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Power supply install question

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by hmmmmm!

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My son in law is a journey level construction electrician.. He called and told me "tested old PS and took it our and took it down to get new one of same power, 450 watts. NOW he is not sure other then MB pins.. which plug goes to which device.. CD,HD,Floppy, etc.. as NO instructions in the box with PS. Am not 100% sure on this one as seems to me PS hooks up to all with no particular ID per out put and input to device. They plug in and go, most are the std 4 pins to devices.. and the other one is that is different he remember where it goes. So comes down to his asking is there a special out put connection for each device? I do not know as have not installed PS since a 486 update.. SO what do we tell him. Unit is a OKIA and MB hooked up fine..but rest CD, Floppy CD Write HD and such??? I prefer not to tell him something that causes smoke out of case?

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by thechas

All of the 4 pin connectors on a power supply with the same connector body are interchangeable.

The large off white or translucent 4 pin plugs with the round sockets can be plugged into any IDE style optical or hard drive.

The white 4 pin plugs with the small square holes are for any floppy drive.

SATA hard drives use a different style power connector.

I choose what power connector goes to which device by what makes for the cleanest wiring path.

There may be left over connectors such as a 4 pin 12 volt power plug.

Some power supplies are set up to use a motherboard fan connector. Make sure to plug that cable in if it is present.

Chas

by hmmmmm!

Thanks to all...until you are questioned by a licensed journey level electrician with about 15 years experience... you have NO ideas of what all is asked about "how come no drawings or anything etc?" . He wanted every detail.. but fine with me as he did wiring work on house free... but he did want to know and as he went on began to think perhaps what I thought I knew was wrong. Got me when he started talking about mixed amps output and how does it know what to send.. NOW he is going to take his old one a part to "understand this thing better". So again thanks.. had back against wall there for a while.. were more as curious as he we probably would have much better hardware AND SW.. Thanks to all

by thumbsup2

The common computer user doesn't need schematics or specifications, so they're not supplied with the hardware. They are availabe from the manufacturer, if needed, and most computer repair technicians know where to look for them. But, since replacing failed components is less expensive in terms of man-hours than a time consuming "repair" job, most technicians don't even bother looking. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, replace it.

By the way, a Journeyman Electrician should be able to figure out that when several plugs all looking identical with the same colored/sized wiring come out of a common power supply, it doesn't matter which plug is used to supply power to the compoents that those plugs will fit in to. They're all the same. ;)

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by hmmmmm!

News flash.. with no labels and no schematics.. are excellent journeyman electrician would ask.. something like old saying about keep mouth shut and remain stupid or ask and appear for a time,stupid. Would want to hire someone that asks. every time. So back down a bit, he was smart enough to ask..as he had not worked with this stuff before.. suspect you would do same if you were around 110/220/440's and ran into something you'd never seen before. He is very good and his asking proves it.. as he had not worked to much around as he calls it.. "little bity stuff" other then some winde turbines OK?

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