Shortening PSU cables

K

kencheeto

2[H]4U
Joined
Apr 17, 2008
Messages
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I think this is alright to do, but...

Is it perfectly safe to chop off excess cabling and use shrinkwrap to cover up the naked ends? For example, the SG05 stock psu has longer cables than I need and I'd like to get rid of some.

I.e. can I take a wire cutter to any excess cables and cover the ends, making sure it doesn't groud out/short?
 
It depends on how safe you feel about your workmanship covering the wires up, if you're 100 percent sure there's no contact, then you would probably be fine.
 
It's perfectly safe to do that, as long as you make absolute certain that there are no exposed contacts.
 
Sounds great. I'm comfortable soldering/working with wiring, I just wanted a clean conscience.
 
I plan on doing the exact same thing with my SG05, except in my case I'm using a Seasonic 350w sfx power supply. Still going to be shortening wires though. I decided to crimp new pins on the shortened wires rather than solder two ends together. I figure it would be less tedious than soldering, but then again I'm not very experienced with a soldering iron. I'm going to get some black plugs to replace the generic white ones, and sleeve the cables while I'm at it.
 
CompuG##K said:
I decided to crimp new pins on the shortened wires rather than solder two ends together. I figure it would be less tedious than soldering, but then again I'm not very experienced with a soldering iron.
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It's always better to crimp on new pins rather than splice the wire back together.
 
Zero82z said:
It's always better to crimp on new pins rather than splice the wire back together.
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Its easier to splice them back together though (unless he has a crimper and extra pins already). There shouldnt be much ill effect for power wiring, as long as he insulates the cable sufficiently when hes done. Its not like hes splicing wire thats transfering a 20GHz signal :p
 
I was going to get a crimper, but I forgot I already have one. :)

Getting pins/plugs/sleeving/etc from Frozencpu though.
 
I like neat and tidy too, but having rewired a few old proprietary Dell PSU to become standard ATX by splicing, it seems the aesthetics of the end result are overrated. I would recommend that you just put a couple loops in the wires or nylon wire tie them out of the way, it's really not worth the time to splice all those wires IMHO.
 
I know this might seem crazy, but if you open up the power supply, you can actually de-solder the cable you want to be shorter and resolder it to the powersupply after shortening it...

Which means you won't have a weak point on the cable in the middle somewhere that has been cut and soldered.

Also, soldering mid cable will likely wick the solder up the cable some distance from the joint and make the wire stiff, as well as cause the insulation to become somewhat brittle.
 
Zero82z said:
It's always better to crimp on new pins rather than splice the wire back together.
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I don't know, a "proper" solder joint will have less resistance than standard pins & sockets. That after all is the basis for PC P&C's well known disapproval of modular PSU's.

FUD to some & gospel to others.
 
davidhammock200 said:
I don't know, a "proper" solder joint will have less resistance than standard pins & sockets. That after all is the basis for PC P&C's well known disapproval of modular PSU's.

FUD to some & gospel to others.
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Except when you splice the cable, you still have the resistance from the pin plus the resistance from the solder joint, whereas with a recrimped cable you only have the resistance from the pin.

And the whole anti-modular thing is FUD. It is easy to compensate for any added resistance from modular cables, as has been proven by other manufacturers that have produced modular PSUs of better quality than any of PCP&P's, like Enermax, Seasonic, and Delta.
 
Resistance from a proper solder joint is going to be in the milli-ohms. It'll be basically unmeasurable. If it wasn't a near-perfect connection every solder point on a motherboard (and especially PSU) would heat up dramatically and cause issues.

Soldering is only an issue IF non-ideal solder is used. Proper electronics solder is 37/63 tin/lead ratio (I might have the order reversed, but the ratio is right) which provides the narrowest "plastic" temperature range, which is the range that solder is still fluid but no longer able to make a solid bond. If one piece of a solder joint is moved during the plastic temperature, it will create a "cold solder" joint that is a bad connection, has a high resistance and will heat up with use.
 
Zero82z said:
Except when you splice the cable, you still have the resistance from the pin plus the resistance from the solder joint, whereas with a recrimped cable you only have the resistance from the pin.

And the whole anti-modular thing is FUD. It is easy to compensate for any added resistance from modular cables, as has been proven by other manufacturers that have produced modular PSUs of better quality than any of PCP&P's, like Enermax, Seasonic, and Delta.
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You are just plain wrong, a proper solder joint has less resistance than standard PC power connectors & the difference is measurable with lab equipment and as far as Enermax, Seasonic, or Delta making "better" PSU's than PC P&C, prove it! I have used many PC P&C's & the Turbo Cools are truly "World Class"!

Have you ever used or even handled a PC P&C T12?

Dave:)
 
davidhammock200 said:
You are just plain wrong, a proper solder joint has less resistance than standard PC power connectors & the difference is measurable with lab equipment
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My point was that if you chop off the pin end, cut off a piece of the wire, and then splice the pin end back on, it will have more resistance than if you just chop off an entire length and then crimp on a new pin. Basically, a solder joint plus a pin has more resistance than just a pin. It is negligible though, as long as it is soldered correctly.
davidhammock200 said:
as far as Enermax, Seasonic, or Delta making "better" PSU's than PC P&C, prove it! I have used many PC P&C's & the Turbo Cools are truly "World Class"!

Have you ever used or even handled a PC P&C T12?
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I haven't used that PCP&C model, but I've used others. They are good, but there is better. Just look up the reviews on [H] and JonnyGURU for proof. No need to get all defensive about it.
 
Zero82z said:
My point was that if you chop off the pin end, cut off a piece of the wire, and then splice the pin end back on, it will have more resistance than if you just chop off an entire length and then crimp on a new pin. Basically, a solder joint plus a pin has more resistance than just a pin. It is negligible though, as long as it is soldered correctly.

I haven't used that PCP&C model, but I've used others. They are good, but there is better. Just look up the reviews on [H] and JonnyGURU for proof. No need to get all defensive about it.
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A proper solder joint has less resistance than any crimped pin! Crimping is fast, easy & requires little if any skill, proper soldering is both an art & a science.

----------------------------------------

Have you ever used any PC P&C Turbo-Cool?

Reviews of PC P&C Turbo-Cools have always been excellent, please find a negative review & if one exist, I will post 5X that say otherwise! Everyone knows & agrees the PC P&C Turbo-Cools are among the best PSU's on Earth, everyone except you, who has NO PERSONAL EXPERIENCE!

Look at the [H]ard reviews, even the lower Silencer series receives the highest ratings!

I give up.:(
 
davidhammock200 said:
A proper solder joint has less resistance than any crimped pin! Crimping is fast, easy & requires little if any skill, proper soldering is both an art & a science.
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But if you already have a crimped pin, and you add a solder joint as well, your total resistance will still be slightly higher. I'm trying to explain this as clearly as I can, but you don't seem to be getting what I'm saying.
davidhammock200 said:
Reviews of PC P&C Turbo-Cools have always been excellent
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Where did I say otherwise? In fact, I'm pretty sure that I specifically said that PCP&C makes good PSUs. In fact, I've recommended them on many occasions. All I said is that although their PSUs are good, there do exist better models from other brands. The Enermax Revolution85+, Antec Signature, and Seasonic M12D lines are examples of that. As I said, look up the reviews on JonnyGURU and HardOCP and you'll see that those units do in fact perform better than PCP&C's offerings. Not that any of them are bad, but they simply are not the best.

And I have no idea why you're getting so offended. You seem to be taking what I'm saying as a personal insult to you, when in fact all I'm pointing out is that PCP&C's criticism of modular PSU connections is largely unfounded. Since you seem to treat his word as gospel, why don't you ask Paul what his thoughts on the matter are? I'm sure he'll say more or less the same thing.
davidhammock200 said:
Have you ever used any PC P&C Turbo-Cool?
...
everyone except you, who has NO PERSONAL EXPERIENCE!
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Last time you tried to use that argument, I gave you this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

Perhaps you should read it, and maybe you'll learn something. Just because I haven't personally used a PCP&C Turbo-Cool doesn't mean I know nothing about them. I bet that you haven't used any of the PSUs that I've used as examples of better units either. Not that I'm holding that against you, of course.
 
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