Power Supply for Dell Dimension

OK, I've read many times that the Dell Dimension series
had a proprietory power connector which made upgrading the
power supply very difficult (ignoring PCPowerAndCooling's
300 watt Dell power supply for now). What is the difficulty
beyond using an old Dell Dimension power supply connector
and just splicing the wires to those on the new power supply?


*TimDaniels*

Which model Dimension?


"Timothy Daniels" wrote in message
...
OK, I've read many times that the Dell Dimension series
had a proprietory power connector which made upgrading the
power supply very difficult (ignoring PCPowerAndCooling's
300 watt Dell power supply for now). What is the difficulty
beyond using an old Dell Dimension power supply connector
and just splicing the wires to those on the new power supply?


*TimDaniels*

their is no universal answer for your question, but some, not all, of the
dimension power supplies were proprietary... so state a model number for an
accurate answer. however, their power supplies are very good, so
'upgrading' them is difficult (meaning, what would an upgrade be?). some
older models were noisy and so pcpower's replacement addressed this niche
market. you don't see aftermarket replacements for the older proprietary
power supplies since dells price for a high quality replacement is so cheap
(under $30). yes, if you had to replace one of the power supplies that
happened to be proprietary with a standard power supply that was actually a
better value than dells own replacement you could rewire the motherboard
connectors (the drive connectors are normal).

"Timothy Daniels" wrote in message
...
OK, I've read many times that the Dell Dimension series
had a proprietory power connector which made upgrading the
power supply very difficult (ignoring PCPowerAndCooling's
300 watt Dell power supply for now). What is the difficulty
beyond using an old Dell Dimension power supply connector
and just splicing the wires to those on the new power supply?


*TimDaniels*

"Edward J. Neth" asked:
Which model Dimension?


XPS_R450.


*TimDaniels*


"Timothy Daniels" had written:
OK, I've read many times that the Dell Dimension series
had a proprietory power connector which made upgrading the
power supply very difficult (ignoring PCPowerAndCooling's
300 watt Dell power supply for now). What is the difficulty
beyond using an old Dell Dimension power supply connector
and just splicing the wires to those on the new power supply?

"Christopher Muto" wrote:
their is no universal answer for your question, but some, not all, of the
dimension power supplies were proprietary... so state a model number for an
accurate answer. however, their power supplies are very good, so
'upgrading' them is difficult (meaning, what would an upgrade be?).


One that could power 4 hard drives plus a CD-RW/DVD-ROM
drive.


....yes, if you had to replace one of the power supplies that
happened to be proprietary with a standard power supply that was
actually a better value than dells own replacement you could rewire
the motherboard connectors (the drive connectors are normal).


I had assumed that it would be easier to rewire the connector
at the end of the wires coming from the old power supply than
to rewire the connector attached to motherboard. Is there
something I'm unaware of in that regard?


*TimDaniels*


"Timothy Daniels" had written:
OK, I've read many times that the Dell Dimension series
had a proprietory power connector which made upgrading the
power supply very difficult (ignoring PCPowerAndCooling's
300 watt Dell power supply for now). What is the difficulty
beyond using an old Dell Dimension power supply connector
and just splicing the wires to those on the new power supply?

above snipped

....yes, if you had to replace one of the power supplies that
happened to be proprietary with a standard power supply that was
actually a better value than dells own replacement you could rewire
the motherboard connectors (the drive connectors are normal).

Timothy Daniels wrote:

I had assumed that it would be easier to rewire the connector
at the end of the wires coming from the old power supply than
to rewire the connector attached to motherboard. Is there
something I'm unaware of in that regard?

It is the Motherboard connectors that are wired differently from
standard...if they are not wired properly, no power will get to the
Motherboard. This is what I've gained from reading posts about this in the
past. Your model computer would probably fit into that senerio. Pretty sure
your suggestion above would not solve your problem. Be a lot easier and
cheaper to just buy one from Dell unless you have a very good reason
otherwise.

....Allen


"Timothy Daniels" had written:
OK, I've read many times that the Dell Dimension series
had a proprietory power connector which made upgrading the
power supply very difficult (ignoring PCPowerAndCooling's
300 watt Dell power supply for now). What is the difficulty
beyond using an old Dell Dimension power supply connector
and just splicing the wires to those on the new power supply?

If just the motherboard connector were wired non-standardly,
then why couldn't *any* generic power supply connect
properly? Obviously, both halves of the connector must be
wired in a proprietary manner, and all that must be done is
to supply the right voltages to each wire that enters the
proprietary connector - be it the power supply half or the
motherboard half. I suspect that it's not the wiring that is
proprietary - it's the connector itself. And if that's the case,
using the connector from the wiring bundle on the old
power supply ought to work. All that is left is to connect
the wires on the new power supply to the right pins on the
proprietary connector. Is there something I'm missing here?
Does the Dimension motherboard use non-standard voltages?



"Allen_L" wrote:
Timothy Daniels wrote:

I had assumed that it would be easier to rewire the connector
at the end of the wires coming from the old power supply than
to rewire the connector attached to motherboard. Is there
something I'm unaware of in that regard?

It is the Motherboard connectors that are wired differently from
standard...if they are not wired properly, no power will get to the
Motherboard. This is what I've gained from reading posts about this in the
past. Your model computer would probably fit into that senerio. Pretty sure
your suggestion above would not solve your problem. Be a lot easier and
cheaper to just buy one from Dell unless you have a very good reason
otherwise.

...Allen


"Timothy Daniels" had written:
OK, I've read many times that the Dell Dimension series
had a proprietory power connector which made upgrading the
power supply very difficult (ignoring PCPowerAndCooling's
300 watt Dell power supply for now). What is the difficulty
beyond using an old Dell Dimension power supply connector
and just splicing the wires to those on the new power supply?

PCPower and Cooling sells an adapter for this if
your machine needs it. Go here and download the ATX spec.
Dell used the same wire colors, so it is easy to determine if
your supply is standard or not. The problem is Dell used a standard
connector wired differently.
http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/atx.htm

"Timothy Daniels" wrote in message
...
If just the motherboard connector were wired non-standardly,
then why couldn't *any* generic power supply connect
properly? Obviously, both halves of the connector must be
wired in a proprietary manner, and all that must be done is
to supply the right voltages to each wire that enters the
proprietary connector - be it the power supply half or the
motherboard half. I suspect that it's not the wiring that is
proprietary - it's the connector itself. And if that's the case,
using the connector from the wiring bundle on the old
power supply ought to work. All that is left is to connect
the wires on the new power supply to the right pins on the
proprietary connector. Is there something I'm missing here?
Does the Dimension motherboard use non-standard voltages?



"Allen_L" wrote:
Timothy Daniels wrote:

I had assumed that it would be easier to rewire the
connector
at the end of the wires coming from the old power supply
than
to rewire the connector attached to motherboard. Is there
something I'm unaware of in that regard?

It is the Motherboard connectors that are wired differently from
standard...if they are not wired properly, no power will get to
the
Motherboard. This is what I've gained from reading posts about
this in the
past. Your model computer would probably fit into that senerio.
Pretty sure
your suggestion above would not solve your problem. Be a lot
easier and
cheaper to just buy one from Dell unless you have a very good
reason
otherwise.

...Allen


"Timothy Daniels" had written:
OK, I've read many times that the Dell Dimension series
had a proprietory power connector which made upgrading the
power supply very difficult (ignoring PCPowerAndCooling's
300 watt Dell power supply for now). What is the difficulty
beyond using an old Dell Dimension power supply connector
and just splicing the wires to those on the new power supply?

According to "Upgrading and Repairing PCs"
(http://165.193.123.52/index.asp), the Dell
power supply wiring not only involves different
pin positions on the connector, but also different
number of pins having a particular voltage. See
the exerpt below (found at
http://165.193.123.52/articles/upgrade3_01_01.asp):


"At first I thought that if all they did was switch
some of the terminals around, then I could use a
terminal pick to remove the terminals from the
connectors (with the wires attached) and merely
reinsert them into the proper connector positions,
allowing me to use the Dell power supply with an
upgraded ATX motherboard in the future. Unfortunately
if you study the Dell main and auxiliary connector
pinouts I've listed here and compare them to the
industry standard ATX pinouts listed earlier, you'll
see that not only are the voltage and signal positions
changed, but the number of terminals carrying specific
voltages and grounds has changed as well."

Nothing about this is undoable - one just has to
be able to splice two wires to one wire as well as
one wire to one wire - but you need a diagram or
listing of the pinout arrangement and you have to
be real careful or you fry your motherboard.

Now, another question: Does a generic ATX
power supply fit into the same space and with the
same screw mounting holes and fan holes as the
proprietary power supply?


*TimDaniels*

Thanks for the link. If the PS fits into the space of the old PS,
I think I'll go the generic PS route. I love admiring my own
handiwork - as long as it's not toast. :-)

*TimDaniels*


"Pen" wrote:
PCPower and Cooling sells an adapter for this if
your machine needs it. Go here and download the ATX spec.
Dell used the same wire colors, so it is easy to determine if
your supply is standard or not. The problem is Dell used a standard
connector wired differently.
http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/atx.htm

"Timothy Daniels" had written:
If just the motherboard connector were wired non-standardly,
then why couldn't *any* generic power supply connect
properly? Obviously, both halves of the connector must be
wired in a proprietary manner, and all that must be done is
to supply the right voltages to each wire that enters the
proprietary connector - be it the power supply half or the
motherboard half. I suspect that it's not the wiring that is
proprietary - it's the connector itself. And if that's the case,
using the connector from the wiring bundle on the old
power supply ought to work. All that is left is to connect
the wires on the new power supply to the right pins on the
proprietary connector. Is there something I'm missing here?
Does the Dimension motherboard use non-standard voltages?



"Allen_L" wrote:
Timothy Daniels wrote:

I had assumed that it would be easier to rewire the
connector at the end of the wires coming from the
old power supply than to rewire the connector
attached to motherboard. Is there something I'm
unaware of in that regard?

It is the Motherboard connectors that are wired differently
from standard...if they are not wired properly, no power
will get to the Motherboard. This is what I've gained from
reading posts about this in the past. Your model computer
would probably fit into that senerio.

Pretty sure your suggestion above would not solve your problem.
Be a lot easier and cheaper to just buy one from Dell unless you
have a very good reason otherwise.

...Allen


"Timothy Daniels" had written:
OK, I've read many times that the Dell Dimension series
had a proprietory power connector which made upgrading the
power supply very difficult (ignoring PCPowerAndCooling's
300 watt Dell power supply for now). What is the difficulty
beyond using an old Dell Dimension power supply connector
and just splicing the wires to those on the new power supply?