Completed Meanwell / Thin Mini-ITX Accessories : Load Switch and PCIe x4 Powered Riser

aquelito

King of Cable Management
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Feb 16, 2016
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Hello there,

I will propose in the near future two 12V builds accessories, which are merely continuing Qinx work on H2o Micro.

1. +12V Load Switch :

This load switch is intended for everyone powering their GPUs with an open-frame 12V PSU, such as the notorious Meanwell EPP series.
For me, the only drawback of that compact solution is that the GPU is constantly fed with +12V, even when the system is shut down.

To cut the +12V current when the system is off, I proposed to a more knowledgeable member of [H] to develop a small +12 load switch.

It is based on a Mosfet and soldered wires to achieve the smallest footprint possible : 17.02x27.03 mm.
Principle : the circuit is hooked up to a fan header from the motherboard which triggers the MOSFET and closes the circuit.

I already have three of these babies, which work perfectly !
One will be used in my dual-GPU setup, the other one in my thin mini-ITX computer.

If you are interested, please let me know and we'll run an other batch.
The PCB with the components soldered should cost around 15€ excl. shipping.





2. Thin Mini-ITX powered riser

We are aiming at producing a powered riser that folds over thin mini-itx motherboards, with the abilty to have it powered only by the PSU (+12V from the slot will be cut).
The riser will be synced with the system, which means that NO +12V will be fed to your GPU while the system is OFF.

You may remember the custom PCIe 4X to 16X powered riser that Qinx developed some times ago.
Just for reminder : the +12V trace of the riser has been cut so that all the +12V slot power the GPU needs is provided by the 12V PSU.



I'm currently running one succesfully in my thin Mini-ITX build.

However, to improve Qinx work, the next logical step is to integrate the load switch previously introduced into the PCIe 4X riser !
The principle would be the following : the MOSFET would be triggered by the +12V coming from the slot.

Currently, we are aiming at producing 5 units, which should cost around 50€ each fully soldered.
Following the demand, we may produce more and get lower prices.
Please let me know as we are going to start the development soon enough.

Update #1 : Design

Update #2 : Prototype

Update #3 : Production



 
Last edited:

AleksandarK

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May 14, 2017
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This is really interesting!!! I dont have Thin ITX, but i am really curious to see what others do with this.

Btw, who is your partner/manufaturer in this?
 

aquelito

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Feb 16, 2016
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Could be be interested. I have an Asus Q87T, would this work at this board is powered from 19V DC ?

I actually run a GT1030 from the PCIe slot but would like to upgrade to GTX1050ti

Yes, it will work but you will need a DC-DC board to convert 19V to 12V.
This is what I used to do with an Asrock H110TM-ITX, before I switched to the Gigabyte H110TN, which accepts 12V input.

I used the onboard 2-Pin power connector, which is acting as passthrough when the DC jack is connected, to output +19V current to the shorted HDPLEX, to power Qinx riser and a GTX 1060.




You might want to check @Kmpkt Dynamo board, which is going to be perfect for the job.
During the design stage, I submitted the Mosfet switch idea and I think it has been implemented.

My current setup : cleaner with a single 12V brick for something like a 1050 Ti ;)



This is really interesting!!! I dont have Thin ITX, but i am really curious to see what others do with this.

Btw, who is your partner/manufaturer in this?

C_Payne from [H] is taking care of the circuit design and manufacturing.
He is already designing bifurcated risers :)
 

CC Ricers

Shrink Ray Wielder
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Nov 1, 2015
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This is very interesting. I have bought a cheap AC-DC PSU that I want to try to mod and use for a low-power system as explained in this thread. My DC-DC board is a cheap Pico-style plugin one for the motherboard, CPU and other devices, but it cannot handle all the GPU load by itself. So if I distribute the power from my PSU I would need something like your load switch to cut off GPU power when the computer is off.

Your load switch comes with lots of connectors- is it possible to make one with just a 6-pin connector for GPU power only?
 

Therandomness

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Nov 9, 2016
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Would it be possible to wire such a thing to power on say, a HDPLEX 160W DC-DC unit through the 24 pin's PS_ON pin? I've been trying to do so recently but it's not really worked at all. I'm asking due to the fact that an STX board doesn't have any standard power connectors other than the DC jack on it so yeah.
 

aquelito

King of Cable Management
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Feb 16, 2016
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Your load switch comes with lots of connectors- is it possible to make one with just a 6-pin connector for GPU power only?

Yes ! The load switch comes as a bare PCB, with only the Mosfet and an other chip soldered.
Then you can solder whatever cables you need.

These are the two wire harnesses I'm gonna use :

- On the left, for my dual GTX 1070 : one input wire (red 12AWG wire), six output +12v wires
- On the right, for my thin mini-ITX : two 18AWG input wires, two 18AWG ouput wires. You harness should look like this, with one more ouput wire (for your 6-Pin GPU connector).



Would it be possible to wire such a thing to power on say, a HDPLEX 160W DC-DC unit through the 24 pin's PS_ON pin?

The load switch simply turns off and on the +12V line connected to it. So the +12V line needs to be always "on" on the PSU side.
Which means that your HDPLEX 160W needs to be jumpered all the time.

The other way around is to, as you imply, jumper the HDPLEX PS_ON and GND pins with a MOSFET switch.

Qinx designed used successfuly this small circuit in his build.
He made one for me but sadly it never worked. You can see it in the pic above.
Here is the diagram :



I'm going to ask if you could mod my load switch though.
 

GuilleAcoustic

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I used the onboard 2-Pin power connector, which is acting as passthrough when the DC jack is connected

Sadly, the Q87T doesn't have passthrough. It might be possible to split the 19V to feed both the motherboard and an HDPLEX.

I know meanwell have 20V adjustable AC-DC that can be adjusted to 19V, but I can't find the reference. Their 12V and 24V can't output 19V sadly.
 
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aquelito

King of Cable Management
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Feb 16, 2016
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Sadly, the Q87T doesn't have passthrough. It might be possible to split the 19V to feed both the motherboard and an HDPLEX.

I know meanwell have 20V adjustable AC-DC that can be adjusted to 19V, but I can't find the reference. Their 12V and 24V can't output 19V sadly.

Have you tried to use the 2-Pin connector as passthrough output ? I was pretty sure it was a standard thin mini-ITX feature.
Worked for Qinx and myself on at least 3 boards.

If it does not work, then you could use either HDPLEX 19V internal PSU or any 19V AIO PSU, then split the +19V line to both your 2-Pin motherboard power connector and HDPLEX DC board.



That's true that the solution I offer is more oriented towards 12V builds, since I skip the 19V to 12V conversion, hence the need to jumper the DC-DC board.
 

aquelito

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You could simply check the voltage of the 2-Pin connector when the DC connector is populated ?
 
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Therandomness

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Nov 9, 2016
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Yes ! The load switch comes as a bare PCB, with only the Mosfet and an other chip soldered.
Then you can solder whatever cables you need.

These are the two wire harnesses I'm gonna use :

- On the left, for my dual GTX 1070 : one input wire (red 12AWG wire), six output +12v wires
- On the right, for my thin mini-ITX : two 18AWG input wires, two 18AWG ouput wires. You harness should look like this, with one more ouput wire (for your 6-Pin GPU connector).
-snip-
The load switch simply turns off and on the +12V line connected to it. So the +12V line needs to be always "on" on the PSU side.
Which means that your HDPLEX 160W needs to be jumpered all the time.

The other way around is to, as you imply, jumper the HDPLEX PS_ON and GND pins with a MOSFET switch.

Qinx designed used successfuly this small circuit in his build.
He made one for me but sadly it never worked. You can see it in the pic above.
Here is the diagram :
-snip-
I'm going to ask if you could mod my load switch though.
Would the best method be to hook the 12V to a fan header on the motherboard itself? Actually wait yeah that'd work :p Yeah this'll remove my need for an arduino at all, thanks!

EDIT: I've just made the adaptor, and it works!
 
Last edited:

aquelito

King of Cable Management
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Feb 16, 2016
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Nice !! Now you have your 19V DC board switch ;)
What reference of Mosfet did you use ?

You can of course use any 5v or 12v output from the motherboard (satapower, usb, etc.).
 
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Therandomness

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Nice !! Now you have your 19V DC board switch ;)
What reference of Mosfet did you use ?

You can of course use any 5v or 12v output from the motherboard (satapower, usb, etc.).
I used an IRLZ44N for this. I mean, I didn't even need to solder the legs of the MOSFET because they're very well held into the cables on the 24 pin power extender :p
 
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Therandomness

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Did you just insert the Mosfet legs into the extension connector ?

This is the way to go for 19V systems !
The missing piece of @Aibohphobia build, which HDPLEX DC board is "permanently" jumpered :

-snip-

For those who favor 12V systems, such as the Gigabyte GA-H110MSTX-HD3, then my load switch comes in handy.
Well, sortof, I had cables in there already, so I just pushed the MOSFET's legs in to the PS_On and ground lines that were already there. None of the other cables were in the connector anyway :p