FANtastic - Transplant

Few months ago, I wrote about my BitFenix Spectre Pro 200mm fan, which is installed in my NZXT Panzerbox PC chassis. Two of the fans in the chassis are of the unusually-large 200mm x 30mm type.



Recently, it came to my attention that the fan started to develop noticeable bearing noises, and the rotation speed has dropped a bit. This is a clear sign of forthcoming failure. It would be wise to seek a replacement before the fan stops running.



The replacement is a Cooler Master FA20030M12SFC. Compare to the BitFenix fan, this one is heavier, and the blades rotate much smoother. The diameter is slightly larger, even-though it is marketed as a 200mm fan. Upon powering up, I found that the speed is almost 800 RPM, slower than the BitFenix.

Like the BitFenix fan, the mounting holes of the Cooler Master fan is not designed for my NZXT chasssis. As illustrated in the picture below, the mounting holes on the original NZXT fan (left) and the Cooler Master fan (right) are not exactly the same.




Fortunately, the difference in location is small enough that one can "fix" with a drill.



Once the modification has been completed, the installation is a piece of cake.



Now, with a replacement fan running, it is time to think about what I should do with that BitFenix fan.

As mentioned earlier, the fan motor is not working well anymore. The culprit is probably the sleeve bearing, a critical and non-user-serviceable component. To most people, this fan is considered as trash. Not me though.

The Transplant

The fact is that, if one can swap in a new bearing assembly or a new brushless DC motor, the fan will be in full working order. I knew there is no way of repairing the existing motor, so the best course of action is to install a suitable motor and reuse the existing frame and rotor.



After a brief cleaning of the fan with a damp cloth, I began with the disassembling of the fan. The rotor and shaft are secured with a C-clip. Once the clip is disengaged, the rotor can be pulled out.



The motor assembly (on a circuit board with wires) and bearing are the next to go. The plastic protrusion that forms the bearing housing and motor mount will then be cut off.




The rotor needs a bit of surgery as well. The permanent magnet ring and the metal shaft in the centre must be removed.



With the help of a butane lighter and a pair of pliers, the shaft is seperated from the plastic construction. The hole in the middle, formed by melting and drilling and filing, is covered with electrical tape for the next step.



The DC brushless motor I picked for this transplant procedure is from a high-quality fan. It is an old, made-in-Japan, Sanyo Denki Mini Ace 92mm x 25mm fan that I already have in my collection. Here is a page of the datasheet:



This fan is a prime candidate since its motor size fits perfectly with the BitFenix fan rotor. Moreover, it is a ball-bearing fan with exceptional smoothness.



Since the fan will be coupled to the BitFenix fan rotor, its original frame must be removed. The blades on its rotor will need to go as well. Once these steps have been completed, I will utilize 2-part epoxy adhesive to join the motor (the part with the label) to the frame of the BitFenix fan.



As illustrated above, the motor has been glued to the frame. Hot-glue is then used to fill the "trench" around the motor.
The blades off the fan are seen in the foreground.



The epoxy adhesive sets quickly, and dries to a milky white color. Extreme care must be taken to keep the parts centered, since the permanent bond from the epoxy is almost impossible to undo. I have used electrical tape to cover the hole in the center, so that no adhesive will leak into it. A few drops of sewing machine oil into that hole will keep this motor running smoothly for a long time.



The rotor and blades of the BitFenix fan is glued to the Sanyo Denki motor with 2-part epoxy adhesive as well. The hole in the middle was blocked with electrical tape to prevent the adhesive from leaking out.



With the two parts secured joined together in the right place, I put the original oil cap and Sanyo Denki label on the back.



Lastly, I mounted it back in my NZXT PC chassis. Due to the larger rotor and resultant air resistance, the Sanyo Denki motor does not drive the BitFenix rotor at the original 2xxx RPM. Rather, it runs at a gentle 8xx RPM, which is close to the original speed of the BitFenix fan.

FANtastic - DoA

Computers generate heat as they work. In most modern computers, electric fans are used to help dissipate that heat. The fans, like many mechanical devices, have a finite life. When these fans inside a computer, the computer may overheat and sustain damage. Thus, it's essential to keep these fans in working condition.

In most cases, keeping these fans in working condition simply means replacing dead/malfunctioned fans with new ones. In some odd cases, however, replacement may not be the solution. This post describes one of those odd cases.

My main computer has a few fans in it. Two of the fans are of the unusually-large 200mm x 30mm type.



Recently, one of them failed so it's time to replace it with a new one. The following is what I purchased:



It is a BitFenix Spectre Pro 200mm fan. The size is identical to the old one from NZXT. Speed is slower (1100 vs. 900 RPM). I like how BitFenix is nice and smart enough to provide plenty of mounting options.



If none of those mounting holes fit (the situation I faced), I found that the 2-part frame can be disassembled for custom fabrication purposes. The outer, ring-shaped frame attaches to the inner frame via multiple clips. These clips can be undone easily with a small flat-head screwdriver.



Just as I thought this is a simple one-to-one replacement, the surprise comes when I power up the fan. The fan emitted scrapping and grinding noises as it was rotating. As I attempted to turn the fan blades by hand, there was noticeable friction. Since this is a new fan straight out of the box, it is certain that the fan is defective on arrival (DoA).

Such condition means the fan is garbage, but I wasn't ready to give up on it just yet. I suspect that the fan may work properly with the addition of a few drops of lubricant. To do that, I began by peeling back the label on the fan motor to reveal the shaft and bearing.



According to BitFenix, the fan employs fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) technology. To my understanding, FDB provides performance close to that of ball-bearing, but without the high costs in precision engineering. The following diagram illustrates briefly what FDB is like.



As I disassemble the fan in an attempt to lubricate it, a question came to mind - Does this fan really features FDB? Or just cheapo sleeve-bearing? The following are close-up shots on the shaft and bearing:





Anyway, there was a tiny bit of jelly substance in there. It was clear there was insufficient lubrication. I had to repack the assembly with grease. Once that was done, the noises went away. In fact, the rotor/blades seemed to rotate faster than before.

Prior to writing this post, I actually found quite a number of complaints on various online forums about similar fan problems with BitFenix, so I am not alone in this. While BitFenix is nice to exchange defective fans (from what I read; not what I experienced, as I am not interested in an replacement), I think the need to re-lube a new fan by the user is simply unacceptable.



To put things into perspective, the two fans shown above are much heavier in construction and much powerful than the BitFenix fan. These fans utilizes ball-bearing, which is known to be noisier than FDB. Still, they run smoothly without any weird noises.

All things considered, I would avoid buying BitFenix fans. The one I have now stays, but I doubt it will run for long. Its blue glow (from 4 built-in LEDs) is somewhat attractive. I leave them off though.

My Byte in Raspberry Pi

I can finally get my hands on the infamous Raspberry Pi.



For those who have not heard of this amazing project, the Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools.

The version I got is the Model B, with 512MB memory. While it looks very similar to an Arduino, the Raspberry Pi is not a micro-controller. It is a full computer similar to what you find inside a smartphone or tablet.



Right now, I am not sure what project I will use this on. First attempts at tinkering with it failed, due to power issues. It seems that I need not only a 5V 2A power supply to power the board stably, but also a powered USB hub if I want to use peripherals like USB Bluetooth adapter, USB Wi-Fi adapter, USB to SATA hard drive adapters...

Looks like it's time to get a nice USB hub.

Reflect on Mass Effect - Statistics

On June 12 2013, which is the Tung Ng Festival, also known as the Dragon-boat Festival, I finally finished the Mass Effect trilogy.

What is Mass Effect, you ask?

Right off the bat, the Mass Effect series is one of the best I have ever enjoyed. If you have yet to try this for yourself, please do yourself a favor by trying this out, instead of continuing with this article which contains a lot of spoilers. 

Mass Effect (trilogy) is a series of science fiction action role-playing third person shooter video games developed by the Canadian company BioWare. Its interesting mix of genre was what attracted me to purchase the first of the series. What kept me playing and following the story to the end, however, was its heavy focus on player choices. 

Most single-player games on the market are linear. From start to finish, the player has only one path to follow. In the Mass Effect series, though, the player makes a lot of decisions. Most of these decisions are morally gray. Instead of clear “right” or “wrong” decisions, the series used “Paragon” and “Renegate” to describe the decisions respectively. As the player makes these decisions one by one, the story/game changes interactively. 

The developer, BioWare, released an interesting infograhics on the topic of gamer choices during a conference. I thought it would be a good idea to do a comparison…

1)
According to the save file, I played for more than 80 hours per game from Mass Effect 1 to 3. For the record, I got the first game in Q4 2008.  

2)
In Mass Effect 3, Galactic Readiness is a multiplier for War Assets. War Assets are the people, weapons, armies, fleets, items, and useful technology that the player can accumulate throughout the game. War Assets multiplied by Galactic Readiness results in Total Military Strength, which determines the game endings available to the player. Basically, the higher the Strength, the better the outcome.

The multiplier is locked at 50% for single-player game. I believe this is a handicap measure (by Electronic Arts, the publisher) to force players to try the multiplayer side of the game. I did not succumb to such cheap measure. (This game is about making choices, remember?) . Modifications made to a particular game file (Coalesced.bin) eliminated this problem. 

3)
I played from Mass Effect 1 to Mass Effect 3, so I guess I am a recipient of the Medal? 

4)
Urdnot Wrex (pictured below, on the right). One of my favorite characters in the series, and perhaps in all the games I’ve ever played. Grunt, a genetically engineered krogan super soldier introduced in the second game, is another one of my favorite characters in the series.

In the series, the krogan species is victim to an artificial genetic mutation called the genophage, which is designed to severely reduce krogan numbers by reducing the probability of viable pregnancies in krogan females. Just as Wrex said in Virmire, the krogan are dying, and the genophage cure can save them. Being a paragon player, and the fondness of Wrex, the choice was obvious.  

5)
This is a difficult one. That list has 7 openings so here are my 7 are Wrex (krogan), Legion (geth), Garrus (turian), Grunt (krogan), Liara (asari), Tali (quarian), and Nyreen (turian). These seven are squad-mates worthy. Honorable mentions include Jeff (human), David (human), Kirrahe (salarian), EDI (AI), Kasumi (human), Thane (drell), and surprisingly, the Rachni Queen (rachi).

6)
The following picture should be clear enough...

7)
The conflict/dilemma between organics (living beings) and synthetics (robots, AIs) is one of the major themes in the series. The most prevalent example in the series has to be the struggle between the quarians and the geth. In the first half of the series, the geth was painted as the enemy - the killer robots that threaten all living things. Well, that perspective was thrown right out of the window when Commander meets Legion (pictured below). Legion offers profound insight into the geth species. Those who are interested should play the game, or at least view the relevant videos on YouTube.



In the last game of the series, the quarians and the geth are at war, again. Both parties are determined to wipe the other one out. The truth is I like the geth and the quarians are nothing but trouble throughout the series. If I were forced to choose either one, I would prefer the geth. Yet, in the game, choosing to save both is a possible outcome, and that was the choice I selected.

8)
Mordin is part of the plan (as an informant, physican, and bio-chem scientist) to cure the genophage, so there is no reason to shoot him. Even if he had nothing to do with that plan, I still cannot find any reason to shoot a talented artist/singer. 

9)
I picked infiltrator due to my love of stealthy play style. Sniper rifle plus tactical cloak allows for precision deadly strike. 

10)
Paragon. Period.

That’s it for now. I will share about the controversial ending later.

External HDD Enclosure Power Mod

So I wonder myself: What would be a good way to relax after my resignation from a position at an investment bank?

Do things I love, of course! That means it is time for more IT stuff, more electronics...

While I was digging through my boxes, I found these two external hard drive enclosures. I bought these cheaply a while back. The previous owners sold them cheaply because these are useless without power adapters. In this post, I am going to walk through how I got both of them working again.



Both enclosures have few things in common. One is that they both can connect to a computer via USB. Another is that they both utilize a mini-DIN connector for power connection.



Let's start with the black one. It's a standard 6-pin mini-DIN connector, identical to the S-Video connector. In order to find out the pin-out of the connector, I had to test each pin with a multimeter.



The design of this enclosure makes the test super easy. There is a 4-pin power connector that connects to the hard drive. The four pins are: 5 Volt (Red), Ground (Black), Ground (Black), and 12 Volt (Yellow).

There are three voltages involved, so a 3-conductor cable is needed. I employed a light-duty AC power cord for this. Here is the completed cable set.



The pin-out is as follows (looking at the pins on the plug):
Right set of two pins = Ground
Bottom set of two pins = 12 Volt
Left set of two pins = 5 Volt

Now let's move on to a more challenging one, shall we?



The silver one utilizes a standard (but uncommon) 5-pin mini-DIN connector. Like the exercise above, a multimeter is required to map the pins.



At first glance, there is no easy way to find out the power paths. I know the three voltages (12, 5, Ground) have to be there. Ground and 5 Volt can be found easily with the USB connector, but that still leave one voltage unconfirmed. The trick is to check the power pins on the serial-ATA connector. 



The serial-ATA connector shown here is actually a combination of data (7 pins) and power (15 pins). The power pins are in groups of three for current capacity purposes. Here are the pins on the back of the circuit board:



Indeed, the "groups of three" are visible. Notice that the 3.3 Volt pins (first group of three) are not connected to anything.

With all the pins known, it's time to construct the cable.




For this enclosure, I employed an old keyboard plug/cable assembly from a dead keyboard. The keyboard connector is a 6-pin mini-DIN, so I had to break one of the pins off in order to fit. It feels good to recycle/re-use components from dead electronics.

This whole exercise is necessary because it's vital to check and confirm pin-outs of unfamiliar electronic devices. Never assume. Failure to do so may lead to permanent damage to the devices.

Dell Power Supply Hack n Mod

One of the most common causes of failure in a computer is the power supply. Normally, a power supply replacement is so simple that, to me, it is not worth writing a blog about.

This one is not normal.

The patient here is a Dell OptiPlex GX280 (tower). It has been diagnosed with power supply failure, and requires a power supply transplant. First, lets take a look at the patient:





As you can see, this is an older Dell. It's still utilizing ATX form-factor, instead of BTX. This one has a P4 3.2 GHz processor and 2 GB of DDR2-667 memory.

This Dell came with a 250W ATX power supply, model number PS-5251-2D52, made by Lite-On Electronics, Inc. After several checks with a multimeter and pin-out charts, I am glad to find that this power supply uses standard pin-out. The board takes the standard 24-pin ATX power connector, and the 4-pin 12V power adapter.

The power supply has a special casing which contains two rectangular holes that mate with metal clips on the Dell chassis. Here is the clip in question:





The green handle is attached to a metal tongue which locks the power supply in place.

These "features" will prevent a normal ATX power supply to fit, so I tried to find a direct replacement. A trusted source told me that, even if I could find one, it is not going to be cheap.

This is where the hacking and modding starts...

The replacement power supply is a Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 460W ATX power supply, model number RS-460-PMSR-A3. According to this review, it is a nice affordable unit but with an exaggerated output rating. Since the Dell will never consume power close to the conservative (430W) rating, this power supply is absolutely fine for this operation.

Lets put the two power supplies together:




The physical dimensions are the same. Looks like a quick and easy project, right? Wrong! The problem lies in the (lack of) on/off switch on the power supply. The following picture will show what exactly is the problem:




The chassis has no opening for the switch on the replacement power supply. With the switch protruding at the back, the power supply will simply not fit. Hence, it must be removed. To remove it, the power supply must be cracked open, like so:




The wiring is a bit messy, but who cares. Now lets focus on the switch:




The blue and brown (the standard color for neutral and live respectively) wires go from the IEC socket to the on/off switch, then to the power supply circuit board. The modification involves (1) cutting the wires off the switch, (2) removing the switch, (3) connecting blue wires together and brown wires together without mixing them up, (4) soldering and insulating the connections, and (5) covering the hole for the switch with electrical tape. Here is what the outcome looks like:




With a slight bend on that protruding metal clip on the chassis, this replacement power supply fits perfectly. After screwing the power supply in place, it is just a matter of plugging all the stuff back.

With the new power supply, this Dell is back to life and ready to work: