[Smithcity]

I was trying to figure out the easiest 1000watt+ psu for sleeving, and was going to go with the Corsair AX 1200i, but I couldn't get over the price difference between the AX1200 and the EVGA G2. Needless to say I ended up going with the G2. I was originally turned off to the G2 due to dealing with capacitors on the cables. I didn't want to remove them as others have done, nor did I want to deal with the added complexity of sleeving with them, but decided to do so due to the price difference between the psu's.

I haven't seen any sleeving where the capacitors were kept in place, so I thought I'd share my results.

This is my first time sleeving or lacing, I think the cable came out fairly decent.

I want to give a big thanks to Lutro0 for his videos, tutorials, and FAQ's on sleeving. I never would have attempted this without his contribution. His work is great. Thanks Lutro0!!

I created my own pin-out diagram that denotes double wires, capacitors (get the polarity right!), and importantly, wire gauges. if you aren't replacing the wires with all 16awg, but rather, using the existing wires, make sure you keep the wire gauges straight. The G2 I have uses 16awg, 18awg, 22awg, and 20awg wires. Don't want to accidentally use the 20awg wire where a 16awg wire should be used.

The pin to pin mapping for the G2 I have is different than that posted in the Repository Of Power Supply Pin Outs. I posted my updated pin-out for "new" G2's, it is repeated below in case you need it and don't want to dig through the repository thread as the G2 hasn't been updated with my pin-out yet.



Off to the sleeving!

The Power Supply:


The 24pin ATX cable with sleeving removed:


3x 220uF Capacitors (messy!):


I never realized that the pin numbers were labeled on the back of ATX connectors, need to get the light correct to see them:




My sleeve, red, white, and black paracord:


Step 1: Is to remove the heat shrink holding the capacitors, be careful, they used adhesive heat shrink and it is a royal pain to remove. I used my x-acto knife, I know it's common sense, but worth repeating, cut away from yourself. It is much to easy to slip when removing this heat shrink.



Step 2: Measure out the sleeve and get it on the wires, Lutro0's paracord threading tool is invaluable here (ok..not invaluable as it is priced at $12.50, but worth every cent!). After I had the sleeve threaded on the wire, I shrunk the ends with a lighter (I'm going heat shrink-less).


Step 3: Super glue the ends of the sleeve where they meet at the capacitor



Step 4: Measure out the heat shrink and thread it over the sleeving, then hit it with the heat gun



The result is pretty decent, you could stop here and be done, however I wanted to reinforce the cable such that it couldn't be pulled apart and damage the capacitor connection, so I used heat shrink to hold the wires together above and below the capacitor.


Now go ahead and plug it into the connectors! One thing to note, from the factory, EVGA places the capacitors near the motherboard end of the 24pin connector, when I reconnected the wire I put the capacitors on the PSU side of the cable so as to have a cleaner look. This isn't an issue as long as you plug the wires in such that the polarity of the capacitors are maintained.

Here is the 24pin connector before plugging in the PSU side plugs:


A close-up of the capacitors and double wires (I messed up the black double wire..ugh)


I wanted to try cable lacing and followed Frank's lacing method (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La6LbgnZJco). However I used a thin "invisible" thread to try and get a "stealth" look (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0053A4FUI/ref=oh_details_o06_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). At the beginning when I first tired, I ended up snapping the thread when I pulled a knot tight. I went ahead and doubled up on the thread which seemed to solve the problem.




I used 1.5" spacing for the thread. I like the way it looks, but it is taking me an embarrassingly long amount of time to do this. The wire is so darn thin, and being transparent, I have issues seeing things and threading correctly! Frustrating to say the least. While I really like the way it looks, I'm almost tempted to throw in the towel, cut them off, and get cable combs....

Well, that's all I have. Let me know what you think!

 

[Himo5]

What an impressive effort, well done, +rep to you!

If the capacitor links had been placed just a little further away from the end of their wire pairs you probably wouldn't have had to turn them round. Makes you wonder if they could be concealed in some kind of double-flapped grommet.

 

[Smithcity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Himo5

What an impressive effort, well done, +rep to you!

If the capacitor links had been placed just a little further away from the end of their wire pairs you probably wouldn't have had to turn them round. Makes you wonder if they could be concealed in some kind of double-flapped grommet.

Thanks! With extra effort I'm sure this could be accomplished. I was actually considering finding a similarly rated 200uF capacitor that would be smaller in size to put in it's place. Then it might be possible to conceal the capacitor entirely with heat shrink. Perhaps I'll think about it next time around.

Of course, with different diameter heat shrink you could probably conceal the capacitor. Unfortunately I only have 3/16", 3:1 heat shrink. 1/2" heat shrink would probably make it over the sleeving and capacitor to hide it entirely.

 

[MrGrievous]

If I was going to buy some pre crimped wires from lutroo to be used as extensions to combat this capacitor problem would I need to be worried about if the awg of the extensions was different from what the original cables uses?

 

[Smithcity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrGrievous

If I was going to buy some pre crimped wires from lutroo to be used as extensions to combat this capacitor problem would I need to be worried about if the awg of the extensions was different from what the original cables uses?

Wouldnt be a problem if they were thicker wire. I'm assuming you are referring to these: http://lutro0-customs.com/products/custom-crimped-wires. It doesn't seem to say what wire gauge he is using, so it'd be worth asking him.

I'm going to assume he is giving you 16awg, if this is the case you'd be fine as wire thickness would be equal or thicker than everything on the G2. If Lutro0's pre-crimped wires are 18awg, it would depend on power rating for his 18awg wire vs the 16awg power rating on the G2. Depending on how cheap EVGA went with their 16awg, it may be equivalent to a more expensive, better power rated 18awg wire.

Hope that helps. Message or e-mail Lutro0 and he can confirm wire thickness.

 

[OwaN]

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I've been looking into this as well. I recently purchased a set of individually sleeved cables from EVGA as I do not have any experience with sleeving personally, but they look awful (super thin, white color looks terrible) to the point where I intend to return them unused... which leaves me back to unsleeved square one. The cables from EVGA do not appear to have capacitors inline (need to confirm), which makes me think it must be safe to make your own leads without caps. Thoughts?

 

[Smithcity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OwaN

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I've been looking into this as well. I recently purchased a set of individually sleeved cables from EVGA as I do not have any experience with sleeving personally, but they look awful (super thin, white color looks terrible) to the point where I intend to return them unused... which leaves me back to unsleeved square one. The cables from EVGA do not appear to have capacitors inline (need to confirm), which makes me think it must be safe to make your own leads without caps. Thoughts?

The thread isn't THAT old, lol. Sorry to hear the sleeved EVGA cables didn't workout. Were the cables you had replacement EVGA power cables, or were they extensions? The cables may have had capacitors but were simply hidden underneath heat shrink beneath the sleeving. If EVGA considers these "premium" cables they may have gone the extra mile to use higher quality physically smaller caps, which would be easier to hide. Examine the cables closely, they may have done a good job hiding them. If they are extensions, then they probably won't have the capacitors.

The capacitors are there to feed cleaner power to your components (minimize ripple, ensure flat DC power). They aren't really necessary until you start to reach the peak load on the PSU. Assuming you are referring to the G2, I'd imagine you'd be safe without capacitors on your cable to 1000 watts, beyond that, they probably come into play. You'd be safe removing the capacitors if you never exceeded 1000W peak usage on the G2.

Hope that helps. If you have any reservations (as I did), give my tutorial a crack when you start sleeving. It adds a little bit more work to a few of the cables, I kept the caps in place for peace of mind.

 

[OwaN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smithcity

The thread isn't THAT old, lol. Sorry to hear the sleeved EVGA cables didn't workout. Were the cables you had replacement EVGA power cables, or were they extensions? The cables may have had capacitors but were simply hidden underneath heat shrink beneath the sleeving. If EVGA considers these "premium" cables they may have gone the extra mile to use higher quality physically smaller caps, which would be easier to hide. Examine the cables closely, they may have done a good job hiding them. If they are extensions, then they probably won't have the capacitors.

The capacitors are there to feed cleaner power to your components (minimize ripple, ensure flat DC power). They aren't really necessary until you start to reach the peak load on the PSU. Assuming you are referring to the G2, I'd imagine you'd be safe without capacitors on your cable to 1000 watts, beyond that, they probably come into play. You'd be safe removing the capacitors if you never exceeded 1000W peak usage on the G2.

Hope that helps. If you have any reservations (as I did), give my tutorial a crack when you start sleeving. It adds a little bit more work to a few of the cables, I kept the caps in place for peace of mind.

These are the cables I bought (and plan to return), they're full on replacement cables, not extensions. I've got the ATX connector sitting on the desk in front of me right now and it really doesn't look like caps are involved. They are individually sleeved and heatshrinkless, so there isn't anywhere for the caps to hide, unless they are absolutely miniscule (unlikely). I'm going to be well under the load ceiling on my 1300G2, so you're probably right that I don't need the caps. Another thing I don't understand is the double wire going into some of the MB side connectors. From the pinouts I'm looking at, there are three double wires: a ground, a +5V and a +3.3V. This just seems completely bizzare, there are multiple other +5 and +3.3v pins going into the mobo, why do those need a second wire? Do they actually even *need* it?

Seems like a great PSU for the money, but holy crap the incredibly stupid pinouts and wiring are making me regret not going with the seasonic

 

[Smithcity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OwaN

These are the cables I bought (and plan to return), they're full on replacement cables, not extensions. I've got the ATX connector sitting on the desk in front of me right now and it really doesn't look like caps are involved. They are individually sleeved and heatshrinkless, so there isn't anywhere for the caps to hide, unless they are absolutely miniscule (unlikely). I'm going to be well under the load ceiling on my 1300G2, so you're probably right that I don't need the caps. Another thing I don't understand is the double wire going into some of the MB side connectors. From the pinouts I'm looking at, there are three double wires: a ground, a +5V and a +3.3V. This just seems completely bizzare, there are multiple other +5 and +3.3v pins going into the mobo, why do those need a second wire? Do they actually even *need* it?

Seems like a great PSU for the money, but holy crap the incredibly stupid pinouts and wiring are making me regret not going with the seasonic

I'm a bit surprised to hear that EVGA has capacitors on their stock PSU cables but not their "premium" sleeved cables! I looked at the pics in the link you posted, I think you are right, there really isn't a place to hide a capacitor.

What do you plan on running in your system? You don't want to run a PSU that is to big for your system, it is important to size it correctly.

Understanding the double wires is probably beyond everyone except the guys who designed the PSU, and the answer probably comes down to current ratings, ripple, etc... Are all the double wires absolutely necessary? Probably not until higher loads for some of them (e.g. ground). The placement of the double wires are bizzare, I wish they just did a 1:1 pinout. I wouldn't mess with removing any double wires as its difficult to know which ones may or may not be necessary as the answer to that question will change based on load usage. The other bizarre thing about some of the double wires is difference in wire gauges as I observed when making my own pin diagram. Looks like they go to the extreme to save $ on wires by changing from 22 all the way up to 16awg wire.

 

[OwaN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smithcity

I'm a bit surprised to hear that EVGA has capacitors on their stock PSU cables but not their "premium" sleeved cables! I looked at the pics in the link you posted, I think you are right, there really isn't a place to hide a capacitor.

What do you plan on running in your system? You don't want to run a PSU that is to big for your system, it is important to size it correctly.

Understanding the double wires is probably beyond everyone except the guys who designed the PSU, and the answer probably comes down to current ratings, ripple, etc... Are all the double wires absolutely necessary? Probably not until higher loads for some of them (e.g. ground). The placement of the double wires are bizzare, I wish they just did a 1:1 pinout. I wouldn't mess with removing any double wires as its difficult to know which ones may or may not be necessary as the answer to that question will change based on load usage. The other bizarre thing about some of the double wires is difference in wire gauges as I observed when making my own pin diagram. Looks like they go to the extreme to save $ on wires by changing from 22 all the way up to 16awg wire.

System is already built and running, I'm just looking to swap cases and re-do a WC loop and wanted to replace my sleeved extensions with a full cable replacement. Its a 4770K with 2x 290X's, so its definitely at the higher end of a "normal" build in terms of power draw, but not hugely so.

You're completely right about the double wires, the fact that they're obviously different gauges is very strange... like the output from the thick wire wasn't sufficient and the second wire is an auxiliary source to bolster output, but only a little bit so they don't need more than 22awg. The smaller gauge is what makes me wonder how important it could possibly be.

 

[Big Elf]

The double wires are sensors to help voltage regulation not to boost output.

 

[Smithcity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OwaN

System is already built and running, I'm just looking to swap cases and re-do a WC loop and wanted to replace my sleeved extensions with a full cable replacement. Its a 4770K with 2x 290X's, so its definitely at the higher end of a "normal" build in terms of power draw, but not hugely so.

You're completely right about the double wires, the fact that they're obviously different gauges is very strange... like the output from the thick wire wasn't sufficient and the second wire is an auxiliary source to bolster output, but only a little bit so they don't need more than 22awg. The smaller gauge is what makes me wonder how important it could possibly be.

You will likely be around 800-850W peak draw, so you still have some overhead before you reach 1000W on the PSU. If you ended up adding a 3rd 290X you'd be pushing 1100W easy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Elf

The double wires are sensors to help voltage regulation not to boost output.

Agreed that they help voltage regulation, but voltage regulation is dependent on load (draw) so they are inter-related.

 

[Big Elf]

The voltage regulation is not load dependent so is not specifically inter-related. After saying that the ATX specification only allows for a sense line on the 3.3V VDC line at motherboard loads to monitor voltage drop so the assumption is that it also provides a similar function for the other sense lines.

 

[Smithcity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Elf

The voltage regulation is not load dependent so is not specifically inter-related. After saying that the ATX specification only allows for a sense line on the 3.3V VDC line at motherboard loads to monitor voltage drop so the assumption is that it also provides a similar function for the other sense lines.

I guess I always thought voltage regulators help maintain a constant voltage level and that voltage levels can vary with power draw, hence corrections in the voltage regulators take place as the power draw changes leading to load regulation and line regulation ratings for voltage regulators. Perhaps I was mistaken.

 

[OwaN]

Hmm, so assuming the second wire is necessary (since it sounds like it is for vreg purposes) does it matter where the second wire is spliced in? Looking at your setup smithcity it looks like you put it much further back on the wire, which would go a long way to making the connector area look a lot cleaner than it does stock.

 

[Big Elf]

You can put the splice where you like so if it helps being close to the PSU you can do that. The only thing I'd suggest is having the single wire just long enough to stretch the sleeve enough. I have weak fingers and find anything shorter than about 100mm is a struggle to stretch decently.

 

[Smithcity]

Yep, can put it anywhere you like which is why I moved it back. Once you play with the sleeve a bit you'll figure out how long it needs to be (stretched). I suggest Lutro0's method of using superglue with the sleeve at the splice before adding heat shrink. I have some step-by-step pictures of how I did my splicing on my current worklog: http://www.overclock.net/t/1496186/build-log-corsair-900d-tx-61-everything-h2o-cooled#post_22434899, result looks pretty decent.

 

[Wolfsbora]

Great write-up! I'm currently sleeving the cables for this PSU. Regarding the double wires, what method did you use to connect them at the Y? Did you run a single wire to 2 wires, soldering at the join? Or did you do a double wire crimp and sleeve the 2 wires through a single sleeve out to where you made it a Y?

 

[Smithcity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfsbora

Great write-up! I'm currently sleeving the cables for this PSU. Regarding the double wires, what method did you use to connect them at the Y? Did you run a single wire to 2 wires, soldering at the join? Or did you do a double wire crimp and sleeve the 2 wires through a single sleeve out to where you made it a Y?

Take a look at the pics in my build log. I have 1 main wire, I then strip the shielding off to expose a small section of the main wire. Next I measure out the proper length for the spliced wire, strip the end, insert it into the exposed section of the main wire, solder, sleeve, heat shrink, finish! If this explication and the pics in my build log arent clear enough let me know and I'll find another helpful pic or two.

 

[Wolfsbora]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smithcity

Take a look at the pics in my build log. I have 1 main wire, I then strip the shielding off to expose a small section of the main wire. Next I measure out the proper length for the spliced wire, strip the end, insert it into the exposed section of the main wire, solder, sleeve, heat shrink, finish! If this explication and the pics in my build log arent clear enough let me know and I'll find another helpful pic or two.

That is a perfect explanation! I'll make sure to do the same. I'm certainly glad I just bought a soldering iron and all of the stuff to go with it. I bought it just in case I bought a PSU that would need it. Sure enough...

+1