INFO: Turn an ordinary power supply into a valuable testing station
DATE: 09/22/03
COST: ~$7
TIME: An afternoon
SPONSORS: None
AUTHOR: Jon "Wampa" Bender
Opening the PSU:
Once the four screws are removed, the top comes off
effortlessly. At this point I donned my cowhide work gloves, just to be on the
safe side, as there are unfriendly voltages hidden inside the power supply. I
did not get zapped even once during the entire mod process, so if you choose to
perform a similar mod, you will not get zapped either if you are cautious. The
capacitors are the components to watch out for.
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| (11) Opened up |
(12) "Flux" Capacitors ;) |
You do not need much electrical knowledge for this mod, as I
have no formal training and breezed through it easily. There is a whole mess of
wires concentrated in one area that will be the focal point. First things
first; remove any and all zip ties or holders that interfere with moving the
wiring around. I used my wire cutters to take out the zip ties. The black guide
that keeps the wires in one bundle coming out of the power supply just requires
a little muscle to get out.
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| (13) Wire mess |
(14) Wire holder /
guide |
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| (15) Wire guide removed |
(16) Zip ties removed |
Now that those restrictions are out of the way, it is time to
take off the motherboard header. Here you could opt to just cut the wires off
and toss the header away, but being a modder at heart, I had to keep the header
in case it could find its way into a future project :). The little pins that end
each wire into the motherboard header work in a similar fashion to regular 4-pin
Molex headers. There are two little flaps on either side of the pin that you
have to push in. I used a 1mm flathead screwdriver to do this. Other people have
had success with pins and paperclips, as well as those who have bought a special
Molex removing tool. Removing the pins was an arduous task that took about 20
minutes, but in the end I got my motherboard header intact.
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| (17) First pin removed |
(18) All pins removed |
With the motherboard header out of the way, I removed as much
wiring as possible from the immediate power supply area to make sure nothing got
in the way while I was cutting wires. The two pin connector for the fan was
glued together, but I was able to scrape it off and move the fan out of the way.
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| (19) Stuck
together |
(20) Separated |
The fan itself is a generic brand, but it is fairly quiet, so
I spared its life. I turned the fan around so it sucks air into the power supply
instead of blowing air out from it, because it is not in the top of a stuffy
case, it can concentrate on cooling itself.
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(21) Try pronouncing that name |
Onto the next page, where wires get cut and the wire mess is
taken out.
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