double lugged molex wiring

[ratdude747]

ok, i have a couple ultra V 500w units, brand new. other than a bad choice of lytics, they are fine in every way:

lots of coils, x/y caps, proper bridge, decent heatsinks and parts on them, good transformers, decent wire...

BUT- the wires going to the molex/sata connectors are double lugged- about an inch of 16AWG, then inline spliced to 2 18AWG lines for drives. PCI-E, 20+4 atx, and p4 conntions are not doulbe lugged.

i am a bit concerned about it, i doubt there is room to try to straight-wire them to the pcb... i could try in a last resort.

is double lugged ok or should i try to cram the wiring in the pcb holes, or should i scrap it?

edit- there are open holes... WHY did they double lug it?

edit2- i will likely fix the issue when i eventually get to recapping them.

[370forlife]

Re: double lugged molex wiring

As long as it's not double lugged into a real high current wire like 1 18ga into three 18ga's for the pci-e, it should be fine.

16ga into multiple 18ga's for the molex and sata isn't a big deal.

[ratdude747]

Re: double lugged molex wiring

ill fix it anyway... why not?

[ratdude747]

Re: double lugged molex wiring

ok, i was able to fix one of them, and i was able to do a nearly full recap:

280uf jee primarys---> 680uf chhemicon primaries
bye-bye 240/120 switch, jumpered for 115v
removed all double and a few triple lugs (the singles that recieved the lugs was 18awg, not 16awg, so they needed to go bye-bye)---> every wire has its own solder hole

got all secondary caps worth recapping execpt for 2 of the 4 680uf 16v caps, those i will replace later.

it should be a lot better now. i shall test it.

[ratdude747]

Re: double lugged molex wiring

got it running, i also forgot to say that i swapped the 4 pin 12v to a better quality connector with beefier wire. running fine so far, i'll have to order caps to finish the recap..

[ratdude747]

ultra V 500w

still running great... powering my socket 939 dualcore gaming box right now..

[Rulycat]

Re: double lugged molex wiring

Does better wiring (and therefore less resistance) improve the efficiency by any measurable amount ratdude?

[ratdude747]

Re: double lugged molex wiring

yes... that way it can deliver the power it's capable of.

[Wizard]

Re: double lugged molex wiring

Yes, all the more vital on 5V design. This is major reason Intel specified 12V for less current and therefore cut down on power losses. High end machine even use 24V.

Cheers, Wizard

[ratdude747]

Re: double lugged molex wiring

next week ill post before and after pics. the second unit is unmodded right now... i may fix it as well someday.