Power Cable Modding
The NAS in my living room has a very nice case: The Node 304 by Fractal Design. It’s very modular and compact (Mini-ITX), and you can mount put up to six [sic!] 3.5 inch HDDs. It just has one big annoyance with the power supply.
The supply is mounted internally, and then connected to a plug that is mounted to the panel. This cable uses a right-angle-connector. The problem with this is, I didn’t think of the fact that my power supply mounts the other way. So it needs a connector that is angled towards the other side. Finding a right-angle connector wasn’t that difficult, but I didn’t find one with a panel-mountable socket on the other side. So, for a long time I just left the cable dangling out of the back. I decided to rectify this a few days ago.
My first idea was to zombify both cables I had by cutting them up and then
soldering them back together. If this would be a low-voltage project, I
wouldn’t think twice about it. But I’ve always felt a bit uneasy with high
voltage. And I wasn’t sure if it’s OK to just solder in that case. So I asked
around in my social circles if anyone knew an electrician. My good friend, the
Broom Besen told me: “I’m not an electrician, but when I worked on construction
sites I always did it that way”. Very reassuring. So, I decided to listen to
his advice. We decided the best way would be to crimp the cable onto a
panel-mounted plug.
So that’s what I did.
![A power supply. A cable with a right-angled plug is inserted into it](/img/IMG_20210716_135343.jpg)
The cable I’m going to cut
![A panel mount, screwed into the back of the case](/img/IMG_20210716_135402-1.jpg)
Attaching the panel-mounted plug
![A cable, a wire cutter, and a cutter knife on a desk](/img/IMG_20210716_135802.jpg)
Cutting the cable
![The same cable, with the outer isolation removed](/img/IMG_20210716_140025.jpg)
Removing isolation
![The cable, with one plug crimped onto the live wire](/img/IMG_20210716_140143.jpg)
Crimping the plug
![All 3 plugs crimped onto the cable](/img/IMG_20210716_140707.jpg)
All plugs crimped
![The cable is attached to the socket](/img/IMG_20210716_141729-1.jpg)
![The cable is attached to the socket of the power supply and to the socket for the other cable](/img/IMG_20210716_141608.jpg)
Attaching the plugs
![Close-Up of previous picture, showing the socket with the crimped wires](/img/IMG_20210716_141613.jpg)
Close-Up
![The cable, with a CE sticker on it](/img/IMG_20210716_141720.jpg)
What is that sticker doing there?
![The cable, with the CE sticker removed](/img/IMG_20210716_141752.jpg)
Didn’t feel right leaving it on :D
![The case with a warning label on it. The warning label says 'DO NOT OPEN'](/img/IMG_20210716_143634.jpg)
![Another warning label. This one says: NOT CE, and includes a skull and crossbones](/img/IMG_20210716_143639.jpg)
I also made some warning labels to stop casual snooping, since live is now exposed inside the case even when the computer is turned off.
I know this is a bit different from my other projects, but I hope you liked reading it!