marcusone Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Got subject today and was testing it... one thing I quickly noticed that wasn't in the reviews is, sever lack of instructions! Why 2xMolex plugs for power... I assume splitting the drives power (new to racks like this, so thought logical). DO NOT USE BOTH MOLEX I assume they are used for connecting redundant power supplies or something, as simply plugging in 1 is sufficient and actually powers the other. Luckily my PSU has a safety and wouldn't power on with both connected as it caused a short. Is this standard? So on other units, just only ever use 1 port unless you have redundant power supplies? Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 Got subject today and was testing it... one thing I quickly noticed that wasn't in the reviews is, sever lack of instructions! Why 2xMolex plugs for power... I assume splitting the drives power (new to racks like this, so thought logical). DO NOT USE BOTH MOLEX I assume they are used for connecting redundant power supplies or something, as simply plugging in 1 is sufficient and actually powers the other. Luckily my PSU has a safety and wouldn't power on with both connected as it caused a short. Is this standard? So on other units, just only ever use 1 port unless you have redundant power supplies? It's not like that with the supermicro units. I find it odd actually. on other units I've used all the molex or sata port ports. Seems like yours may have had a short. Link to comment
marcusone Posted February 9, 2012 Author Share Posted February 9, 2012 I have 2 and they both do that. You can use both if you use 2 molex on the same cable as that doent cause a short. So to test i took it out applied power and used a volt meter on the other molex - got full power readings. Both my cages do this so im fairly certain its for redundant psu connections. Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk Link to comment
WeeboTech Posted February 9, 2012 Share Posted February 9, 2012 What PSU are you using? Link to comment
PeterB Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 I think that this must be a problem with your PSU - perhaps it isn't 'single rail' and the molex peripheral connectors are split across more than one rail. I use both power connectors on my iStar BPN-350 cages (three of them), but my PSU is definitely single rail. The reason for having multiple power connectors on the cage is that the standard molex connector is only rated for 11 amps. Five drives can draw more than 11 amps on simultaneous spinup. This is standard on all 5 drive cages. I guess that if you can be sure that you will only ever use 'green' drives, then you may be okay connecting just one power lead. Link to comment
marcusone Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 PeterB - if that is true about molex plugs why on earth would they not split how the connectors are distributed to the drives. Ie one for 3 of the drives 1 for the other 2. I have 5 older 7200 test drives running in it now off 1 connector, spin up down without issues. Makes more sense to me that it's for failover. Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk Link to comment
PeterB Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 PeterB - if that is true about molex plugs why on earth would they not split how the connectors are distributed to the drives. Ie one for 3 of the drives 1 for the other 2. Why, what would be the benefit? I have 5 older 7200 test drives running in it now off 1 connector, spin up down without issues. Makes more sense to me that it's for failover. Okay, but I've seen molex connectors where the nylon housing has melted - it makes a bit of a mess. Link to comment
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