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Power Supply mod help . . .

C

Captain Colonoscopy

2[H]4U
Joined
Feb 19, 2004
Messages
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Hi, was wondering if anyone has experience modding the wiring on a power supply. I want to make the lead running to my hard drives longer so I can route it behind the mobo w/o having to buy extensions from SVC.
I have two old power supplies that I was going to cannibalize for wires. Can a person find suitable wires at a RadioShack instead of hacking old stuff up? If so, what gauge? Is heat-shrink tubing suitable insulation for splices in the lines?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
Yes you can certainly make the wires longer, but don't make them longer than they need to be. Just use whatever gauge wire is already there - 16 gauge I believe. The safest way to connect the wires is to solder them together and then put some heatshrink tubing over it. The heatshrink tubing itself will not maintain a good physical connection and the wires could pull apart, which you don't want to happen while the computer is running. You could also use some crimp connectors, but that won't be as neat as soldering.

If you really want the wiring to be clean, then just scrap the wires that are in there. Get some 90 degree power connectors and run all new wires to them. Most people think the 90 degree power connectors look better anyway.
 
Thanks for the input.

The 90 degree molexes were something I hadn't thought of. Those would be perfect for running wires between my HDDs. I'm trying to get better airflow in the case and I need a project to keep me busy until I can scrape together some cash for a new mobo, memory and mobile barton 2500+ chip :). Right now my ambient case temp is 84-90 degrees F depending on the load. I want to get it lower while I wait for my new stuff to magically appear.

As far as running all new wiring goes, does anyone know of a website detailing power supply modifications like that? I tried googling but all I get is stuff for industrial power transformers and other crap of little relevance. Aren't there some sort of precautions one should take when ripping apart a power supply? If anyone has some more information I would greatly appreciate it. Not wanting to burn myself up if I can avoid it. :)
 
Please dont use crimp connectors.......its as bad as using tape.;)
 
Originally posted by Captain Colonoscopy
Can a person find suitable wires at a RadioShack instead of hacking old stuff up? If so, what gauge? Is heat-shrink tubing suitable insulation for splices in the lines?
Click to expand...
Yes, but it's not recommended. Instead, pick up some 18-gauge stranded wire at Home Depot or your local hardware store. That should work for the majority of your wiring. For the floppy drive power connectors, I think they use 20- or 22-gauge wire. Home Depot carries wire in all kinds of sizes and colors, for cheap too. Heat shrink is indeed suitable for this kind of thing.
 
soldering the wires is desirable , but crimp connectors will work as well , you may have to hide the ugly critters under some shrinktube though ;)
 
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