Two for one! OR One for Two! ( what ever works for you!)

[Steve_Watkins]

I have been thinking about this for a long time...... I have been fighting high power bills and HEAT for the last three years and I have come up with a way to fight back! :D


IN this picture you will see two mother board and two power supplys, the Top PS is the only one running ! They have been running three weeks on only one PS and so far been trouble free!

[Steve_Watkins]

And yesterday I started converting more of my machines,,, Here is a pair of Iwill boards and 1.4 t birds.....

[Darkness Productions]

Steve:

Can you give us a good detail of how you did this? I'd be very interested, and I think a lot of others (IronBits, ColinT) might be interested in this as well.....

[FoBoT]

so what you are saying is , a good 250/300W pwr supply will power two pc's , if they don't have all the "regular" stuff like cdrom, multiple accessories, etc

cool :cool:

[Steve_Watkins]

The PS in the first picture is a 300w PS.

It is powering

VP6 MB w/ 2 p3 700@933
2 CPU fans
1Hd
1 nic
1 video card

vt6x4 MB w/ p3 700@980
1 CPU fan
1 HD
1 nic
1 video card


The PS in the second picture is a 430w PS

It is powering

2 I will KA266 ( might be KK266 , I forget ) Mother boards
2 5000 RPM CPU fans
2 1.3 AMD t- birds
2 Hd's
2 nic's
2 Video Cards


The key to making this all work is a home made Power Connector.

I bought 15 9" ATX extentions and did a little soldering :D

Here is a picture.....

[Steve_Watkins]

The first time I pluged it all in I had problems!

Thought I had fried my boards and was having nightmares about never catching TPS-KEN ! :D

But after playing around I found all was well and a simple reset of the cmos was all it took to restore the boards.

When I first though this out I worried about the 2 mother boards sending signals to the PS through the ON lead of the cable. I finally got tired of worring and just tried it out, thats when I found out that method will not work!

I found a drawing on the power supply that showed the leads. I ended up disconnecting the #17 lead on the 300w PS. and both boards functioned.

I AM NOT SURE THIS IS THE CORRECT WIRE TO DISABLE!!!! It worked on the 300w PS and it worked on the 430w PS, BUT while reading the IWill book I found a drawing with pinouts that indicated I should disconnect two other DIFFERENT leads! I did so the first time around... The boards powered up but the switches did not function right! I THEN CUT #17 and the boards powered up and ran the way the first set of board worked. I ALSO left the first two leads disconnected along with #17.

IT WORKED FOR ME, BUT IT MIGHT NOT FOR YOU!... BE CAREFUL you could shock yourself!!!


TO control the boards I made this little switch panel.

[Steve_Watkins]

The panel has two momentary switches and 2 led's

One switch is for on/off and the other is reset.
The green led is power on and the yellow is for HD.


You need to remember that a PS is turned on by a signal from the MOBO. IT CAN ONLY RECIEVE ONE SIGNAL FROM THE SETUP! That is why we have to cut #17 wire on the connection that goes to the #2 MOBO. (That seems to be the signal wire to the PS.)

This means that Power to both MOBO's is supplied when you press the ON/OFF button on MOBO #1. Both boards will post when you press the ON/OFF switch on MOBO #1. The ON/OFF switch is really not needed on the #2 MOBO. ( I just put it on to confuse the people from SETI, Germany :D)

When powered on the Reset switches work to control each board as in a normal setup. IT is the only way to restart the # 2 MOBO. IF YOU USE THE ON/OFF SWITCH ON MOBO #1 IT WILL TURN OFF BOTH BOARDS!


Sorry for the spelling and typos,, I am a little tired...

Steve

[ken_valyi]

Steve that is truly awesome! :cheers:

[Smiling Carnivore]

*blink, blink*

:notworthy

wow. I can't think of anything to say besides that and you are awesome Steve.


Here's hoping I don't fry myself. :D

:cheers:

[Alpha_7]

Wow!!!

Steve with more great ideas :), thats so classy...

I dont know if it would reduce the power bill that much, both machines will be dissapating X and Y amount of power anyway,
but you may be saving B by not having a second PSU going.

Still, very innovative... will you be going that for the rest of your rack mounted units ?

[IronBits]

Hey Steve, I need about 4 of those 'thingies'. How about making them up and sending them my way? You do have paypal right?

[Steve_Watkins]

Iron Bits...

I am so far behind that I have no free time... The cables are very easy to make and I have some pictures I took today that will explain how to fabricate one.

Tools needed.

GOOD electrial tape.
Utility knife and sharp blades.
Soldering iron and electrical solder. NO acid core solder.
A small wire stripper is a great tool and helps but the utility knife can be used.


Parts needed.

3, 9" ATX power extensions. IF you can not find them locally here is a link to where I buy parts here in Houston.

Directron parts (http://www.directron.com/atxextension.html)



Here is the first step.

[Steve_Watkins]

Remove the FEMALE connector off of one of the extensions. Mother boards have a female connector so we need a Y that has two MALE and ONE FEMALE connectors.

Remove app. 5/8" of insulation from the loose ends of the wires and set this part aside.

[Steve_Watkins]

On the SECOND extension find and identify PIN #17

[Steve_Watkins]

ON the female end of the intact extension use a small wire striper to make a bare spot on the wires app. 1/2" wide and 3/4" down from the connector. I use the wire stripper and make two cuts and then use the utility knife to make a slit in the insulation so that I can peel it off.

I did not remove the insulation from wire # 17 in this photo. I will not connect # 17 to the second Mother Board so there is no need to splice into this wire.

[Steve_Watkins]

Use the knife carefully! I always have my wife do it :)

[Steve_Watkins]

Lay both extensions side by side and select one wire from the extension that you removed the connector from. Take this striped wire and twist it around the bared part of its sister wire on the second extension. MAKE SURE IT IS THE SAME WIRE ! There are many wires that are the same color code on these extensions and it is easy to become confused.

I twist 3 or 4 wires together then solder those connections. I found if you try to make all the twists a few wires always slip out of place.

[Steve_Watkins]

After soldering all connections inspect your work!

Are the correct wires matched?

Are the solder joints good?

Did you get the work too hot and melt the connector?

Are there any sharp edges that might work thru the electical tape and short out later on?


After inspection cut 19 pieces of electrical tape 1 1/4 " long.
Use these to wrap each soldered connection making sure there are no exposed joints.

[Steve_Watkins]

A few wraps with electrical tape makes it look neat and it is ready for service. I use the third extension to make the Y long enough to easily reach the second Mother Board.

A word of warning.

On the 4 Mother Boards running now, I have found that cutting the # 17 wire on the connector going to the #2 Mother Board allows for correct operation. Will it work on your setup ? It should. I think the ATX connector form is standard. BUT I HAVE BEEN WRONG BEFORE AND WILL BE WRONG AGAIN! So use at your own risk.

Good Luck,
Steve Watkins

[the_dog]

:thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

three thumbs up...nice job

DOG

[IronBits]

Thanks Steve!!!!! :D :cheers:

[Steve_Watkins]

Your welcome!
:D

[Alpha_7]

Vader > Impressive, Most Impressive :)
:thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

All class Steve, All class.

[JDAW]

Can you show me how this is done.......I'll buy Lunch at Hooters ....Opps is your Wife reading this.....I meant to say Chili's

:cheers:

[Steve_Watkins]

She still has not forgiven you for the water mellon incident! :D

[Steve_Watkins]

I have found that it is best to disable one more wire when making the power Y.

I now cut the GREEN and GREY wires after finding a few boards that don't play well with the gray wire connected. The GREY wire sends a signal that says its ok to powerup the motherboard with the 3.3 and 5 volt rails.

I now have 8 motherboards with a total of 9 CPU's running off of 4 power supplies... The reduction in heat is wonderful!


Steve

[Steve_Watkins]

close up of 6 motherboards on three power supplies

[Steve_Watkins]

In my on going effort to remove heat and reduce my electric bill I have added another improvement to my farm.. An exaust stack :D
So far it is working really well. I am debating on whether to punch a hole into the attic and vent the heat there or continue to let the 300 CFM ceiling vent fan recirculate the air through the Main A/C.

[Steve_Watkins]

The worlds most understanding wife helped take the above picture :)

This is a picture of the top end of the stack.

[Steve_Watkins]

and last, but not least.. A close up of the connections.

All the PVC material is light weight 4 " PVC and the metal flex tube is 3" flex vent.

[Scoofy12]

I thought i was cool with hardware, but you are now officially my idol....:D :cheers: :thumbs:

[pointwood]

Very impressive work! :cool: :notworthy :smoking:

[conan]

Excellent! :thumbs:

I am going to try this directly on the powersupply leads and utilizing the wiring harness off of an older dead PSU. The extension cables are half the price of a 350W PSU here.

[Alpha_7]

Nice addition Steve :D very creative solution and it looks nice and neat too :) Say Hi to that very understanding wife for me, I'm saving the pics to show my fiancé :) Shes going to love em... :crazy:

[Carbon]

hey nice mod, ive been looking for something like this recently :D

question: can you just add more connectors to power for example 4 motherboards from a 650 watt ENERMAX PSU? :confused:

[IronBits]

Here is another article with pictures on how to wire up the Y-connector.

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?threadid=33884&highlight=ATX+Y+PSU

Steve, he connect all the wires - I suppose that doesn't hurt, and if you need to snip later because the mobo has problems, it only takes a second. ;)

I assume that the newest/latest motherboards that have the option in BIOS to power on when power comes back on, would require all wires to be connected...

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