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[GUIDE] Making a molex-to-barrel adapter


jacobsson

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@Dschijn Here is the thing, shouldn't it at least start the fans with 1 Molex or at least light up something like the akitio original plug does?

The thing is that I'm not sure if I got the right kind of barrel plug. (although was the only1 that would fit the female counter part). Will try getting the type of barrel @jacobsson recommended at the beginning of this post.

 

Will take me a couple days though, since it's getting a little frustrating atm. Need a few days to relax. Thanks in adv for answering the light question.

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The plug has to be 2.5 and 5.5mm in its barrel size.

Inside has to be yellow/red -> 12V and on the outside has to be black -> ground

As soon as the PSU has power (did you do the paperclip trick?) and the TB cable is plugged into the Mac, the AKiTiO should start.

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I don't know the paper clip trick. I still got lots, and lots to learn.
This is actually the first time I attempt doing something with hardware ^^'

 

Do u mean this1 to test the psu?

 

1061110_10156136580530538_148818628_n.th

 

Just in case, the psu works just fine

Edited by Enano
img broken
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So...... I still fail to realize why it won't even light up.
I mean if i get 2 molex to 1 barrel, power output would be obviously more, but still. I don't even see the light of the GPU come up. Akitio's power supply get's the job done without a prob, and still, the laptop won't find a GPU when booting with DiY eGPU. I'm pretty much lost here.

 

I know I ask a lot, but bare with me. I'm a noob xD

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I'm using a thermaltake 500w psu I don't know if u need a more specific picture, I think this1 shall be usefull.
Some people recomended a riser, but I'm trying to avoid it since i lack space as you can see in the picture.

 

1419920_10156140275225538_1501211216_n.t

 

Let me know if u need more pics, won't be a prob to take as much as are needed. (8 pin conected to card).

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Hi guys,

 

I have a cuestión about the barrel adaptor, I got a couple of barrel adaptors with the correct sizes, 5.5x2.5 mm solder to one molex cable and power the Akitio, everything is working fine.

 

But, I just realized if something hit the barrel when is connected to the Akitio it loose contact and switch off the Akitio. The problem in my opinion is the original Akitio PSU barrel has a couple off tiny metallic  pins which helps the barrel to fit straight and firmly inside the conector (PICURE 1), but the only barrel i found don´t have it (PICTURE 2)

 

IMG_3544.thumb.jpg.ba85928908af48ead4e39  IMG_3545.thumb.jpg.a1917f5ccb8c29f5fcebb

 

If i try to move the original barrel while is connected don´t loose power any moment.

 

With all of that i´m confused because I think that nobody has the same problem as I am and in my opinion must be really common.

 

What do you think?

 

Dschijn, I´m trying to buy the cable you did, as it looks that has the inside pins like the original, but they want to charge me 15€ in transport... the cable is like 2€ so I´m trying to find another shop as where I live they only have barrels without the inside pins, as you can see in the second pic.

 

 

 

 

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Now that you mention it, that might be my prob, i got that kind of plug xD
Can you send an image of your whole set up? I'm curious! Lucky u can get one, I don't seem to be able to get 1 with the 2 pins.

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Huuuu… I never really moved my eGPU while running it, but my plug is sitting tight anyway (without having that pins inside).

I bought the cable I am using, because they specifically rate it to run with even 12V 10A, which 120W any enough to be safe ;)

 

@Enano: So, you:

 

- connected the Molex to Barrel plug to the AKiTiO

- that Plug has contact with a black and a yellow cable on the PSU side

- yellow has electrical contact with the inner part of the barrel plug / black with the outer part

 

- you attached the adapter to start the PSU (like the paper clip trick)

- that adapter is making electrical contact between the green and any black cable on the 24-Pin plug

- the PSU itself has a switch which is turned on

- the PSU is plugged into the wall

- the GPU has its 6/8-Pin PCIe plugs plugged in

 

- the AKiTiO has a card in

- the barrel plug is plugged in

- the TB cable is plugged into the AKiTiO and the Mac

 

If all of that is done, the wiring itself is also correct you might have a damaged part in your system or the PSU doesn't start with the paper clip trick (happend to a friend with his PSU).

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On 19 de diciembre de 2015 at 10:16 PM, Enano said:

Now that you mention it, that might be my prob, i got that kind of plug xD
Can you send an image of your whole set up? I'm curious! Lucky u can get one, I don't seem to be able to get 1 with the 2 pins.

 

To make sure that you have the same problem just follow these steps:

 

1- Unplug your GPU from Akitio

2- Unplug your thunderbolt port

3- Use the original Akitio PSU to power the unit and make sure that the green/yellow light that is place inside the board  is on. With that you now the Akitio unit is working OK

4- If the light remains off, bad luck man... probably your unit is damaged or defective.

2- If you can see the light with the original PSU is time to check if your problem comes with your barrel adaptor. Connect your barrel adaptor to Akitio

3- Switch on your PSU

4- If all is OK you´ll see a yellow/green light inside the internal Akitio board

5- If it´s not working: Try to move softly the barrel adaptor while is connected from on side to the other side, trying to provoque good contact between the adapter and the akitio power connector and take a look inside the board.

 

In my case some times the hole unit doesn´t power and with a simple touch on the barrel it makes connection an everything works great. I now that the is really unstable, it´s the reason I´m trying to find those 5.5x2.5 barrels with internal pins.

 

Good Luck

 

 

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On 19 de diciembre de 2015 at 0:43 AM, Dschijn said:

Huuuu… I never really moved my eGPU while running it, but my plug is sitting tight anyway (without having that pins inside).

I bought the cable I am using, because they specifically rate it to run with even 12V 10A, which 120W any enough to be safe ;)

 

 

Jajajaja, never try it at home!!

 

Actually I didn´t move the hole unit, I realized of the problem because I touched every cable connection in the unit while benchmarking to make sure it wasn´t overheating issues due to high loads of power. When I layed my finger on the barren adapter it losed the power connection for a moment and freezed the system the I start to find someone with the same problem.

 

Yea.. you cable looks really great but they charge me 13€ more or less in shipping, so i´m trying to find another supplier with you cable specifications.

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5 hours ago, Charly said:

5- If it´s not working: Try to move softly the barrel adaptor while is connected from on side to the other side, trying to provoque good contact between the adapter and the akitio power connector and take a look inside the board.

 

In my case some times the hole unit doesn´t power and with a simple touch on the barrel it makes connection an everything works great. I now that the is really unstable, it´s the reason I´m trying to find those 5.5x2.5 barrels with internal pins.

 

Good Luck

 

 

Thanks bro! It works with the akitio's power adapter just find, I've tryed moving the plug that comes from the PSU without any luck, so I'm gonna try getting another cable. As I mentioned before, a friend of mine that actually works at IT will help me out.

 

If I make it work, will let you know so that we can add more knowledge to the forum data base.

 

Wish me luck!

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Ok, found an old WinBook xp adapter at home that actually powers the akitio box without a problem!
This means I should be cutting out the cable and fusing it with the molex soon enough, but before i do it. I'm a little confused.

 

Should i go 1 molex to barrel or 2 molex to barrel? I mean my card is a freaking 960 and it's power hungry as hell.
Although in the basic hardware tutorial, they say u only needed 75W for the box, and u shouldn't use dual power supplies. Anyway, should my eGPU get recognized even if it's 2 PSU's? Just curious xD

 

But again, if u can, let me know if i should go 2 molex to the barrel or 1 should be fine.

(Akitio thunder2, MSI 960, Thermaltake 500W)

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2 PSUs will work, but shouldn't be a long term option.

You can also go with only 1xMolex, but since every GPU has a 2xMolex -> 6-Pin PCIe (75W) adapter I think it is safer to use at least 2xMolex for the AKiTiO which could draw more than 75W in a worst case scenario.

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I presume the bang and flash I heard when I turned on the psu means I friend the Akitio by having the pos and neg terminals the wrong way round? Stupid mistake for me have made. Luckily I didn't have the GPU plugged in too as I was just testing the barrel plug adaptor. Shouldn't have trusted cheap cables! 

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7 hours ago, charliehsmith said:

I presume the bang and flash I heard when I turned on the psu means I friend the Akitio by having the pos and neg terminals the wrong way round? Stupid mistake for me have made. Luckily I didn't have the GPU plugged in too as I was just testing the barrel plug adaptor. Shouldn't have trusted cheap cables! 

 

Oh god, that sounds pretty depressing :dispirited:

At least now you know for future projects bro! Learning the hard way is never a good way of doing so, but on the bright side, it'll never happen again.

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  • 3 weeks later...

so we don't have a good US supplier of current rating 6.25A+ barrel connectors? Sounds like something radioshack would have... but the stores left are pretty watered down. The barrel connectors I've found that won't take 5 weeks to arrive are all 5A rating. 

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On 1/17/2016 at 9:38 PM, esatamod said:

so we don't have a good US supplier of current rating 6.25A+ barrel connectors? Sounds like something radioshack would have... but the stores left are pretty watered down. The barrel connectors I've found that won't take 5 weeks to arrive are all 5A rating. 

 

Why don't you try using the cable from the akitio box and modify it?

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21 minutes ago, Enano said:

 

Why don't you try using the cable from the akitio box and modify it?

thanks for reply, but I'm using a different setup... PE4L and DA-2 ... no akitio on hand because no thunderbolt in my house!

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@Enano are you still running the akitio with one molex barrel? i'm thinking of use one molex barrel too, because i don't want to buy another cable, and currently i have a plenty of one molex's cable damn it.

 

ps: what are the risks of using one molex ?

Edited by davidexD
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