SNAP 4000 Power Supplies

[jontz]

I was going to suggest just swapping out caps and transistors and whatnot on the old power supply to fix it, but I can see the advantage here. The PS you put in Phoenix is much beefier than the stock one...shouldn't be a problem for a long time. I've always hated how marginal the PS's in these things are. Well done!

[Phoenix32]

I have considered swapping our the caps and such on one of the bad supplies I have, but just have not gotten around to it (have to order the caps).

Marginal? That's being nice. For the drives that came in them, yeah I suppose, but for the 250 GB drives that are going into them now days, marginal is being very nice. As I said in one of my other posts, every time you power the unit on, you are running the risk of killing the PS because the drive spin up in most of the larger newer drives far exceeds the rated spec of the stock power supply. I suspect if the 4000 units stick around very long and more people start putting these newer larger drives in them, we are going to see more and more blown power supplies. Maybe I should put a few of these mod power supplies together just in case, lol.

Why thank you Jontz, nicest thing you ever said to me...

[jontz]

Originally Posted by Phoenix32

Marginal? That's being nice.

What can I say, it's the holday spirit

Originally Posted by Phoenix32

Maybe I should put a few of these mod power supplies together just in case, lol.

EXACTLY what I was thinking...

Originally Posted by Phoenix32

Why thank you Jontz, nicest thing you ever said to me...

I was nice twice in one post? Egad...Santa better bring me a loaded snap 4500, 50" plasma, or something for all of this niceness

[dandrews]

Well here are a couple pic's of my PS mod. As you will note, not much different that the pic's submitted by Phoenix32... LOL well of course, I followed his instructions with one minor change, I happened to use 4 standoffs I mounted new in place of the 4 the original PS was mounted on. Had them in my junk box so it was easy to drill 4 new holes and mount the standoffs.

As you will note, I removed all the original power wires from the supply, the +3, +5, +12, etc. and then just soldered in the ends of the connector that was used by the original supply. Made for a neat connection.

One thing I will have to work on is the original feed from the AC at the back is a bit short for the ATX supply where it feeds in. I will just replace it with a new but longer feed wire.

Anyway, here it is, powers up the unit and I am very pleased.

Thanks again Phoenix32.... as with your nic... another SNAP 4000 rises from the dead.

[IMG]c:\p1000868.jpg, p1000869.jpg[/IMG]

[dandrews]

hmmmm... that did not work... someone will have to tell me how to put a pic in the thread....

[jontz]

You need to find a web server to store your pics on, then your link would look like

http:\\colon.polip.com\p1000868.jpg.

You can't just link from your hard drive, unless you are directing port 80 to your PC through your firewall...and I wouldn't reccomend that either.

There is a way to upload them to the forum as well, but I haven't done it personally since I have my own web server. Phoenix, could you enlighten us?

[Phoenix32]

Down below the text box, there is an "additional options" section. In this section, select the "manage attachments" button. This will open a window. In the window, there will be a column of boxes where you can "browse" your computer for the file(s) you want to attach to the message. NOTE: Look at the key down in the bottom of the window, this will show you the file size limits and file types the forum allows for your attached files. There is also a box for uploading a single file from a URL, but I don't use this. There you have it, pretty easy.


As a side note dandrews, please do not provide too many details. And for those wondering why, it is not to keep the information from people, but to keep people from damaging their snap servers or worse, themselves. This is not a mod for people who do not know how to read a wiring diagram and know how to solder, etc. But if you give out too many details, someone who is not qualified will try it sooner or later and then when they get hurt or destroy their snap server, will be all kinds of pissed off at me, us, and/or the forum. The forum does not need this kind of problem nor do I want to see anyone get hurt. If someone thinks they can do it, they can get the information directly from me and I should be able to tell if they are going to be able to handle it or not.

[blue68f100]

Guess I don't qualify

Can't be fixed with a hammer

[Phoenix32]

LOL Dave...

Of course you are, sorta. You know someone who can do it for you...

[blue68f100]

Yhea, My eye site is not what it use to be.

Just have to dust off the old soldering iron I used for strain gage work, find some utectic solder 0.015". Then fire up the cutting torch and welder, that should fix it so I don't have to do the repairs.

[dandrews]

Ok, I will have to resize the pic's then I will post.

And yes Phoenix, I will let you handle briefing anyone wanting to do a PS mod, I completely agree with your reasoning.

DA

[dandrews]

Ok, lets see if this worked... two attachments.

and yes, the numbers on my VCR are still blinking. I never bother to set date and times on anything...LOL

[Phoenix32]

If I remember the power output you told me in PM correctly, and looking at those heatsinks, I would figure a way to put a fan in with direct output from the power supply (meaning it will be on any time the power supply is on, which means all the time it is plugged in). Otherwise, it may run a little too hot. Hard to tell from just pictures, but I would suggest it.

[dandrews]

Andy, that is exactly what I did. I removed the connection to take the pic, but it is the small white connector near the red +5 power wires. And as you say, it runs all the time the power is plugged into AC.

DA

[Phoenix32]

Well, it is a little late for dandrews, but I just got informed by Northwest Tech they have now released a direct replacement power supply.

http://www.northwesttechnical.com/in...oducts_id=1190

I looked it over real close, and I am a qualified electronics technician, and it looks like a decent setup to me. I read over the installation instructions and it does look like the average joe could do this replacement pretty easy, which is the real issue.

There are no OEM replacement power supplies available, and I have looked high and low.

Power supply repair can cost you more than the whole unit is worth.

I looked at other replacement open frame dual voltage power supplies, but they are very expensive (for the ones that will work) and still require some soldering and mounting modifications (no easy task).

I have myself done an ATX/AT power supply conversion (and told dandrews how to do it here), but this requires plenty of soldering, cutting and hacking of the power supply case, and is a pain in the arse to mount. It is NOT and easy task and is NOT for the unqualified.

The bottom line here is, if you are not qualified to do the ATX/AT mod, or get someone like me who is qualified to do it for you, then this is really the only option you have left that I am aware of. It might seem expensive, I know it is a lot of money to me at least, but if you look at what Adaptec charges for SNAP Server parts, or compare to other direct replacement options, it is not so expensive at all.

There you go. Don't say I never told you about it, and kept the information to myself.

And No, I do not work for Northwest Tech (they are at least 300 miles away from me), nor have I been paid to "advertise" their products as some have accused before. I am just another SNAP user trying to pass on information available to me for you to use as you will. Given the difficulties with having a bad SNAP 4000 power supply, this could be a salvation for someone.

[dandrews]

Well, that is an answer for many who want to upgrade to larger disk or replace a bad supply in an existing system. I am a bit concerned about the amount of current the unit can supply on the +12 rail. However, they seem to think it will drive large size drives. The site even talks about a 2TB SNAP. That would be some pretty big drives for sure.

I will stick with my ATX mod... and thanks to Phoenix32 for the quick lesson.

[Phoenix32]

Originally Posted by dandrews

I will stick with my ATX mod... and thanks to Phoenix32 for the quick lesson.

No problem, always glad to help...

[Phoenix32]

bump

[MaddMatt]

Hi There,

Is it possible to get the full details of what a replaccement PSU for the SS4000 needs to be?

One of the guys on this thread mentoined that it could be possible to buy an OEM or standard version that would require less modification?

I want to try to buy one that will fit before I attempt the AT power mod, even then I will see if I can get someone qualified to do it, (I don't like messing around with Power I had a damaging experiance with a 9v battery on my tounge, thx to my older bro)


I think I am having the same PSU problem with a snap 4000 as Phoenix32, only 2 or 3 of the 4 drives will come up once booted and which drives appear is kind of random. it sounds like the exact problem on this thread.

eg. I power on and once booted I log in to find Drive 1 & 2 are up, then on the next powerup I get Drives 1, 3 & 4.... also sometimes the unit drops off the network so I am going to discosnncet all but 1 of the drives to see if it runs reliably before I do anything...

This unit has been a troublsome Snap for My technical director from just after 2 years operation, My Co distributes these suckers but this one is one that we used internally... we just thought it was a mainboard problem? and finally on the last clean up he decided to throw it out... swoop - like a seagul onto a stray chip at the beach!

Any assistance is greatly appreciated!

[blue68f100]

Phoenix32 posted a lnk http://www.northwesttechnical.com/in...oducts_id=1190 That has made a replacement PS. Not sure on the capacity but should be susfficent for most applications.

Yours is the clasic case of a PS problem.

[rpmurray]

It looks like Northwest Technical has started selling power supplies for the 4000 on eBay. Just do a search for snap 4000. Currently they have one up for $150 (shipping is extra). That is, if no one else bids.

[MaddMatt]

When I went to that link i got one of these:
Sorry, the product was not found.

I will have a look on ebay but $150+ freight to Australia would screw me...

I have a chat with a few dudes here to see what they can do...

[blue68f100]

That one of the reason Phoeinx32 used a old ata ps, besides he wanted a little more reserve to spin up larger drives.

[Phoenix32]

Originally Posted by blue68f100

That one of the reason Phoeinx32 used a old ata ps, besides he wanted a little more reserve to spin up larger drives.

Yup Yup

[PhoenixLover1]

I had a power supply fail on my Snap4000 and so I bypassed it (and the central controller circuit) matching the color coded wires from a 425W ATX power supply. For now I don't mind that the PSU would sit outside of the SNAP's case because my priority is to perform an emergency transfer of my data.

I did short the green wire on the ATX PS to get it to remain powered on per the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX):

At first I hadn't recognized the need to bypass the control circuit and that resulted in sporadic power up and down. It now powers up but only the System light is blinking. Very consistent about once per second. The other three lights are off (no Link light, no Drive light, etc).




1 Snap 4000 - bad PSU, with 4x320 Seagates, Raid5