A Few More Questions For You Guys, Dvd rom ground/functionablity and PSU wire functions Options

[Bellend124]

Hello there guys. I have a few more questions before my mod is fully underway.

1) I am looking to make my PSU external and was building it to plug into a port on the back of my xbox and therefore looking to run the least amount of wires. My question is, do all of the black, red, white, orange and yellow wires on this thing carry the same current? If so, can I just wire them all in as 1 wire, then split that wire into multiple leads once it is inside the xbox?

2) Does the Dvd-rom unit in the xbox function on its side without any modifications? I have a Samsung unit and was wondering if it was standing vertically rather than laying horizontally would it work? If not, what modifications can I do to get it to run for me vertically?

3) With the case off of it, I noticed that on the bottom of my Samsung dvd-rom unit there was an intergraded circuit chip with a pile of solder on it. Does this act like a ground or something like that to the case it is in and should I wire this to a screw going into the case if i am not planning on attaching the bottom? Is it a similar sort of deal with the 5 lines of solder around the screw holes on the bottom there too?

[DarkMatter]

Answer to...
(1) Yes, provided you connect black with black wires, red with red wires etc. You can't mix.
But the problem you will have is that a bunch of wires must be connectect to a single wire of the same added cross-sectional area. Therefore the wire you use must be as thick as the same colored wires bunched together, otherwise you'll limit the current. See pic:



Current values are not the same. The 5 volt wires (red) carry the sum of 13.2 amps, the 12 volt wires (yellow) carry the sum of 1.2 amps, main 3.3 volt wire (orange) carries 4.8 amps and the 3.3 volt standby, power ok and power on carry something in the milliamp range.
Remember also, all your ground (black) wires must have the same added cross sectional area as well. This is very critical, especially since it is the return paths for all the voltages.

(2) Having the ROM drive on its side is ok, won't be a problem. Your lucky you have a Samsung, as they are made for vertical positioning, but not the other drives. i.e. Thompson, Philips etc.

(3) I'm unclear of what you mean with this question. Could you elaborate or post up a picture of what you mean???

A word of warning here. When mounting your PSU make sure you connect the pseudo ground in the primary of the power supply to the secondary output ground together. Otherwise you may get severe interference. See pic:



Regards,
DarkMatter

[Bellend124]

Answer to...
(1) Yes, provided you connect black with black wires, red with red wires etc. You can't mix.
But the problem you will have is that a bunch of wires must be connectect to a single wire of the same added cross-sectional area. Therefore the wire you use must be as thick as the same colored wires bunched together, otherwise you'll limit the current. See pic:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/Rigg...oss_section.jpg

Current values are not the same. The 5 volt wires (red) carry the sum of 13.2 amps, the 12 volt wires (yellow) carry the sum of 1.2 amps, main 3.3 volt wire (orange) carries 4.8 amps and the 3.3 volt standby, power ok and power on carry something in the milliamp range.
Remember also, all your ground (black) wires must have the same added cross sectional area as well. This is very critical, especially since it is the return paths for all the voltages.

(2) Having the ROM drive on its side is ok, won't be a problem. Your lucky you have a Samsung, as they are made for vertical positioning, but not the other drives. i.e. Thompson, Philips etc.

(3) I'm unclear of what you mean with this question. Could you elaborate or post up a picture of what you mean???

A word of warning here. When mounting your PSU make sure you connect the pseudo ground in the primary of the power supply to the secondary output ground together. Otherwise you may get severe interference. See pic:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j99/Riggon/Psu_bottom.jpg

Regards,
DarkMatter

Alright, thanks but I still have some problems:
1) So if I get say a wire graded to carry 5v+ and 13.2+ amps I could wire all the red ones to it?
2) Awesome
3) I only have a card reader for my camera the plugs into the slot in a laptop, i'll try to find a picture though

[Bellend124]

so i stole this picture from the folks over at llamma to show what i meant for #3

[DarkMatter]

1) So if I get say a wire graded to carry 5v+ and 13.2+ amps I could wire all the red ones to it?

You need a wire graded for the amps only, voltage doesn't really factor into the equation, unless your using it for high voltage applications, which doesn't apply here.
For the 5 volt (red) cabling, around 10 AWG will do fine, as 10 AWG roughly equates to 15 amp capacity.
For the ground (black) cabling, around 8 AWG is ok, which has around 25 amps capacity.
For the 3.3 volt (orange) cabling, around 14 AWG will do, as it roughly has a 6 amp capacity.
For the 12 volt (yellow) cabling, around 18 AWG is alright, it has a rough capacity of 2 amps.
For all other wires you can use wire from an old junked ATX power supply.

3) I only have a card reader for my camera the plugs into the slot in a laptop, i'll try to find a picture though

I strongly advise against leaving off the bottom cover of the ROM drive. There are one or two integrated circuits that rely on the cover for heatsinking. Removing the cover will make those IC's overheat and become damaged, thus turning the drive into a fancy paperweight.
I hope the above guides you on the right track.
Regards,
DarkMatter

[Bellend124]

You need a wire graded for the amps only, voltage doesn't really factor into the equation, unless your using it for high voltage applications, which doesn't apply here.
For the 5 volt (red) cabling, around 10 AWG will do fine, as 10 AWG roughly equates to 15 amp capacity.
For the ground (black) cabling, around 8 AWG is ok, which has around 25 amps capacity.
For the 3.3 volt (orange) cabling, around 14 AWG will do, as it roughly has a 6 amp capacity.
For the 12 volt (yellow) cabling, around 18 AWG is alright, it has a rough capacity of 2 amps.
For all other wires you can use wire from an old junked ATX power supply.
I strongly advise against leaving off the bottom cover of the ROM drive. There are one or two integrated circuits that rely on the cover for heatsinking. Removing the cover will make those IC's overheat and become damaged, thus turning the drive into a fancy paperweight.
I hope the above guides you on the right track.
Regards,
DarkMatter

Ok, thank you. So as long as I get those wires the physical thinckness of them does not matter? also, what does AWG stand for?

[Shonen]

AWG is the size of the wire (American Wire Gauge)...its values are seemingly reverse-intuitive at first (ie. smaller AWG values refer to larger diameter wires). It's just a standard of wire measuring.