down on the plunger until the pin pops out. This will most likely break the retaining clips so it won't stay in place when you put it back in the connector. What I've found to work well is to lightly pull on the wire and/or gradually and lightly push down on the plunger while making wide circles around the pin to get the clips to depress just enough to release their hold, but pop back out when removed from the connector so they'll be ready for reinsertion.
 
I just finished sleeving my PSU and used CLEAN CUT 1/8" sleeving from Furryletters on Ebay, I believe its $5 for 25ft (+2$ shipping). If you want to practice that would work pretty well. I would go with murdermod for the kit tho. Its very high quality and they have the right amount of everything so you dont have to guess. They will also give you instructions on how to do it. I did all of my sleeving with staples and a small screwdriver, which actually wasn't too hard. As far as white plugs I'd do the vinyl dye that was already recommended. Little tip, once you get a good length of heatshrink that you like, precut a bunch so they are all the same size.

My 24 pin extension

l894a69b1e01d43c380a58f.jpg
 
Last edited:
im not planning on sleeving it all...im looking at getting the modular corsair(any PSU i end up with will be modular), so will do the ATX , CPU, SATA, and 2 PCI-E power things(i am looking at buying a 5850 or maybe a 5870......) for power as of now....I only use 1-2 HDD at once, so that with the cd drive power is fine with those 5 cables......10 m should cover those ????

ill look at Furryletters


smyth....any suggestions on a specific type of vynl dye ??? i have no experience with that...i have pulled simple wires out of connectors(for a robot at my school that Im working on)....


thanks for the reply...if anyone knows of where to get white connectors it would be a life saver....though i do need to look into the dye idea more as it seems like a quick fix.
 
On my TX750 just the 24 and 8 pin connectors would require 20m to do each cable individually. I'd say in your case you'd want at least 30m. If you can, find out the lengths of the cables of whatever PSU you get and order the appropriate amount of sleeving.

Sorry, I've never tried vinyl dye myself so I don't know what to recommend. From what I understand it can be difficult to find vinyl dye. If you can't find it at a hardware store you'll most likely find it at an automotive store. I've been wanting to try vinyl dye myself so I went to Home Depot today and bought a product called "Rust-Oleum Specialty Vinyl." It contains acetone and MEK which to my understanding is needed if a product is to be a dye instead of a paint. Hopefully I got the right stuff and I'll let you know after I try it out. Until then it would probably be best to see what someone who's actually used vinyl dye says.
 
k, sweet :) ill try and get the measurments.....ill have to add some b/c i think i will need to extend the ATX cable....since i have a 1200...the power cords dont seem to typically reach that distance, neither does the 8pin for CPU(well i have my current PSU's ATX power streached....an OCZ GameXstream 650 W lol...too many cables)
 
forgot to ask, is there any specific type of wire i should use if I extend the power cables ??? i dont intend on resale so i dont care if it ends up getting people to not want it.....those ATX power extenders are so darn ugly :(
 
W.Feather said:
i found this sleaving kit, would it be any good ??

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8...eeving_Kit_-_White_SKIT2-W.html?tl=g12c34s992
Click to expand...

I'd say no if you still plan on sleeving each wire individually as that kit has a bunch of large sleeving that you won't use. You also only get 10 feet of the 1/8" sleeving which won't even be close to enough.

If you don't want the wire color to show through the sleeving your best bet would be mdpc-x sleeving or you could try doubling up with some Techflex PET sleeving. Doubling up on the sleeving could be difficult, but it will be cheaper than the mdpc-x. The Techflex is cheap enough and since you wanted to get some sleeving to practice with anyways, you may as well order some and see if the quality meets your standards as well as how easily you can double up on the sleeving should you decide to try that out. 200 feet of Techflex would be about $35 shipped. 30 meters, or a little less than 100 feet, of mdpc-x would cost ~$51 shipped.

Or if you're going to try dying your connectors white, you might as well dye the cables as well and see if you care for the look. This would save you both time and money, but you may or may not like the look. Now as for my results with the "Rust-Oleum Specialty Vinyl" I mentioned before I'm pretty sure it is NOT what we want. It could've been me not cleaning the surface before hand or painting in 45F weather (can says to paint between 50F and 90F), but after letting my test pieces dry inside for a day I was able to take a screw and scratch the paint and was then able to peel it completely off. The plastic underneath wasn't even slightly tinged :(. So either acetone and MEK melting plastic is BS or there is something else added/missing from what I got that makes it a paint instead of a dye. I should've paid more attention to the the front of the can that says "Flexible Vinyl Coating." On the bright side I had to dig pretty good with the screw to scratch it off, but once I got through the coating it was fairly easy to peel the rest off. Only other local stuff I've found so far is "Dupli-Color Vinyl & Fabric Coating" which I'm pretty sure isn't a dye either due to the "coating" and will probably act just like what the Rust-Oleum. I'd say if it doesn't state "vinyl dye" on the can, then it's a paint rather than a dye. The only such product I've been able to find, albeit on the Internet, is "VHT Vinyl Dye" available here:

http://www.amazon.com/VHT-SP943-Vin...0?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1259011825&sr=1-20

http://www.amazon.com/VHT-SP949-Vin...0?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1259011825&sr=1-10

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/VHT-SP943/

Also, this post might be of use to you.

Too bad this stuff is ~3x the cost of the local stuff after tax and shipping :(. Oh well, it's at least still cheaper than sleeving.
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
well i found sleeving for ~51 cents a foot, and it was quite thick, i have it book marked ill ahve to grab that later and show ya guys.....just went and grabed it - http://www.frozencpu.com/products/3737/slv-36/White_18_Nylon_Cable_Sleeve.html?tl=g44c175s359


as for the dye, i have no problem staying within that range, since i live in FL, i havent dropped below 60 F since january...heck its 79 in my room right now, lol........

and I saw that VHT stuff when doing a quick search, found it for about $10 per can on an auto store...

the goal of the project is to have a very custom look and feel to it, so dying wires is just not part of the goal, otherwise that would be a great idea/time saver lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top