jbrodriguez Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 (edited) This is about an ArchLinux workstation I built as an `offsite` ZFS backup, and to try and build my own router (no pfsense, no vyos, no ubnt) I'm sitting very comfortably, all of a sudden I see a pillar of smoke in front of me !! BOLTED to the nearby 'rack', and ... I can see actual FIRE through the case !!! Background: it's a Zalman MS800 with two 3-in-5 hdd cages, the bottom 3 hdd slots are empty except for the last one that houses the system ssd. Resuming ... I can see FIRE through the bottom air grills, I blow at it, fire subsedes a bit ... thinking fast, I unplug the power, remove the lan cable and take the case outside, open it and the fire has died down, not sure when it fully died. VERY SCARY !!!! Post Mortem: The power cable to the ssd drive is charcoal burned. I know the ssd is dead for all intents and purposes (reinstall is what lies ahead). Leave it resting for a day or two (let me give it some thought) and buy another SSD. Why it caught on fire is still a mystery to me, but these are some facts: - The machine is powered by a Seasonic 650 Gold power supply - A single power cable was covering the two 3-in-5 cages and the cable has a third connector which I extended with a third-party cable to power the SSD - The endpoint of this extension is what caught on fire So, either the connection was loose, the extension cable was bad quality or random gremlins woke up at noon. Currently: - New Crucial 120Gb SSD - New single power cable from PSU to SSD It works now. Edited July 6, 2019 by jbrodriguez Quote Link to comment
Vr2Io Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 (edited) Won't loose cause, most time was SATA plug short the power and cause fire. Many case report that. In fact, there are some design fault in SATA plug, the insulation between connector pin was too thin. Edited July 6, 2019 by Benson Quote Link to comment
StevenD Posted July 6, 2019 Share Posted July 6, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, jbrodriguez said: ... which I extended with a third-party cable to power the SSD As @Benson said, this is a VERY common cause of fires. Never, ever, never use a "molded" SATA power connector. Always use the "crimped" style. Bad: Good: Edited July 6, 2019 by StevenD 1 Quote Link to comment
perhansen Posted July 6, 2019 Share Posted July 6, 2019 Ohh no thats scary. I use a lot of the “molded” in my server and have been doing that for years now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment
HK-Steve Posted July 6, 2019 Share Posted July 6, 2019 Same here, 90% are molded from Corsiar PSU. Scary....................... Appreciate the story and advice, Thanks Will now look for 60 new crimped connectors. Tower 1 has 10x hard drives Tower 2 has 24x hard drives Tower 3 has 20x hard drives Quote Link to comment
saarg Posted July 6, 2019 Share Posted July 6, 2019 3 hours ago, HK-Steve said: Same here, 90% are molded from Corsiar PSU. Scary....................... Appreciate the story and advice, Thanks Will now look for 60 new crimped connectors. Tower 1 has 10x hard drives Tower 2 has 24x hard drives Tower 3 has 20x hard drives I haven't seen a single corsair PSU that uses molded connectors. Are you sure? And if Corsair uses molded ones, I would think they use a quality supplier. From what I have seen, the issue is with the cheap adapters and not the ones from the PSU. Quote Link to comment
Vr2Io Posted July 6, 2019 Share Posted July 6, 2019 (edited) I am not sure which type must better then others, usually you will got 3 types. I like EZ crimp type more then others, bacause insulation between connector || connector usually thicker and overall have stronger mechanical performance. - molded type You can't see the inside - EZ crimp type - pin type So any pin-to-pin short, means that power short to ground. Edited July 6, 2019 by Benson Quote Link to comment
perhansen Posted July 6, 2019 Share Posted July 6, 2019 I haven't seen a single corsair PSU that uses molded connectors. Are you sure? And if Corsair uses molded ones, I would think they use a quality supplier. From what I have seen, the issue is with the cheap adapters and not the ones from the PSU.I also have a Corsair psu. They are not supplied with the psu, they are bought subsequently, from china I will look for some new ones. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment
PSYCHOPATHiO Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 I try to avoid anything molex all together when i can, I used to use a sata Splitter I got from Amazon, seen too much horror on youtube. Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 12 minutes ago, PSYCHOPATHiO said: I try to avoid anything molex all together when i can, I used to use a sata Splitter I got from Amazon, seen too much horror on youtube. Not saying those won't work, but not really recommended, 12V on SATA plug is designed for 4.5Amps maximum, 4 disks can easily require 8 to 10amps during spin up. 1 Quote Link to comment
PSYCHOPATHiO Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 barely used the cable, I upgraded the PSU to something that has more sata connectors. Quote Link to comment
sonofdbn Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 23 hours ago, johnnie.black said: Not saying those won't work, but not really recommended, 12V on SATA plug is designed for 4.5Amps maximum, 4 disks can easily require 8 to 10amps during spin up. So does this mean that since 2 disks could need 4 to 5 amps during spin up, I shouldn't use any SATA power splitter at all for hard disks? What about 1 hard disk and 1 SSD, or 2 SSDs? Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 I have no problem using a 1 > 2 splitter for 2 HDDS, but wouldn't use more than 2. Quote Link to comment
sonofdbn Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 Just now, johnnie.black said: I have no problem using a 1 > 2 splitter for 2 HDDS, but wouldn't use more than 2. Good to know. Any experience with SSDs? My Googling didn't turn up anything that looked credible, and the specs of my new Sandisk SSD don't mention power consumption at all. Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted July 9, 2019 Share Posted July 9, 2019 Most SSD use less then 0.5Amps. Quote Link to comment
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