Modern PSU for the SE/30

[Crutch]

I use a PowerKey power strip to address both issues — 1. The soft-powered Seasonic PSU isn’t seeing mains power at all when the PowerKey strip is off, and 2. of course the power key works! There is one on eBay right now for $29.99 https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F152479962209 

 

[endersix]

Does someone have an exact wire configuration list/drawing from the Seasonic PSU ATX connector to use in the SE/30 connector? I've seen JDW's video but I'd just rather not make a mistake will attempting this upgrade.

Thanks.

 

[Crutch]

The closeups of my Seasonic PSU ATX connector in my earlier post on this topic (Nov 25 2018) may give you what you want.  The colors are ATX standard: yellow = +12v, red = +5v, black = common, green = PS/ON, blue = -12v.  Of course it’s also very easy to just power the thing up and test each pin with a meter to make absolutely certain (this is what I did...).  Also see this helpful link from Von: http://bylenga.ddns.net/index.php?page=SE_ATX.php 

 

[Overlord]

For a fee, would someone be willing to wire up one of these for me?

 

[JDW]

For a fee, would someone be willing to wire up one of these for me?

If I lived in the US, I will would be more than happy to do it, but since I live in Japan the 2-way shipping cost would be cost prohibitive.  But since many of our forum members live in the US, I have no doubt that someone will probably stand up and offer to do the job. 

 

[pcamen]

Cross posting a thread which seems of interest to this thread.

 

[Compgeke]

Just curious, does anyone know just how much current is being drawn on the -12V rail of the Mac SE (or SE/30)? The original PSU is rated 0.5A which is not a lot, whereas something like a picoatx is 0.1A generally. I can probably measure this on my own using a Mac SE but I don't have an SE/30 at all. 

 

[JDW]

-12V is rated at 0.5A for good reason.  Keep in mind when making measurements that you won't be able to measure every possible current draw on that line.  Any replacement PSU should be rated 0.5A or higher on -12V.

 

[ttb]

Bringing this great thread back from the dead as I'm trying to resolve some PSU issues with my SE/30s the lazy way by swapping them out for SSP-300SUBs (apparently the new equivalent to the SSP-250 discussed here).

@Crutch you mentioned you drilled and tapped holes for standoffs to support the Seasonic PCBA in the original Astec housing's sheet metal. I was planning on doing this, but wondered if you needed to do anything to get enough material for the threads to bite. Often I think tapped sheet metal holes are preformed with a mandrel before tapping so that the threaded part ends up being greater than just the sheet metal thickness, if that makes sense. See any of the original tapped holes in the housing for an example. It's possible that undersizing the holes and forcing the tap in will deform the sheet metal in the right way, but I figure I'd ask and see if you ran into any issues doing that by hand.

 

[Crutch]

@ttb that wasn’t really an issue as I recall. I think the screws actually did “bite” fine, but if they didn’t it would be ok since they were screwed into standoffs on the other side, which held the PSU board in place with nuts on the far end. So, the pressure of the screw screwed into the standoff would hold things in place even if the drilled hole was slightly “loose” on the screw. 

 

[ttb]

Oh, of course. I was thinking of the male-female ones that I @joethezombie used earlier in the thread. It sounds like you used female-female standoffs or maybe had it with the male end fastening the PCB? Anyway, I ended up using male-male M2.5 standoffs with screws on both sides:





Finished product (I just pulled all the pins out of the 26-position receptacle, crimped pins on a used SE power supply cable, and put them in the appropriate positions):



The good news is that this successfully resolved my accelerator issues so now I've finally run out of things to fix on my SE/30s

EDIT:

Might be helpful for the next folks, this was what I measured for a pinout on my SSP-300SUB. Pin numbers are top and bottom rows, 0 values are GND and PW shorted to GND for power enable.

 

[Crutch]

Beautiful!  Yes, sorry for the confusing post, I did this 2 years ago and was fuzzy on the details but I indeed used female-female standoffs with screws on both sides.

 

[JDW]

I've finally run out of things to fix on my SE/30s

In my experience, there's always something to work on.  For example, have you recapped your SE/30's floppy drive, mouse and keyboard?  

By the way, what price did you pay for your higher end SEASONIC?

 

[erichelgeson]

mouse and keyboard

When I opened my keyboard & mouse a month or so ago I honestly wondered if JDW would make a JDW in depth video of recapping a keyboard and mouse  

 

[ttb]

Too funny. Speaking of floppy drives, I realize one of them does need to be cleaned, so there is always that. I’ve got a few Color Classics that need attention, too  

I picked up two SSP-300SUBs from Newegg for $63 USD each: https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-flex-sub-ssp-300sub-300w/p/N82E16817151212?item=N82E16817151212
 

I couldn’t find anything cheaper than that in the US for either the -250 or -300. 

 

[Byrd]

I'm awaiting 3 x Seasonic SSP-250SUB PSUs to rekindle three Compact Macs, two SE and one SE/30.  These were readily available at RS Components in Australia for ~ $73 AUD each - not cheap, but I couldn't find many Mini 1U replacements locally.  Not bothing going O/S with purchases in the pandemic.

I started to recap the PSUs in these three Compacts (along with analog boards) and came to the following conclusions ...

# 1 SE had an Astec PSU which is considerably lighter and cheaper looking than the Sony equivalent - even if recapped I wouldn't trust it long term.

# 2 SE had an "Apple Singapore" PSU which is essentially a copy of the Sony CR-44; caps had leaked extensively into the casing and PCB.  Deep cleaned and recapped its displaying exactly the same behaviour (flup flup flup sound no power to Mac), time to go - assume deeper damage than thought.  I have another SE with the same Apple Singapore PSU in waiting, but believe its not as corroded.

# 3 SE/30 has a Sony CR-44 PSU which I will recap as it looks clean, however I will put this PSU aside hopefully working and install the Seasonic replacement for long term use.

Long term, how are others finding the Seasonic PSU replacement - does the fan ever turn on?  To avoid drilling into the case, I'm considering making some custom risers and set these in place using JB Weld (I know ... but I've a Hackintosh with full size ATX board mounted the same in a G5 case and with enough JB Weld it'll hold forever, I'd like to think!)

JB

 

[JDW]

Yes, the Seasonic Fan does turn on after you have the Mac switched on for more than 5 or 10 minutes.  It's triggered by heat.  If your Mac's fan has been swapped out for a quieter fan, then you will be able to hear the Seasonic's fan, although it isn't too loud.  That's especially true if you have a SCSI2SD or MacSD solution instead of a loud spinning HDD.

 

[Byrd]

Yes, the Seasonic Fan does turn on after you have the Mac switched on for more than 5 or 10 minutes.  It's triggered by heat.  If your Mac's fan has been swapped out for a quieter fan, then you will be able to hear the Seasonic's fan, although it isn't too loud.  That's especially true if you have a SCSI2SD or MacSD solution instead of a loud spinning HDD.

Thanks for the info JDW - last question before I tackle an evening or two of rewiring, did you wire up the rear OEM power switch using the ATX softpower to ground method, or keep the existing switch as wired into 240V?  I'd like to keep things original in (exterior) appearance if I can.

Not too fussed about fan noise, all three will largely be going into stock machines (SE FDHD x 2, SE/30 with NIC and Sonnet 33Mhz '030 socket accelerator).

 

[JDW]

...did you wire up the rear OEM power switch using the ATX softpower to ground method, or keep the existing switch as wired into 240V?  I'd like to keep things original in (exterior) appearance if I can.

I used the existing switch on the SONY PSU and put the Season inside that metal chassis.  You can see that and the soft power connections from 12:11 in my video here.

 

[Crutch]

Yes, the Seasonic Fan does turn on after you have the Mac switched on for more than 5 or 10 minutes.  It's triggered by heat.

JDW which Seasonic PSU did you get, and are you certain it’s triggered by heat?  The Seasonic PSU I got (SSP-250SUB 250W 80 PLUS) was described as having its fan triggered by load, not heat.

See the spec sheet here describing “fanless mode” below 30% load:  https://seasonic.com/pub/media/pdf/industrial/datasheet/SSP-250-300-SUB.pdf (I recall more detailed documentation coming with the unit, but I no longer have it)

My assumption was that since this is a 250W power supply, the fan should never normally activate when used inside an SE/30, therefore I removed the PSU fan before installation.  (I run a substantial main fan inside my SE/30 anyway, controlled by a thermistor I rigged up over the flyback.)

Am I misunderstanding?