S4M + HDPlex400 brickless - powering & grounding

[R.Heart]

Agreed with @Instran0 here.You ask, we try to explain. What even is the point on asking then?

I do apologize if I've been misleading. I promise I'm not here to be a troll and I don't want to "poison the well" so to speak.... As I said, my interest was in terms of functionality, and I am thankful for the input. Technically I went to school to study electronics, but it's been so long since I put it to proper use that I forgot a lot of things. I would like to be more helpful, because I "should" know, but I can't and I don't. Even so, I have no concerns about the safety of these devices. Things that really truly need a ground "should" have it stamped on the casing in big bold letters "must be grounded at all times." There's so much legal nonsense that goes into consumer electronics, that I'm confident in saying that, if HDplex knew there was any kind of risk to safety or people with medical conditions, they would not even ship it with the c8. Bear in mind too that they had the S4 in mind too when they designed it. The risk to their already small company would be too great. I don't like speaking "for" them, so I'm not trying to pretend to be some authority.... Confident... but not authoritative... Do what you feel you must.

Like I said, you're probably fine without it but the right thing must be stated otherwise people will downplay it and get bitten when they least expected it.

This is fine, but by the same token, I would also like to not scare people unnecessarily.....

 

[Choidebu]

I, too, studied electronics (albeit low voltage plc/mcu/fpga stuff) and dabbled in pc building since my teens.

Idk where you're coming from, but I've had my fair share of electric shocks and countless tingly sensations while touching my pc case. I quite enjoyed it to be honest. If one is to downplay that it'd be me.

I came from 3rd world, developing country so cheap electronics was the norm (still now to some extent) and this was the reality. Forget using 3 pole connector - our wall socket sometimes doesn't even have ground in them!

Must be nice having these assumptions that companies will take care of you as a consumer, or at least be forced to by the proper governmental bodies.

Sorry for the tounge-in-cheek remarks ^^

Peace out ?✌

 

[R.Heart]

Sorry, I should clarify my thought process at least. When OP said "C8 bad bad" I was like, well I already wired it up.... and it seems fine, so why bad bad? Is it going to degrade and fry my system in time? That is why I was confused initially. One response was more or less urgently "hurry up and re-wire with a c6 before you hurt yourself." And this would be when my tune changed.

Ok so now I understand better, and yeah that makes a lot of sense..... In my situation, I may live in the 1st world but my house was built in 1941, some (not all) of my outlets don't even have a ground socket and cannot accommodate a 3-prong plug. So the ones that do are probably properly grounded, going by what you describe. I will definitely be more careful in sharing information on that note.

Take care. ?

 

[Choidebu]

Indeed this is a touchy subject. People tend to take extreme polar opposites on this matter. I guess we all need to take a dose of practical pragmatism. I agree that telling people to rewire immediately is too much.

It's like, dude, chill...

 

[R.Heart]

No kidding.... You know, I think most people who build their own rigs too, at least if you don't really have huge budget constraints, I've heard the phrase "better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it." So.... Down the road I probably will install the c6, just not today.

 

[kyjol]

Can you post pictures?
Been wanting to see how josh solves the mounting.
Here's panel mount C6 inlet dimensions:


So what you're looking at here is two things:

Screw hole distance: 30 mm
Panel cutout: 20x15.5 mm

Screw hole distance have to be exactly that.

If both is correct, than the socket can be mounted from the inside. edit: sorry it actually needs 22.5x77.5 mm to be mounted inside.

If the cutout hole is smaller, worry not, If both is correct, you can mount the socket from the outside, with a nut behind the frame.

For power cable lookup "IEC C5 power cable" or "cloverleaf power cable". They're quite common, being used for bigger laptop adaptors.

I really appreciate your response, excellent information!

Unfortunately, although good quality, this connector is too big:
PICTURE 1
PICTURE 2

So I'm kind of at a loss now. It looks like the holes in the S4M are somehow wide enough they might support it, if I shave off some of the plastic on one side of the connector.
This would also allow the middle protruding section to slide into the square hole in the chassis, but I am not at all sure whether I'll get enough mm off to make this possible.
Finding a connector of an appropriate size is a pain in the ass... not many choices around.

 

[kyjol]

Sorry for the double post, but after writing that I decided to take my dremel and see what I can do with the connector.

Turns out I could make it work for outside mounting, a tight fit nonetheless, but it's usable. Had to shave off 3mm of plastic from one of the sides to not collide with the outer chassis.
Also had to take a smidgen, just 1mm, off the center side of the connector on the other side - otherwise the position caused the right mounting hole to be misaligned.
It looks worse on the pictures because of the desk lamp light, lol, in reality barely anything came off the center side of the connector. A bit more material had to come off the outer side, but there's still enough so that the screw won't break it.

PICTURES HERE

Now just to find a matching bolt + nut to make the entire thing work for this outside mount.

Nothing comes to my mind, but any comments on why this wouldn't be a good setup? I really don't want to hunt for a perfectly matching connector for weeks on end... I also wouldn't have the conscience to drill into this beautifully crafted case.

 

[Instran0]

it would be extremely helpful, if you " officially " checked which SkyReach revision you have.

if its the newest one [ R5 ] and your C6 connector still doesn't fit, that's very important info.

however, i'll note that Josh | NFC already showed a R5 revision, in one of his youtube videos.

and in that video, the C6 connector did fit.

 

[kyjol]

I ordered on August 12th, my order says:

Skyreach 4 MINI × 1
Silver / NFC SILIFLEX / R5

So it is the newest revision AFAIK. There's no info on the chassis itself/the box, and there's no paper manual, so I'll take them at their word that's what they shipped.

I guess it fits 'compatible' C6 connectors. It looks like not all of them were created equal. I wanted to get one off NFC's website, which looks like it's smaller and a better fit, but at that time it was unavailable. Now it's available, but the connector is 3$ while shipping to my country is 13$, and since I have to solder it myself anyway... not worth the cost.

So, I guess anyone's best bet is to try to find a connector of the dimensions Choidebu mentioned earlier (excellent breakdown), and if not possible slight modding might be required. Hopefully, only on the connector, like in my case.

 

[Choidebu]

Now just to find a matching bolt + nut to make the entire thing work for this outside mount.

Nothing comes to my mind, but any comments on why this wouldn't be a good setup?

Thank you for the pics!
Hmmm yeah I wouldn't call this 'compatible'... let's ping @Josh | NFC if this is indeed R5. I haven't seen R5 in any youtube videos, I'm afraid.

And if nut and bolt works, I'd say good job shaving some mm off it and making it work! Nah I don't see anything wrong with it either.

 

[Josh | NFC]

Hello everyone.

Remember to please email me if you need an immediate response, because I am slow about keeping up on all the different forums and the like. I'm glad you posted here though so we can help other people with the same questions.

There have ever only been two versions of the Skyreach 4 MINI. R5 is some SFFLAB number. I'm not sure where it comes from but I am sure it is helpful to them and there is a good reason.

If you ordered the MINI this year, you have version 2, which has minor changes (the biggest one being an enlarged AC inlet cutout). C6 inlets housing are not standardized. Obviously the connection is, but the housing itself varies wildly from manufacturer to manufacturer, and even between types.

The cutout is designed around the HDPLEX C6 connector which is being custom made by HDPLEX. It is not available yet, and it did not launch with the MINI or the first couple batches of the 400 AC. I do not have an ETA, and please do not ask HDPLEX for an ETA on an unannounced product. I am sharing this hoping to help people not cause them more inconvenience. Thank you!!!!

On my website for customer convenience I carry the Shurter connector. It needs to be shaved down by a couple mm on a belt sander but otherwise it fits great. For the prewired connectors I started doing this, but my health took a dive and I am no longer doing custom stuff at this time and am slowly closing the shop.

As kyjol said, it was worth it to him to save money and solder it himself anyway. As a side note, I do have some in stock, and if you live in the USA shipping is much cheaper than buying them off Mouser, so all in all it should be the same price or less. My website uses prices based on USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes and it can't calculate small envelopes at non-priority mail rates. I ALWAYS REFUND SHIPPING OVERAGES so if something costs 5 dollars to ship and my site charged 13, you will be refunded at time of processing.

Thank you for asking, and I hope this helps.

Peace to you and thank you to the community for helping out.