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Do 4-pin Molex extensions exist?

H

hatecc

Gawd
Joined
Sep 9, 2002
Messages
740
I saw some people that had routed their molex connections to behind their motherboard tray.

I want to do that, so my case looks nice and clean, but I can not possibly do that without some sort of extension.
 
perhaps a little more info would help?

All i've seen are 3pin fan extensions.

I've looked at over 4 mod shops online and can't find them anywhere?
 
make your own?

i did that quite a few times, make sure your cables isnt too thin though if you want that to handle more power
either get two molex connectors and make one longer extension or extend the current wires but cutting them and adding a longer wire for 5v, -5v, 12v, and -12v
just be careful you dont mix up the wires especially the grounds

i just tied mine all up and hid it behind the drives and then i wrapped all my wires and rounded my ide cables with colored electrical tape now everything looks really neat
 
I just use molex splitters. They extend the connections a bit, not a crazy amount, but it has always been enough for me in the past...
 
Wayne is incorrect in his wiring.

Red = +5VDC
Black = ground
Black = ground
Yellow = +12VDC

We've been down this road a jillion times, and yet people still think the 2 grounds are somehow different. That's why they have color codes. Black = ground no matter where you are in the computer. If ya don't believe me, take a look at any PSU and look at where the wires connect inside. Or better yet, wait for all the replies to back me up.

-5VDC is white if i recall and -12vdc is blue if i recall. Both are located on the ATX connector.

http://www.asus.com.tw/inside/Techref/images/atx-conn.gif
 
thanks, appreciate it!

BTW, I can put this in a non uv system and it won't look funny right?
 
Originally posted by SarverSystems
Wayne is incorrect in his wiring.

Red = +5VDC
Black = ground
Black = ground
Yellow = +12VDC

We've been down this road a jillion times, and yet people still think the 2 grounds are somehow different. That's why they have color codes. Black = ground no matter where you are in the computer. If ya don't believe me, take a look at any PSU and look at where the wires connect inside. Or better yet, wait for all the replies to back me up.

-5VDC is white if i recall and -12vdc is blue if i recall. Both are located on the ATX connector.

http://www.asus.com.tw/inside/Techref/images/atx-conn.gif
Click to expand...

but what about those 7v fan mods reviews? they always say to make sure not to mix up the wrong grounds? if thats true, then how am i wrong?
 
Originally posted by wayne
but what about those 7v fan mods reviews? they always say to make sure not to mix up the wrong grounds? if thats true, then how am i wrong?
Click to expand...
Because the 7 volt mods ground the 12v rail to the 5v rail, making the potential across them 7 volts. With a cable that does that, you don't want to use it on anything other than fans or it will mess up your grounds.
 
What gague is the wire that is used in 4 pin connectors? Is there any place to get it online in bulk, or should I just go to Home Depot.

Sorry if this isn't my thread, but I thought that this question could be of help to myself and the origional poster. Thanks guys.
 
16-18 ga is uaually ggod, unless you are drawing some serious power, and then you may want to possibley consider 14, but thats pretty thick.

And would the people with no electrical clue please keep thier advice to themselves, i see way to much bad advice that others then have to correct.
 
Originally posted by SarverSystems
You don't use ANY ground wires for the 7V trick.
Click to expand...
Right, but if you rig up an extension cable to convert a fan to 7 volts, you don't want to use that cable for anything but a fan because it moves the grounds.
 
Radio Shack would be a good place to get small spools of 16AWG wire. Grab any color you can find.
 
Originally posted by Acceptable_Risk
Right, but if you rig up an extension cable to convert a fan to 7 volts, you don't want to use that cable for anything but a fan because it moves the grounds.
Click to expand...
No it doesn't. Think of ground as 0 volts. You have 0V, +5V, and +12V. If you hook up a fan across 0V and +12V there is a potential of 12V across the fan. The 0V line is still 0V and the +12V line is still +12V. Now, hook the fan up to +5V and +12V and there is a potential of 7V across the fan. The +5V line is still +5V and the +12V line is still +12V. There is no moving of grounds, whatever that means. All the lines are connected together inside the power supply so all 12V lines are the same. Adding an extension cable does not isolate itself from the other cables.

edit: I reread your post and I think I understand what you are talking about. Are you talking about physically moving the pins in the connector? I've never done that(all my fans are hooked up to a barrier strip) but I suppose it could be done.
 
Originally posted by SarverSystems
You don't use ANY ground wires for the 7V trick.
Click to expand...
i meant in the reviews, they remind people a LOT to not mix up the ground wires or else if you hook up other things, your gonna have problems

but another review that points this out more is the ones that teach you how to change the molex connector into UV reactive ones (if you want, i can find you several reviews that say so) and they state very clearly and strongly to NOT mix up the ground wires because it takes in different voltages because power supplies are like that and not to mix grounds up and so
 
And so go open up every single ATX power supply ever produced. What do you see?

You see where all the black wires connect to one great big ground plane? Yup, thought so.

Please don't doubt people when there are others in the post who have backed them up. This has been discussed time and time again.

Black = ground. It doesn't matter where in the computer. Black = ground. If they were different, they'd be colored different.
 
Originally posted by wayne
i meant in the reviews, they remind people a LOT to not mix up the ground wires or else if you hook up other things, your gonna have problems

but another review that points this out more is the ones that teach you how to change the molex connector into UV reactive ones (if you want, i can find you several reviews that say so) and they state very clearly and strongly to NOT mix up the ground wires because it takes in different voltages because power supplies are like that and not to mix grounds up and so
Click to expand...
Well, they're just plain wrong. If you doubt, get a continuity tester and check the two grounds on a molex. It should indicate a short.
 
Originally posted by wayne
i meant in the reviews, they remind people a LOT to not mix up the ground wires or else if you hook up other things, your gonna have problems

but another review that points this out more is the ones that teach you how to change the molex connector into UV reactive ones (if you want, i can find you several reviews that say so) and they state very clearly and strongly to NOT mix up the ground wires because it takes in different voltages because power supplies are like that and not to mix grounds up and so
Click to expand...
Whoever said that is quite ignorant. It was probably one person who started that myth and then other people read his "guide" and wrote up their own "guides" and perpetuated this stupid myth. It really goes against logic and common sense. Don't believe everything you read.
 
All red (+5VDC) wires connect together inside the power supply.
All orange (+3.3VDC) wires connect together inside the power supply.
All yellow (+12VDC)wires connect together inside the power supply.
All black (ground) wires connect together inside the power supply.

Do you see the pattern here?
 
if you are really worried about it just use the inside of your case as a ground. it is just like a car, you can use anything as a ground, IE. my amp is grounded to the trunk floor, and it works flawlessly.

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It never has and never will be different
 
if you are really worried about it just use the inside of your case as a ground. it is just like a car, you can use anything as a ground, IE. my amp is grounded to the trunk floor, and it works flawlessly.

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It never has and never will be different
Click to expand...
so if all grounds are the same, that means they can 'absorb' any loose electricity...rite?

so if i connect an AAA batterys ground to anything to be used as ground... even if its the ground of some big appliance like a dryer or something?
 
Originally posted by wayne
so if all grounds are the same, that means they can 'absorb' any loose electricity...rite?

so if i connect an AAA batterys ground to anything to be used as ground... even if its the ground of some big appliance like a dryer or something?
Click to expand...
I really have no idea what you are talking about. Ground is ground because there are literally rods driven into the ground that the ground line is connected to. There is no "ground" on a battery, but people usually call the negative pole of a battery "ground". If you hook the negative side of a AAA up to the chassis of a dryer then nothing happens. The dryer doesn't "absorb" any electricity from the battery. There is no current flow. You can hook up a light bulb between the positive side of the battery and the dryer chassis and current will flow and the light bulb will light. Likewise, you can hook the positive side of the battery to the dryer chassis, and hook the light between the negative pole of the battery and the chassis. Hooking up the battery does not change ground. Nothing changes ground. Electricity is all just potential differences which cause current to flow.
 
Originally posted by jpmkm
I really have no idea what you are talking about. Ground is ground because there are literally rods driven into the ground that the ground line is connected to. There is no "ground" on a battery, but people usually call the negative pole of a battery "ground". If you hook the negative side of a AAA up to the chassis of a dryer then nothing happens. The dryer doesn't "absorb" any electricity from the battery. There is no current flow. You can hook up a light bulb between the positive side of the battery and the dryer chassis and current will flow and the light bulb will light. Likewise, you can hook the positive side of the battery to the dryer chassis, and hook the light between the negative pole of the battery and the chassis. Hooking up the battery does not change ground. Nothing changes ground. Electricity is all just potential differences which cause current to flow.
Click to expand...
i meant letting the ground or negative side of the AAA battery absorb all the stray electricity


if you are really worried about it just use the inside of your case as a ground. it is just like a car, you can use anything as a ground, IE. my amp is grounded to the trunk floor, and it works flawlessly.
Click to expand...
yea, i kno what you mean about using the inside of the case for ground since powersupply is metal and then if you open it up, the actual ground is connected to the power source (household volts)


i have another question, how do we know that the ground wont flow somewhere else?... like for example, if something shorts in my computer in my room and its absorbed my ground thru a metal rod to a place where ALL the rooms ground meet, that means that my ground is also connected to my moms rooms ground so if i hav a BIG short in my computer absorbed by ground, how comes it doesnt flow into my moms rooms tv or something and short that out too? shouldnt that be possible to flow that way since the grounds for each room are connected
 
the grounds don't create any voltage difference unto themselves. There has to be a designated ground because your power supply converts the 110v 60HZ alternating current (AC) that comes into your house into various voltages (12v, 3.3v, 5v) direct current (DC), that is why you need the third prong on the plug. If the black wires are technically real grounds, they would go from the black wires to the 3rd prong on a plug, then through the house wiring to a copper rod driven into a couple feet into the ground (literally the ground, like dirt), because the point of the ground is to give the charge somewhere to flow and the dirt has an effectively infinite ability to absorb charge. If they had some sort of negative potential, then it would add to the positive potential. IE +12V connected to -12V would result in a 24V difference. so reguardless of the potential of the "grounds" the only combination that would result in 7v would be connecting the 12v line to the positive terminal, and the 5v line to the negative terminal on the fan, so the 7v mod does not involve the grounds at all.

maybe that made sense, it all does in my head, but ya know how sometimes it doesn't translate exactly for other people.

P.S. I haven't ever cracked open a power supply to actually figure out how it works
 
i just thought of something this morning when i woke up, then i jumped outta my bed and decided to post this

if grounds are all the same, then why are there two grounds on the molex connectors?
 
Because that's the ATX standard.

Usually the ground wire will be a larger wire, since multiple voltages can use the same ground. Since the molex connector can only use up to a certain size wire, thery decided to make 2 grounds to handle the load.

Think of electricity as your kitchen sink. The water is the electricity, and the sink is the device you are powering. The pipes are the wires. When you turn on the water, it flows through the sink into the drain. The drain is always bigger than the waterlines coming into the sink because you can have multiple sinks, and you have hot and cold water at the same time. Think of hot water as 12V, and cold water as 5V. THey both use the same drain (ground).

I hope that all made sense.
 
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