Dual PSU mod

[Blacksmith1]

I needed more power to run 3 video cards for folding. james86 posted a link to a thread on another form on how to rig a second PSU.
here's my take on that.
my original case is a T_t Tsunami Dream. not enough room for 2 PSU's
so, I took this case
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0729.jpg
And started the layout By measuring my case to see where I needed it to cover
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0734.jpg
Created a template to keep it even
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0745.jpg
Drew the basic design on the empty case
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0746.jpg
realizing that I didnt want the embossed Compaq lettering (lucky for me I had an hp case that had an exact fit for the side)
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0747.jpg
and then the cutting
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0748.jpg
the dremmel didn't cut it (literally) So I broke out this puppy
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0749.jpg
It did a butcher job
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0750.jpg
so I needed something else to do the custom cutting.
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0756.jpg
I recommend this to anyone cutting a steel case!
It makes really nice cuts.
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0757.jpg

[Blacksmith1]

Light pressure on the top and some gentle tapping with a rubber mallet later
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0758.jpg
.
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0760.jpg
.
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0759.jpg
Then I needed a way to make it stay closed, so some 1x2 and a couple cuts with the circular saw
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0762.jpg
a few drywall screws (all I had on hand, they will be changed)
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0766.jpg
.
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0764.jpg
and some holes for the LED's
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0768.jpg
.
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0798.jpg
But I burned them both out hooking them to to much power....Soooo...
I started looking around to see what I had that I could make work. because i absolutly did not want to run this without some way to tell at a glance if the 2nd PSU was on.
I came up with this...
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0800.jpg
sorry for the crappy pic but the camera batteries were dying and it wouldn't autofocus..
More to come 'cause I ain't done yet.

[Joshua_Mahr]

That's pretty cool man! Love the no cost mods! Led's were a nice touch also.

[Blacksmith1]

the orignal led's were replaced with the T-t emblem (fan grill), a 12 volt led cabinet light, and some custom made colored lenses (more on that when I get the camera batteries). I had stuck a late '60's mustang emblem in the led holes at one point (stroke of luck they were the right distance apart) but I couldn't leave it with out a power indicator. and the tail stuck off the side due to the hole placement.
got it to take one more pic
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0801.jpg
that gives a much better idea of what it looks like.

[James86]

nice looks really good

[zachig]

Looking good. I really liked your mod. Nice and neat. WELL DONE!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S II using Tapatalk

[swmeek]

very nice indeed !

[Blacksmith1]

there's more to come.... just gotta get a few things (so much for the $0 mod)

[swmeek]

There's always a wrench thrown into the works at some point.

[James86]

I forgot to ask how did you set up the second PSU "paper clip?" or did you set up an external switch of some kind?

[Blacksmith1]

I guess I should have put that up there. Awhile back I took apart some old PSU's for the fans. Since I was tossing the rest anyway, I took the on/off switches out of them. In the front of my case was a small rectangular hole. So just to see, I test fit one of them in it. With a minor trim using an exacto it fit. Look at the fuzzy pic it's the black spot just under the cardboard (I lost the original covers somewhere). the plan back then then was for some extra lighting. when I did this I used that switch so I can turn the PSU on and off easily. It will be getting replaced with a heavy-duty 12 volt relay so that it will turn on and off with the other PSU.

[Blacksmith1]

ok, got some more pics for this.
to power the second PSU you have to short the #4 pin (traditionaly green) with any one of the grounds.
wanting a more secure connection with less chance of a short to the case i decide to remove the free floting pins I had stuck in to it and replace them with the connector from my old mother board.

Trying to de-solder it was a waste of time
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0811.jpg


I used this tool to cut it loose from the M/B.
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0815.jpg


I cut all but the 2 pins i was going to use, again to reduce the chance of shorting.
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0817.jpg

Got it soldered on to the wires
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0819.jpg

Taped it up nice and neat
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0821-1.jpg

And broke the pins while putting it back together... as soon as I can order a brand new one I'll fix it again. Till then the soldered wires are in the pin holes and the insulation on them is making me feel reasonably safe.

So now on to the more aesthetic aspects.
while I was at it I removed a 90mm fan I had put in and replaced it with a 120, I also added another 120. and played with an idea for the "looks" of the case. added some filters also after seeing the hidden dust on my old mother board.

Wire management? check!
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0826.jpg

http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0827.jpg

newest fan on the window
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0826.jpg

replacement fan on the M/B side of the case
http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0827.jpg

http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0830.jpg


the filters and the "experiment" ( it looked good till I took the side off to re-route some wires)

http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0832.jpg

http://i531.photobucket.com/albums/dd356/sflblacksmith/psumod/112_0831.jpg

[Blacksmith1]

next I think I'm going to get my water loop out of storage and make it fit this.

[James86]

that's a nice side panel
what r your temps like
I'd prolly run the case without the side panel but if you have cats nogo

[Blacksmith1]

with the three 120's as intake , 2 120s as exaughst, and the pull from th e 2 PSU's the temps stay just below the thermal limits of the parts. CPU 68-69 c chipset?? I forget ATM but within limits or i'da done someting about it, and the GPU's are all well under their limits.
but none of that matters till I replace the antec. it crapped out last night while my oldest was playing on the system. being out of school for the summer I let him stay up and wnet to bed. this morning he tells me it was acting funny just before he shut the game off, and sure enough it was blackscreen and no power to system board this morning. I can get the fan to go in the psu by shorting the wires that are used to turn it on/off but it will not power the board. I'll put the multi meter on it this afternoon and see what's what, but I think this project is on hold for now.
thinking about this one...
http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=419877&CatId=2533

[Blacksmith1]

both Psu's tested fine. got the pig to boot one more time this evening, now nothing. no post nada. I'm gonna send the board back and hope the next one lasts longer.
anyone know what the heck I did wrong in my last life?.........

[swmeek]

pissed someone off royally it sounds like .

[Blacksmith1]

Maybe I was ghengis kahn or something....

[James86]

That would be interesting

[Cody_Irwin]

thats pretty awesome, I woulda just modded the front of the case in the bays for the harddrives ect. and make a psu fit so I dont have to work like that hah

[Blacksmith1]

I had to put the HDD's into the floppy bays, and remove the entire HDD cage, to make room for the video cards, and my 2 optical drives, and fan controler use 3 of 4 bays in the 5.25 drive area.
so i was kinda stuck putting it outside the case. got a buddy who wants to use the case as a canvas when I get it all done. I'm gonna have him do a couple sketches to see if I like what he's wanting to do.
I have just enough room left in the case to mount my water loop and i think I figured a way to mod the block mount without having to spend for a new mount bracket.

[swmeek]

If your Thermaltake is like mine those hard drive cages just silde right out.

[Blacksmith1]

yes it does, as does the floppy cage, but the mount at the bottom was rivieted to the floor. it also had to go to fit the gx2 in the bottom pcie slot. this case was built in 2004, and they had no idea that cards that big were comming....
it's a Tsunami Dream. but looking over the site i think that base frame and innards were used on at least 4 different models. they just stuck different doors, tops and sides on it to make it look different. the soprano rs is very similar but the cage seems to be permanently mounted on it.

[swmeek]

That and the Armor all kind of looked very similiar.

[Blacksmith1]

the armor i looked at was huge. it's the armor+, interior styling was similar but the case was massive by comparison.
the other cases i refered to were all the same dimensions and layout. the sides look like they could swap over case to case no problem.
I'm thinking about ordering a solid side to replace my window. So I can put my fans where I want them instead of as close ats it lets me. plus it will allow more room for the custom paint job.

[James86]

Kinda like my case I think it's a cheiftec dragon but a lot of cases look the same just different front panels
and can't wait to see the paint job

[Blacksmith1]

At this point I have absolutly no idea what it's going to look like. it will be the very last step tho'. less chance of messing it up.

[swmeek]

My first case was either a Chieftec or a Chieftec knock off.

[Blacksmith1]

Mine was an IBM desktop case with a 286 inside...DOS 5.x

[Blacksmith1]

Got my rma from the dude, and I get to keep all the extras, maybe I'll get lucky like I did with the XFX board and wind up with 2 sets. Now I gotta go find a box to pack it up and mail it out.

[James86]

hopefully it comes back soon then back to folding

[Blacksmith1]

got the board about 5 mins ago. now I have to go get some thermal paste. this won't get done till later tonight. gotta make a 200 mile round trip run first. it should be folding again by tomorow.
and they kept the extras, all i got was the board. :(

[Joshua_Mahr]

got extra paste if you need it!

[Blacksmith1]

where were you earlier? because radio shack was out of my AS ceramique, they do have the AS 5, but I didn't take enough cash with me, and by the time I got to the one in outer BFE they were closed (at 5:30 pm) so I'm SOL today.

[Joshua_Mahr]

I have a bunch laying around. Noctua, AS5, CoolerMaster, come corsair stuff too. Your welcome to some.

[Blacksmith1]

Stopped at a different RS and got my ceramique. next time I'll do the silver 5. I am posting this from MY system, finally.
and apparently I'm not allowed to have my box in my sig anymore.......

[Cody_Irwin]

Lazy Blacksmith1, you could have gone to bestbuy for cheap dynex stuff that actually works no lie, I would also look into http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150080&cm_re=masscool-_-35-150-080-_-Product

If you like the stuff thats on asetek coolers. Like the h70 and what not. Instant cure time too. its pretty much whats on it.

[Blacksmith1]

thanks for the info but I've had good results and for one deg C diiference I'll stick whith what I got. I also decided that since my soon to be Ex was nice enough to loan me her old 939 system while mine was down, I''d go ahead and put a brand new aluminum AMD OEM HSF in her sys for her, and reluctantly take her old used AMD OEM copper heat pipe HSF and use it in my system. my temps dropped from 68-70 C O/C'd @ 4.8-4.9 ghz while folding to 39-40 C O/C'd @ 2.51ghz (core temps) while folding. PC Probe II reports the cpu at 51 C but that still alot lower than it used to run. and that's with losing an exhaust fan (it wont turn on) somewhere between the old M/b crapping out and installing the new M/B.

[swmeek]

You might want to look at this article I found and see if anything in it helps you out.
http://www.hardocp.com/news/2011/07/27/how_to_use_three_psus_in_one_system

[Blacksmith1]

It proves my theory that a fan relay from a car will turn the 2nd psu on at the press of the primary power button. but that is a good looking way to do it. i like the way they say "visit our website" and don't give the addy.

[swmeek]

Sorry didn't read the article just noticed the headline. :D