Area-51 R1 MIO 10Pin Power Cable Project: ways to make your own PSU swap cable

thank you for finding it interesting.  Good point on molex better than sata.

Your Non-Universal 10pin Cable Idea for a Specific psu is more neat and elegant and suitable for modular psu.

XPS730X

C1100

moddiy C1100 pinout

1. 5v
2. Gnd
3. 3.3v
4. Gnd
5. 12v
6. 12v
7. Gnd
8. 3.3
9. Gnd
10. 5v

Dell Precision T5810 T7810 Power Distribution Cable P/N: 0NFXND

10 pin to 10 pin cable

good source of 10 pin connector mod

some other commercial example sold on eBay

EPS 24 to 10 pin Y splitter  $19

@ RedXPS630, I saw these on Taobao last year

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A Needed Addendum to my 1st post

My 1st starter post above is technically accurate, but I'd like to add a follow-up here w/some caveats & exceptions. Normally I'd just make an edit, but these days if I edit a post then the AI will flag it as spam & remove it

5Volts StandBy: what it is & does, & what happens if you don't use it

As RedXPS630 asked: "it sounds okay to use 5V in place of 5VSB, just no power to MIO when PC is shut down"

Correct. One of the circuits in the MIO 10pin connector & chart is called 5Volts StandBy (5VSB); it's a (purple) wire with a special purpose:

• when desktop is off but plugged into the wall, the PSU seemingly doesn't push out any power except it does output a 5volt (+ ground) signal over the (purple) 5VSB wire
• Normally, a classic desktop sends that 5V circuit to the mthrbrd through the MAIN 24pin, either to allow a mthrbrd LED tell-tale light to light up (proof power exists), or to allow the USB port to charge up your device = 5V standby power
• For 51 R1, the MIO board 10pin cable 'jumps' into that 5VSB power at the 24pin so MIO can also stay alive when desktop is off but plugged in

It's because the (purple) 5VSB wire exists in just one place -at the 24pin- that it can be difficult (but not impossible) to tap or jump your hand-made 10pin cable into it. If you do jump tap or splice into 5VSB at the 24pin? --> your MIO gets standby power … if you can't grab it for whatever good reason?, what can you do instead? The answer is to grab 'basic 5Volts' from somewhere else since it's easier of course … to take the easy way out, to substitute for basic 5V instead, means your MIO has no power when desktop is off (but plugged in): If you have an ALX, your front panel won't motor down & if your batteries are discharged you'll get no interior lights, basically

However, what you will get is an easy way to make a hand-made 10pin & swap to a new better aftermarket PSU

From the MIO white 10pin wiring diagram from earlier, pin slot #5 purple, if u cant jump or splice into 5VSB from the 24pin, then make sure it gets basic 5Volts from a 5V source, normally colored RED, like at the SATA connector end of that C1100 Dell 10pin/SATA adaptor, from its RED wire

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5VSB, 5V & my PlanB Non-Universal Cable Idea

I'd love to go back into my post and make this edit, but can't. I ran out of time earlier to include this info, & it's kind of a big deal, or could be, so let's see why & let's also look at a typical Corsair PSU front panel 1st, since they (& only they) have TWO basic RED 5V pins in the 6pin which you can use for your MIO 10pin RED #10 & Purple #5, which makes working with a Corsair PSU & converting 5VSB into basic 5V an easyish project

Above, all Corsair older Type3 + newer Type4 front panel 6pin ports are designed w/ TWO live (RED) 5V pins: normally one 5V is used by your SATA/Molex cable, the other 5V is live but unused --> it has 6 actual pins-per-port afterall -yet a SATA cable only comes with 5 wires- that means the 6th pin is there, it is live, it is basic 5Volts & it can be used, should be used

Above, there it is, easy peazy. If you have a ratchet crimper, terminals, 6pin 8pin & a Corsair PSU, you can bang out your MIO 10pin cable in little time w/this C1100 project cable

*Note: based on the photo above, I don't know where all the black, red, orange & yellow wires ultimately exist in the black 10pin shown: proceed w/caution when I use or say or suggest colors like black red yellow orange, it may be meaningless

*For example, in that pic it looks like pin #10 in the black 10pin is a yellow wire, at the same time I keep calling #10 RED. If so?, route that yellow wire to basic 5V: in the end, wire colors may or will be meaningless. If it bothers you & you have a molex terminal remover, you can move wire colors around in the black 10pin so they more closely match the Master White 10pin MIO diagram

If you choose, say, a Seasonic PSU, below we see that there's just x1 basic 5V pin in each 6pin port. Because there's only one pin & we have two wires that need basic 5V (RED #10 & Purple #5), you can jump / splice RED #10 & Purple #5 onto one PSU terminal as below

Above, my chart shows an empty slot in the 6pin. Actually, Seasonic makes that empty unused pin a live 12Volts. In an EVGA PSU, their unused 6th pin is actually dead … (you'll be grabbing your x3 12volts & x4 grounds out of the 8pin port most likely, so the fact a live unused 12v pin exists in each Seasonic 6pin port doesn't or won't matter)

As you see above, if you jump or splice your wire pairs (#10 #5) onto one terminal, you can still get away with just one 8pin & one 6pin design. It just takes a little practice crimping two wires to a terminal

If you do not jump / splice #10 & #5 together, a final way to grab basic 5V out of the PSU front panel, is to simply buy another new 6pin connector & use it. As long as you have an open free 6pin port to plug into, well, there is your work-around: grab up all your MIO's power through x3 modular connex

*Note: Again, I do not know or have the true wiring color diagram of the C1100 10pin above

*If in fact pin #10 of the 10pin above arrives & is YELLOW instead?, then disregard my use of RED in the photo

*The above illustration would apply to Seasonic models only. If you have a different PSU brand, get or make a color chart & proceed to make your 10pin cable accordingly, or leave a comment below for guidance

Most of my text here is directed at the forum in general for those stopping in to read & maybe learn something. Now for a word on the candidate 'Dell 10pin' cable below

*An MIO cable does best when its wires are 7inches 18cm or longer; make sure your project cable wires are long enough

*For all black project cables, have a voltmeter on hand & probe any wire ends (set to OHMs or Continuity Test) to help aid identifying what's what if needed

*When using a pre-made cable (like below or any other example you come across) that's multi-color, one some most or all wire colors may become meaningless & not translate correctly relative to the MIO 10pin color wiring pinout chart I uploaded

Example: while colors like red black orange yellow etc are industry standard colors for 5v ground 3.3v 12v etc, if it turns out your 12v wire has to be orange for instance, do not confuse it later for a 3.3v

• keep a digital & paper pinout chart of your wiring scheme in case u need to refer back to it 6months to a year later (lest by then u forget what's what)

There might be a dozen or more potential candidate cables we could use to hand-make an MIO 10pin with, do not take wire colors for granted if they aren't a one-for-one match w/my 10pin color pinout

Let's now look at the port counts on the front panel, &, remember that no two PSUs tend to have the same panel design which means we have to assess what kind of cable to make based on the specific candidate PSU we have or may buy

These CoolerMasters have x5 accessory ports while other PSUs may provide x6

Acessory SATA/Molex ports tend to either be a 6pin or single-row 5pin design

Generally you'd like x3 ports open for use to power your x6 HDD bays + MAIN SATA DVD bay. A 4th open port allows a cable to power anything else that would need it (or, if a 4th open port isn't an option then deploy SATA/Molex extension cable to your device, tapped into one of your x3 SATA/Molex cables mentioned above)

Whether the design below is a 5pin or a 6pin depends on the PSU u use

*If you have a mthrbrd w/ only x1 CPU 8pin header, then a good way to free up a 5pin/6pin accessory port is to make your MIO cable with an 8pin/6pin (or 8pin/5pin) design & plug that 8pin into the spare 8pin port; doing so frees up a 5p/6p port

• that requires you jump the red #10 & purple #5 into the 5pin or 6pin slot

If u can't jump the 5volts pair together onto the same terminal then I suppose u could design an 8pin + dual-5pin (or dual-6in) scheme

*If your mthrbrd has x2 CPU headers (found on hi-po over-clocking mthrbrd), u could design a dual-6pin or dual-5pin MIO cable

• that requires u jump a 12volt pair onto same terminal

*If u go with a triple-5pin / triple-6pin design u probably won't have enough open ports left for your HDD SATA & MAIN SATA DVD bays

Tip: try a triple-accessory-connector design on a PSU that provides x6 Accessory ports, found on some or all Seasonic EVGA & Corsair models ... or fall back on the 8pin + dual-accessory design from earlier if your #2 CPU 8pin port is open

@Cass-Ole :

Most of my text here is directed at the forum in general for those stopping in to read & maybe learn something.

Above, my chart shows an empty slot in the 6pin. Actually, Seasonic makes that empty unused pin a live 12Volts.

I’m glad to be one of the general audience to stop by today and read this post. I’ve removed the round molex pins from my 12V pump and replaced them with mini fit-jr because I want to directly drive it from my Seasonic PSU and sleeve those ugly wires. I was about to send you a message sometime this week on the 12V/ Ground for the 6-pin periphery socket. Thanks!

No problem GT! All those new Seasonics have / share this pinout, includes 'spare' unused 12volt pin. Since the factory can plug into either YLW slot if they want, new cables arrive to owners w/ their 12v SATA or Molex wire stuffed into the left or right YLW slot, then the empty slot is always your secret spare 12v pin (hex icon). Feel free to confirm pin is hot 12v w/your voltmeter

Wiring Diagrams are very helpful, I posted Corsair's - that pinout works across all of their newest models - same for Seasonics - pinout is good for all current models. Below is an EVGA: it's shared on all their G2 G3 G5 P2 T2 models

Above is for an FSP 1200 I have here, it's at least good on the AurumPT 1200 / 1000 / 850w & may or may not be true of other FSP models ...

*5pin / 6pin port pinouts: If you compared all my color diagrams you'd see none of the ports for 5pin/6pin SATA-Molex-Periph-Access pinouts match up, all are different

*8pin connector types: there are two connector styles - or two keys: 8pin EPS/CPU type & the slightly different 8pin PCI-E/GRFX/VGA type

Some PSUs use an all EPS/CPU 8pin connector key type (Corsair), others use a mix of CPU & PCI-E 8pin key (EVGA FSP) while Seasonic uses a pure GPU connector key 8pin ... that's just the connector types, not the pinout

*8pin pinouts: From there, if u compare some diagrams, 1st u see Corsair has 12volts in bottom rows & grounds in top rows

• However, both a CPU & a GPU cable can plug into it

EVGA CPU 8pin? 12volts top row, grounds bottom row

• note the GPU 8pin pinout is different though, only GU cables can insert

Seasonic PSU has 12volts bottom row / grounds top row (like Corsair) but it uses GRFX 8pin connectors, therefore it's electrically the same as a Corsair cable but the connector keys are different, so they cant interchange

None of these cables interchange, there is no universal panel pinout

Having fun yet?

If you buy something like, I don't know, Be Quiet! 1000w, you can look online for the pinout someone's made, or buy it & when it gets there, jumpstart it on & use your voltmeter to find volts/grounds at the cable ends etc, make your own chart then build your MIO cable accordingly based on whatever it needs for that model PSU

I agree it makes for a bit of a project

However, if today u hand-make a custom cable for say Corsair, then want to try out Seasonic next year, maybe use your Molex pin removal tool - get a Seasonic Chart or make your own - back terminals out & rearrange them, convert cable over from Corsair to Seasonic specs & re-use your 10pin cable etc. If you find you need new modular connectors (say, a change from EPS to GPU type) then buy some

@redxps630 :

Afaik, whether the 8 pin GPU port is for 8 pin or 6+2pin PCIe, pin 6,7,8 on bottom are 12V, pin 2,3,4 are Gnd across major psu brands.  I will have to find any major brand that doesn’t honor this standard.  (a side note that pinout on psu side not universally provided on company manual is a telltale sign of proprietary info.  it forces user to rely on other user finding on your own multimeter)

Below are the diagrams I have for Seasonic Focus Plus series. Seems like it doesn't tally with the top-bottom Power-Ground standard? Disclaimer: I haven't put multimeter to test continuity on my cable. Take the diagram with a grain of salt. I think I did find some irregularity between my multimeter test and the diagram for 24-pin. @Cass-Ole sent me his 24-pin diagram before and it matches my multimeter experiment, not the Seasonic supplied diagram.

It is indeed fun to make cables, as long as like you mentioned, good and safe practices are put to use. Don't underestimate that trusty old multimeter. Forums online will have pinouts shared but at the end of the day, it is everyone's own responsibility to make sure that they do the right thing for their own PSU. If in doubt, there's always @Cass-Ole . 

So I have my own cable-fun tonight. To complete my 8+6 VGA at the Seasonic PSU end, I was looking at the pinout chart that Seasonic sent me when I reached out to them (so smart for telling them I'm about to do something that could void my warranty huh). Like you said, 12V bottom row, Ground top row. VGA device side needs 3x 12V and 5x Ground so there's one not-connected 12V (not sure if that's live) and 1 Ground that needs sharing.

1. Seems that 6+2 on the device end, the +2 are actually 2 Grounds?

2. Wondering if it's possible for me to avoid sharing a Ground by pulling one of the wires from the 8 to the unused Ground of the 6. Unless there's sense wire i.e. VGA device does a ground-sense. Seasonic clearly labelled their sense wires in the diagram for 24-pin and didn't do so for the VGA.

@ Red

"I guess the modern standard for VGA/PCIe 8 pin port is bottom 12V top gnd." It depends. The FSP & EVGA use a 'true' GPU pinout, x3 12v + x5 grounds …

Corsair/Seasonic for example have a top ground / bottom 12v pinout, but 'all' 8pin cables plug in (CPU & GPU)

"The 8 pin CPU or EPS can be totally different. Corsair seems to offer the same 8 pin port for both, calling it 6+2 PCIe/4+4 CPU" 8Pin Port

Your 8pinPort link to the pic (now below), is for an EVGA pinout

I posted the Type4 pinout already for Corsair AX1600i, below is Type3 Ax1500i (Type4 uses a 10/18 while Type3 uses a 10/14 design for the ATX port). Both pinouts describe & are good for all Type3/4 models. Type3/4 6pins & 8pins share the same pinout, & so all their cables interchange except the 24pin ATX, for the reason prior

But yes, EVGA uses 'an industry standard' CPU & GPU pinout (meaning the front panel pinout matches the pinout at the device hardware end, which is the industry standard pinout, lol). Corsair changed theirs, yes, but with the color chart below & the MIO 10pin color chart from post #1, you can mod accordingly

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@ GT I can't see your pics yet, will check back 2morrow

A little ramble here, but wish to highlight the use of the CableMod Compatibility Charts … with the advent or popularity the past 5years til now of pre-made individually-sleeved cables, PSU makers have tried their best to create one pinout that can work across all of their models or sub-models etc. Cablemod then creates a list of which 'style' cable can work on which PSU models. So for instance I go looking for someone else's color wiring chart or I'll make my own here for a particular model, & I can then go check their list & see all of the other models that are compatible with my pinout charts. Having done the Seasonic chart myself probing my own cables (& having found someone else's chart to compare), a generic 'box of Cablemod for Seasonic' works on the 1300watt Prime, several FocusPLus models & almost all other models they've issued the past 5years or so 

My chart can then translate & be good for everything on their list. Glad to check your charts 2morrow for any mis-matches etc & try to reason out the why

"12V bottom row, Ground top row. VGA device side needs 3x 12V and 5x Ground so there's one not-connected 12V (not sure if that's live) and 1 Ground that needs sharing" --> yes

1. Seems that 6+2 on the device end, the +2 are actually 2 Grounds? yes

2. Wondering if it's possible for me to avoid sharing a Ground by pulling one of the wires from the 8 to the unused Ground of the 6. Unless there's sense wire i.e. VGA device does a ground-sense. Seasonic clearly labelled their sense wires in the diagram for 24-pin and didn't do so for the VGA.

@ GT > I have a PCI-E device end chart, below, there are x8 wires overall as we know: two are ground sense wires then we have the normal x3 ground + x3 12volts

Note that when it's a PCIe 6pin, x1 ground = sense & x1 central 12volt wire is there but dead or is not present (probably true, meaning probably wire was absent ~10years ago) … since only x2 12v wires work, that's how we get the 75watt rating on a 6pin

But. When your 6 is part of a 6+2 & u plug it into GRFX card (& if that center 12v wire is there, lol) ground sense wire #2 tells PSU to output 12v on that center 12v, the one that's dead in the PCIe 6pin … now x3 12v wires work & thus why an 8pin gets its 150watt rating

That's how it was explained to me anyways

Below, the green grey portion of PCIe 8pin is the 2pin of the 6+2 (say that 3 times fast), and we're looking at the front of the connector, positive latch up

To answer your questions: all grounds in the 6pin portion are in use, the 2pin = ground pairs where one is a sense

edit: Central 12volt pin! On or Off?

It may be truer to say that central 12volt pin in the 6pin is meant to be dead on an old PSU, because on a day like today if PSU is on & I use my voltmeter I'm 100% going to get a 12v reading out of that center pin. If so, that to me would mean that if u plug just a 6pin into the GRFX card, it could be that the PSU kills the 12v center pin (ie PSU 'senses' the 2pin of the 6+2 is not inserted) or if it doesn't kill 12v to central pin, then the GRFX card knows it's there but is designed to refuse to use it, lol. In the end, the GRFX card &/or PSU do not exceed the 6pin 75watt rating by somehow only using x2 12volt wires out of the three available …

@Cass-Ole :

Thanks! I think together with the diagram I got from Seasonic, it shows that the sense wires are grounded. Verbally, the Seasonic diagram would be to take wires from GPU pins 4 and 5 together and plug them into pin 8 at the PSU i.e. ground. Also, pin 6 of GPU which is the other sense pin is to be connected to pin 7 on the PSU side, again, ground.

I have a suspicion that the 6-pin may go beyond 75W because my 2080 Super is rated 250W so if 8+6 is limited to 225W, then there's an issue. Then again, there could be other discussions already happened here on how device handles the supplied juice internally that I have not read.

Sorry for intruding your thread @redxps630 . I sacrificed one Seasonic VGA cable today to confirm the diagram they provided was accurate.

ha, needed to see what made it tick ...

If someone bought a new power supply & wanted to dive into their cable pouch for any number of reasons (like this, for disassembly) but got hesitant because they didn't want to 'burn' a cable, my advice is to buy a low-cost spare replacement cable on eBay if they want it replaced. For Seasonic USA you can use their distributor's eBay store or direct sales page

So it was 12volts bottom row (x3 wires + an empty slot) / grounds top row (x5 wires = 2 jumped into a slot) … that's what the chart u posted looked like

*FYI: GRFX cards can pull up to 75watts directly through the mthrbrd PCIe slot, through the card's 'gold teeth'

If your 8pin/6pin card is rated at 250w, 175w - 225w can come through the cables at least by spec

In the old days of dual-8pin 375w cards, 300w via cables + 75w through PCIe slot

Ah, I totally forgot about the gold-teeth connection supplying power. This is despite GPU_PWR header not connected when an Aurora R6-R9 owner fiddles with his/ her system being one of the top reasons "my new RTX 2060 isn't functioning!!! ". The other being secure boot...

Anyway, I constructed the orange/ black 6+8 and put it through Dr. Power and all is well. I recall you showing me a pic last year where you crammed 2 16AWGs into one terminal so I decided to give that a try too. Was a little tight but made it.

And yeah, transparent heatshrink gets "smoked" or clouded easily from lighter and finger touch. Only works with a heatgun to retain full transparency. I'm gonna move back to black heatshrink as that also helps cover up ugly hookup wires if any.

Hi Cass,

I am looking for a 10 pin power cable for my area 51 alx mio board or would it be enough to connect the mio usb 3 cable to get the lights and motors working?

will this splitter work with every 24 pin psu cable? this seems to be an universal solution then.