Custom wiring... how much can you put on one connector?

[Bun-Bun]

First off I have a Seasonic M12-700 watt and am wondering how much I can put on one single connector.

I am doing custom wiring for things that normally use just molex or SATA plugs off of the PSU. I am going to have a distribution block and eye connectors and the like to connect things to the distribution block. So at the very least I would like to power 3 80mm fans (2 of which are LED), 3 LED 120mm fans, 2 120mm Panaflo's (0.65A each), and a couple cathodes and some LED's. I would also like to put on the 18w pump and 2 seagate 320 gb HD's.

Since the PSU is modular I was just going to bring one cable out of the PSU and connect it to the distribution block and bring everything from there... but then I thought maybe I should bring two cables off of the PSU... or maybe I should seperate the loads instead of just taking two cables to the distribution block...

Is there any foreseeable problems with this?

[jonnyGURU]

To put just the fans and lights on the one lead, no big deal.

But don't throw the pump and hard drive on there too. I wouldn't even put the pump and HDD on the same power lead.

You could put the pump on with the fans and lights if you're willing to use heavier gage wire.

[Bun-Bun]

By lead you mean separate lead from the PSU itself?

what about lights and fans with the HD's? and then the pump on another lead? If not what if I brought two leads to the distro block for HD's and lights and then another lead for the pump...

Also I thought the M12-700 was essentially a single rail so wouldn't the noise from the pump still get to the HD's regardless?

Also a little be of a confusion... the 5th wire on SATA is 3.3v which is only needed for hotswapping right? So really 4 wires is ok? Or am I out to lunch on that?

[jonnyGURU]

By lead, I mean wire. Yes.

And the number of rails doesn't matter. Noise can still travel through the same wire to affect other components.

And 3.3V isn't used for hot-swapping. Currently it's not used at all.

[Bun-Bun]

Google search was wrong then... ok I will just wire 4 wires to the SATA and be happy.

I know noise will travel down the wire... but wont it also travel back to the PSU and still get to the HD's because its a single rail?

Ok so power requirements...

2 x 120mm Panaflos = 0.65x2 = 1.3A
2 x 80mm LED fans = 0.21x2 = .42A
1 x 80mm Zalman fan = 0.25A
2 x 5 Lazer LED = ~0.1x2 = 0.2A
2 x Blue 12" Cathodes = ~0.1x2 = 0.2A
1 x UV LED = 0.002A
2 x Seagate hardrives = 2.8x2 = 5.6A

So basically 8A. But that is peak for the hard drives and I am assuming that high of a draw from the LED and cathodes because I can not find exact numbers.

Quick google search suggests 18 guage cable can handle 16 amps. Somewhere around here I read that the molex pin can take max 9A.

So current draw wise I should be good but I definitely should not add the pump to there for current reasons and noise. But since I am closer to the molex pin limit but not the wire limit I could just bring two molex's to the distro block and ran everything but the pump off the same lead.

Pump on it's own lead.

Now is there noise issued with fan's and harddrives? Or would the relay im using cause an issue?

The pump has a max current of 4A at startup so the 18 guage wire would be ok for the pump and fans and I could run a seperate lead to the HD's to isolate them the best from any potential noise...

So I have two options as I see it if everything above is correct.

1. Run two molexs off 1 lead to distro block and power fans, lights, HD's. Pump on seperate lead.

2. Run one or two molexs off 1 lead to distro block and power fans, lights, pump. HD's on seperate lead.

I am leaning towards HD on seperate lead and run everything else off of the distro block with two molex's goign to it...

Any errors in my numbers/logic?

[Bun-Bun]

Nothing? Am I to assume that my calculations are correct and I should put the HD seperate of hte pump and put pumps and lights/fans on my distrobution block?

[jonnyGURU]

I guess I'd have to see what you're working on. :D

Time for a work log? :D

[Bun-Bun]

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1030778375#post1030778375

There is the work log that I have going for the case mods. Farther down you can see I have the relay mounted on the inside of the drive cage and the terminal block on the back side. Everything including there ratings as far as I can find them on the net (couldn't find exact figures for cold cathodes and LED's... but they couldn't be more then 0.1A I don't think) is in my post above. So without HD's I figure the terminal block will be seeing a max of 6.5-7A with the fan/lights/pumps hooked up. Thats on the 12v, 5v will be minimal as I will have the panaflo's wired 12v-5v for 7v normally and then the relay will kick it to 12v-0v for 12v when I need the extra airflow.

Whatever else you need to know just ask... I can take more pics and post on my worklog.

EDIT: You can find pretty much every pic I have taken of the mods Here (http://pics.livejournal.com/bun_bun/gallery/0000axzr?page=1).

[jonnyGURU]

Ok.. What's the relay for?

I like the idea of the distribution block. Perhaps what might be a good idea is to bring two Molexes to the block and then use heavier gage to the multipl peripherals hooked up to the block.

Then my only concern would be EMI introduced to the line by the pump and fans and lights, but since the only other thing on this lead is hard drive motors and nothing sensitive like your CPU or GPU, I guess there would be no problems with that.

[Bun-Bun]

I bought some switches and thought they were DPST but turns out they are SPST and the third contact is just power for the LED... So I decided to buy a DPST relay and use the SPST switch to actuate the relay.

The purpose? 12v/7v switch for the panaflo's :D

Now I don't want to modify the PSU at all so that is why I decided to do all custom wiring with a terminal block and put some molex ends on one side of it. Then all I have to do is connect the PSU to that and everything is taken care of. I could bring two leaDs, one molex from each, to the distribution block and wire everything from there if you think there wont be a problem with the pump and hd's being on the same lead. Or I can give the HD's there own lead and bring two molex's from the same lead to the distribution block.

Also I will not be daisy chaining, I will be connecting the HD's, fans/lights, panaflo's, pump independently to the distribution block. So there will be 18 guage likes this

terminal ---> pump
terminal ---> switches for fans/lights/relay (relay is like .1A on the coil)
terminal ---> HD's
terminal ---> relay contacts to panaflo's

I will probably use two sets of eye connectors so that everything isn't on one eye connector. Also I would devide the ground wire equally among the components. The only concern expressed by a engineer I work with is the ability for 12v to go down 5v for 7v on my fans. But I tested this with my old PSU and it worked fine. Actually if I keep the HD's on the block with the panaflo's then the 12v would go down the 5v to the HD's... I think I am looking too deeply into this...

[Bun-Bun]

So I guess the real question is... will the HD's be affected by being connected to the terminal block along with everything else? Namely the pump?

[jonnyGURU]

No. Because the +12V for a HDD is just for the motor. It's the +5V that juices the logic.

[Bun-Bun]

No. Because the +12V for a HDD is just for the motor. It's the +5V that juices the logic.

Sweet. But then will there be a problem with the 5 volt on the panaflo's when they are running @ 7v? (Through relay 12v --> 5v = 7v. That power would be feeding through the 5v on the HD's)

[Bun-Bun]

Here is a picture to better show what I am talking about.

http://pics.livejournal.com/bun_bun/pic/000askps

As you can see I made a connection to go from a molex to my distribution block. From there I currently have 3 fans and the HD's being powered. Next I will be wiring power to the switches and from there to the other fans.

This is my first time making SATA cables and I have a bit of a concern on one connection... here is a picture to illustrate.

http://pics.livejournal.com/bun_bun/pic/000arpsg

Sorry about the horrible over exposure with the flash but as you can see on the second hard drive the connector is being pushed up a bit. Both drives power up (even though some of the connections I was doubtful on...) and it is not hard to push the connector in at all. I think once I have it pluged into the cd-rom as well i will push the cable down a bit. But should I be concerned at all? Should I remake the cable?

[jonnyGURU]

Nice.

I hate SATA power cables. I'm happy my SATA drives use standard Molexes. I have a SATA optical and it sucks that it only has the 15-pin power connector. :(

[Kab]

The second SATA connector (on top) doesn't even look to be inserted in, maybe just touching the required pins a tad. Is it inserted over the pins fully?
With a little bit of push and shove here and there, it looks like it'll fall out. :o

[Bun-Bun]

The second SATA connector (on top) doesn't even look to be inserted in, maybe just touching the required pins a tad. Is it inserted over the pins fully?
With a little bit of push and shove here and there, it looks like it'll fall out. :o

It makes an audible click when I push it in and its not easy to pull out. So I think that it is in....

Do you think it would be safe enough to remove that connector and try and put it back on a little bit more down? Or would the crimps chew up the cable too much?

[Bun-Bun]

Well heres the results...

http://pics.livejournal.com/bun_bun/pic/000att6z


Looks good (except SATA data cables are not exactly where I want them) and the power connections are not strained to much...

However the second connector (the one I was unsure of when making) has a bad crimp and if I wiggle the wire the drive shuts off and back on again... guess I am remaking the cable...

[jonnyGURU]

Looks good!

[Bun-Bun]

Looks good!

Thanks :D I tried pushing the crimp a bit tighter... at first it worked better but if I wiggle the cable in one way it acts up... yet the power still passes on to the burner... I don't think I should trust it because you can see about 4 copper wires broken but I don't want to make another one... when all you have is a flat screw drive those stupid sata connections are a pain...

[Bun-Bun]

http://pics.livejournal.com/bun_bun/pic/000bxrrf

Whatcha think?

[jonnyGURU]

You're going to heatshrink over those butt connectors, right? ;)

[Bun-Bun]

That would defeat there purpose. But I should figure out some way of covering them up. You normally won't seem then unless you tear a lot of the computer apart...

Also some brought to my attention that I should use a signal diode in reverse polarity across the relay coils to prevent high voltage spikes when de-energizing the coils... do you agree?