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Hardware Technology

Functional Casemods? 54

Posted by Cliff from the useful-boxen dept.
attercoppe asks: "I'm looking for opinions and advice from Slashdot readers on a case mod idea. I'd like to install a second (small, low heat, no fan) power supply to run a single CD drive. The idea is to basically integrate a CD player into the case, allowing me to ditch my bookshelf stereo (yay convergence!). But I want to be able to use it without having the computer booted (to avoid waste heat and all the associated fan noise - PS, CPU, and two 4" fans). The question is, can I wire an existing drive, and maybe one of the supplemental fans, into both the existing and the new power supplies? Will one PS get feedback from the other through the drive? Do I need a switch to choose which PS to use? I know I won't be able to use the sound card... that's ok. No, I won't have a tuner for radio - that may come later. Tips, ideas, ridicule?"
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Functional Casemods? More

Functional Casemods?

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  • Ridicule? (Score:2, Funny)

    by CowboyNick ( 612553 )
    ...ridicule?

    You've come to the right place.

  • Fans (Score:2, Interesting)

    by eakerin ( 633954 )
    This is just my guess but, I don't think you'll generate enough heat from one CD-ROM Drive to need to worry about getting a Fan Spinning, the Power supply fan should be more than enough.

    Sounds cool though, you plan on just plugging the speakers into the CD-ROM's Headphone plug, or using amplified speakers hooked up to the audio out connector?
    • I haven't seen a cd-rom drive that has a headphone plug or play/stop/ff/rw buttons in years. I'm not really sure i understand why they took that feature away, but it really was convenient as hell to be able to plug your headphones into the cd-drive and not have to run 'em around back to your soundcard or into one of your computer speakers. (anyone know why that plug went bye bye?)
    • I will mostly use headphones in the front jack, but may set up an audio out conn through the back of the case.
    • I will mostly just have headphones plugged into the front jack, but may occasionally hook up speakers instead...I will probably run a lead from the audio out to a dual RCA on the back of the case.

  • As far as audio out... (Score:3, Informative)

    by revmoo ( 652952 ) <slashdot&meep,ws> on Monday October 13, 2003 @09:39PM (#7204209) Homepage Journal
    As far as audio out goes, you can splice the audio out cable that runs out the back of the soundcard to whatever you are using to amplify the setup, it outputs a standard line-level signal, so it's perfectly usable, and will save you from having an unsightly cable running out the front from the headphone jack.

    You can get small, fanless power supplies that will give you 12v, you might want to check around hobby supply places, if you get lucky you might find one for pc components with a molex connector, but chances are your most likely find will be a non-pc power supply, which you can use just fine, you'll just need to make sure the voltage and current levels are the what the cd-rom expects, and probably splice an old molex connector to it to connect to the cd-rom properly.

    Good luck in your utterly useless venture :)

  • No workie (Score:4, Informative)

    by pbox ( 146337 ) on Monday October 13, 2003 @09:41PM (#7204224) Homepage Journal
    Connecting outputs of two power supplies directly is a sure way of blowing up one or the other. Think about it this way: one is outputting 5.00V, the other one is 5.02V. You connect them together and the 0.02V difference will have to be resolved. The wires have negligable resistance (let's say 0.01 Ohm), so you will have (I=U/R) current that is 0.02 V / 0.01 Ohm = 2 A ! Doing nothing than disspicating from both PSUs. In real life 5V +/- 5% will give you 0.5 V max difference, and the wires are not much, so it will actually be likely to dissipate much more than my example.

    You can connect diodes from both PSUs, pointing towards the CD, but the diodes have a 0.7V drop...

    Or you can just buy that MSI barebones system, that already has the functionality that you crave...

    Use the Goggle, Luke!
    • Why use two power supplies? Just use one to power the drive and another to power everything else, and connect the grounds together.

      Anyone who's used an external drive enclosure has done the exact same thing. And as long as signal lines are within .5V of each other, it's fine.

      Not to mention that the scenario you name doesn't happen, because the power supplies have significant amounts of impedance which limits that current flow. Still, feeding power into the output of a switch-mode regulator is a bad thi
  • i've seen an actually device that fits into a bay and does just what you want plus radio and *possibly mp3. it also had a nifty set of controls and a multiline lcd.
  • Wouldn't this [buy.com] be cheaper and easier?

  • already a solution... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Polo ( 30659 ) * on Monday October 13, 2003 @09:59PM (#7204453) Homepage
    Just get an MSI mega pc [msicomputer.com].

    You can turn on and off the computer and still use the home theater section independently.
    • The MSI product is noisy and has heat problems. A better solution would be and EPIA system or a Shuttle XPC. The heat pipe technology in the new XPC's works as advertised and the PC's are very quiet.

  • Not that I recommend hacking your power supplies, but here is an idea.

    If you are woried about having both Power Supplies configured to power a single device like a Hard Drive (so it runs when either ps is on) you could try putting diodes on the leads from each of the power supplies to the device. Its DC after all...

    That way current will only travel in the intended direction, and not back into the switched off ps... Your power supplies may already have protection against this sort of reverse current flow..

  • Why 2 PSU to CD? (Score:2, Informative)

    by Papineau ( 527159 )

    Why having 2 PSU to the CD? The second one (only for CD) will be able to always power it if the primary is only connected to th MB. Since the CD and MB talk to each other only through the IDE cable, and this cable is meant to convey signals (ie, no current), there shouldn't be any problem with the minimal different voltages both PSU will supply. Of course, that means having the second one always on if you want to use the CD at the same time than the computer.

    Of course, if it all burns in giant flames, don'

  • Warning: if you have no idea what you are doing, don't even attempt any of this stuff. You could be killed and I'm not responsible. If you don't have any experience as an electrician, then get someone who does. Soldering Iron Required.

    First, get an external CD-ROM drive [ebay.com]. Get one that fits your needs and can function as a stand-alond CD player. I have a Panasonic PCMCIA one, which just happens to show up on the listing when I looked. If you want a single enclosure solution, you can build some sort of cr

    • Ok, MSI have a wonderful little gadget that does this (at a price) but if the original poster feels comfortable there is little here beyond what it takes to wire up lights or a hifi. The only problem is avoiding hum loops and the rule is just to connect the earths of both power supplies together, so the CD player stays powered by the brick.

      Btw, your 2c sounds like my $20!!

    • Thanks for the ideas...here's what I'm thinking, though (very basically):

      1. Dismantle external drive enclosure.
      2. Mount PS in computer case.
      3. Mount spare CD drive in empty bay.
      4. Hook it all up!
      (and of course...)
      5.?
      6.Profit!
  • There is only one input for power on the CD-Rom drive, how do you expect it to feedback into the other PSU?

    To better answer your question, I have a Dual P2 running linux as a file server. It has 3 9 gig SCSI drives connected to it, but they are so damn huge (full height) that I had to bolt them all together with sheet metal and sit them outside the dual p2's case. Not to mention the huge amount of power they suck down, and the huge amount of heat and noise they generate. (You thought a 7200 RPM was loud. Y
  • Sounds OK. a 12 volt wall wart of some type would do it. You could get one made for a notebook or one of the small 12 volt warts made for EPIA systems. But why not just build up a silent fanless EPIA system and leave it on all the time. You could do a lot more stuff and it'd be about as quiet as the drive by itself...
    • The power set for the quiet EPIA cases usually comprises of a laptop-style small 'brick' rather than a wall-wart, and a DC-DC converter. The brick would usually output something like 15-18v to feed into the converter and down to +/-5/12v supplied over ATX and a couple of Molex. They are usually rated 55-60w (though Travla have 90-120w with a virtually-silent temperature controlled fan on the brick) and are either supplied separately or with the case.

      You can of course power an EPIA Mini-ITX from a normal A

  • There's only been one product ever made that does everything you want: the Apple PowerCD.

    http://www.applefritter.com/accessories/powercd/

    Too bad they don't make em anymore. They're really rare and expensive collector's items.
  • Heh heh, you could put the bookshelf unit... inside the case. And run the power cord out from the side. And have the speakers outside the case. Heh heh. And if it doesn't fit, disassemble it. And mount it sideways if you have to. I mean it, like, already has a power supply and drive unit and all. And, like, doesn't cost money. Which is good. Totally.
  • the easiest way I can see is having a converter from a 110 wall outlet to a 12 / 5 molex plug. then you can connect that to yer cd drive and bobs yer mothers brother. you can even put a Y connector on the molex to connect to yer other PSU so you can select the source. Now that you have power, just run a line off the bottom (get the specs and solder a line there (its not that hard)) and you can have the line run anywhere. I would take one of the front panels to the case and botch it to the front of the cd dr
    • I'd be happy to void the warranty, if there was one. Being a real geek, I built my own machine. The only destruction I forsee is to the case itself.
      • yeah... i do things like take apart the cd drive to make new switches and face plates. but i built my comptuer FTDU (from the desk up) and there is no warrenty... but i am an electrical engineer, so anything i can't fix, can't be fixed.
  • Just take an old computer ps, build a box and slap the car stereo and ps into it.

    One of the guys I worked with at Dell had this rig set up in the testing lab. Even had a set of speakers with wireless remote that would let him turn them up/down/off from across the lab.

    You can even wire up a set of jacks and get a splitter allowing you to hook the computer speakers to the car stereo and the PC at the same time. If you get a set of car stereo speakers and mount them in the box and slap a handle on it, you've
  • Why spend a little money when you could spend a lot?

    1) make the PC quieter -- replace it with a tiny Shuttle, go nuts with the mods at http://www.quietpcusa.com, store it behind baffles under your desk.
    2) Get a Slimp3 hooked up to your existing bookshelf or to one of those super-tiny amplifiers. Some people even skip the external amplifier entirely and hook their Slimp3 up directly to powered speakers.
    3) Rip and sell your CDs.
    4) ....
    5) In Soviet Russia, Natalie Portman gets all your profit -- but trust me,
  • NewQ 3379 Platinum 4 Channel Enhancer, Equalizer and FM Radio, with a Remote and Vacuum Fluorescent Display! [partshelf.com]
    Fits in a 5 1/4" drive bay too.

    It only requires 12V power from a power supply, so you can hack that, and you can wire the analog output of a CD-ROM drive to the NewQ's Line-In. Have fun.
  • I've got an old External 1x SCSI CDROM that can be a standalone CD Player. Of course, if you removed the SCSI, you'd just have a big Walkman. Are you overthinking this?

  • The MSI Mega PC [newegg.com] is a barebones kit that has an inbuilt CD/media player that powers on/off seperately from the PC, complete with it's own home stereo style LCD display. All you need do is add your processor, RAM, etc. and have it working...
  • It occurred to me recently to wonder why no one (to my knowledge)ever brought out an audio cassette deck designed to fit in a 5.25" bay.

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