09 February 2010
1/1
difficulty rating:
- easy/medium
article by:
- inder
related www:
- forum thread
"Why would you want to power your PSU without plugging it in? Well doing so gives you a test base to test new hardware etc without fear of damaging your system or frying or CPU etc... It makes testing and swapping around devices much easier. You could even use a second PSU to power devices in your main rig, should you run out of molex's..."
modtown takes no responsibility for any damages incurred from instructions within any of the articles on the site!
this includes loss of warranties or damage to your equipment and/or systems...
and any other negative outcome that may occur due to inaccuracies or poor implementation of the guide on the readers part.
if in doubt - don't do it, be smart and safe!
Article ©2004 Modtown
Why would you want to power your PSU without
plugging it in? Well doing so gives you a test base to test new hardware etc
without fear of damaging your system or frying or CPU etc... It makes testing
and swapping around devices much easier. You could even use a second PSU to
power devices in your main rig, should you run out of molex's.
what you need:
- ATX Power Supply
- A piece of conductive wire
- Wire Strippers or similar
- Wire Cutters
the process:
First off make sure your PSU is unplugged and lying in the corner until its
needed. Take your wire (I used some from an old electrical cable) and cut off
about two inches of it. Strip and twist both ends to be left with something
similar to the third image:
;)
;)
;)
Bend this completed 'jumper' into a 'U' shape:
;)
Now we need to identify the pins
to which we are going to connect the 'jumper' to. The 'jumper' will act just
like the power button on your computer does, completing the circuit telling the
PSU to switch on...
Take a look at the ATX connector coming off the PSU. There are twenty coloured
wires terminating into a molex that connects to your motherboard, we are only
interested in the GREEN wire and any
BLACK wire.
;)
According to the standard ATX specification, the GREEN wire is pin 14 (consult your PSU manual for an accurate pin-out diagram). We can use any BLACK wire to complete the connection, however for simplicity we used the BLACK wire next to the GREEN wire.
;)
Take the 'jumper' and put one end into the GREEN wire connection. Then take the other end and push it into the BLACK wire connection. Double check you have created a similar link as shown in the third image:
;)
;)
;)
All done! Check you connection one more time. I suggest NOT plugging in any devices to any power molex coming off this PSU until you first plug the PSU in and flick the power switch, if the PSU fan is running, you may turn if off and connect your devices. Just a little test to ensure things went okay - better than plugging in all your devices and watching them each blow up :D
;)
the completed modded PSU:
;)
To test devices etc... simply plug them into a spare molex as you normally would if this PSU was inside your computer.
©2005 Modtown. All Rights Reserved |
