re-wiring a powersupply

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 7:45 am

How hard and or dangerous is it to buy a 24 pin connector for an ATX board and re-wire a 20 pin PSU following the mainboard schematic for the 24 pin connector?

Post by **Apoptosis** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:30 am

never seen it done and I don't know where you would find the ends for the wires as they are pressed on. It wouldn't be hard... just have to find a source for the ends. Think of it as changing the spark plug wires on a car... mix one up and it aint going to work!

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:54 am

I think I have seen the ends for sale at my local Fry's electronics. I guess you can tell I am grasping at straws...I have literally no money left to buy a new PSU untill my next paycheck and even then its iffy. I messed up and didn't notice that power supplies ,along with everything else, have changed. Considering that everyone says I am running a better than average risk with this DFI mainboard using a 20 pin rather than a 24 pin I am seriously considering sending this board back in favor of one that isnt soo power sensitive. Why did they have to change them anyway why not just add another plug on the baord like they did for the Vid cards? Makes me soo mad that to upgrade the right way I have to buy almost a whole new PC.

Post by **dicecca112** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 9:37 am

it won't work the internals are different on a 24pin vs 20pin psu. The wires physically aren't there. Plus the risk of fire, catastrophic failure is high. Never play around in a PSU if you don't know what your doing

HONkUS · Post by **HONkUS** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 12:20 pm

But how do you know what your doing if you dont play around? seriously not trying to be a smart ass but how do you learn to work on PSU's if you dont mess with them?

Post by **dicecca112** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 12:29 pm

you do that by going to school and learning about what to do. You do not want to be fooling around in there. You can kill yourself if the caps and other parts in there are not discharged fully.

Notice how many hardcore Ocers mod there PSUs? I can think of none. They just get the biggest and the best. Its because they are such highly specialized parts for what they are designed to do. Your not gonna get a 300W PSU that you can mod to be 700W or even 305W.

And why do most not recommend a 20-24pin adaptor? because the main power line is not built to handle that load.

And not being a smartass, that was a good question

Post by **FZ1** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 2:14 pm

That was a good question indeed. An enthusiast can mess with volt mods, configurations and settings etc with really only runing the risk of killing their components (or maybe starting a fire

) but messing with power supplies is bad news for the untrained individual. They can hold enough charge for weeks that could kill you.

Post by **Illuminati** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 3:02 pm

Merlin, as you can see, many of us recommend you figure out how to get a 24-pin PSU. If I were you, I would put the one you have now up for sale in order to help you come up with the money to afford a new PSU.

HONkUS · Post by **HONkUS** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 3:24 pm

So I guess my buddy back in high school who jammed a butter knife in his PSU because the fan stopped running is pretty lucky then huh? lol

Post by **DMB2000uk** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 6:30 pm

Ive always wanted to do that with a toaster for some reason...

Crap, I had a useful comment, but now I forgot it!

Dan

**ah yeah, i remembered**

I had a digital camera that got sand in its zoom shutter so it wouldnt open or close anymore, so i took it to bits to try and fix it but the 230v flash capacitor kept shocking me when i held it tight enough to undo an internal screw.

Anyway, the wall ended up colliding with the camera at high speed after a couple of shocks and a stripped screw later! So, the moral of the story is: dont mess with electricity!

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 7:55 pm

Here is my theory...there are loads of different wires coming out of that thing (PSU) If the PSU manuel tells you what wires coming out of it do what( interms of voltage output) and the mainboard tells you what wires it needs why couldn't I take a few wires that are 5v and conect them to the 24 pin connector where it says I need a 5V etc> I am not talking about opening up the PSU and messing with wires in it only adding the votages needed to the 20 pin I have to make a 24 pin. As for selling my current PSU...well almost all current MB are 24 pin ( since I now looked) and by the time I got this one sold and got the money in I could buy a new one anyway. How many people do you all know of who had a 24pin MB blow cuz of a 20 pin connector? This PSU puts out 500w and all I need for my system is 350-400W so what would cause it to blow if it is now working fine??

Post by **dicecca112** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 7:57 pm

Merlin let me put it to you this way. Which would you rather pay. $80 for a new PSU or 485$ when you fry everything else with that psu because you were trying to save a buck. Save your money and get a new PSU. Its not worth the risk

Merlin · Post by **Merlin** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 8:28 am

I am getting a new PSU for sure I was just discussing this point a bit thats all. I know that I NEED the right PSU and that messing with this one is a recipe for disaster but I am a stubborn cuss and I figured there may be another one out there who had tried it.

moon111 · Post by **moon111** » Sun Nov 05, 2006 10:56 am

If you're interested in why, or in this came maybe it's why not to mod your PSU, go see the link Power Supply Design Guide for Desktop Platform Form Factors at http://www.formfactors.org/