Is any cheap sata power extension cable good for use on a sata ssd?Or can it be unsafe?

[dan1991Ro]

I know that SSDs use very little power,like 5-6 watts,so i think any SATA extension cable no matter how bad will work right?

[IIIIIIIIII]

57 minutes ago, dan1991Ro said:

I know that SSDs use very little power,like 5-6 watts,so i think any SATA extension cable no matter how bad will work right?

I've seen some garbage SATA cables or genders catch fire on cables or connectors. Therefore, it is not recommended.

[mariushm]

Get an extension that uses CRIMPED connectors, or press-fit connectors ... but not MOLDED. 

And, if you have molex connectors in your system, get a molex -> sata extension instead, molex is more reliablem, but againm make sure it's crimped connectors, not molded..

 

 crimped : each wire has a pin crimped to it, then the pin is inserted in a channel in the connector, so the pins are individually separated in the connector : 

 

Example : https://www.amazon.com/COMeap-Extension-Splitter-Adapter-24-inch/dp/B07K8296TL/

 

 

press-fit :  usually for right angle sata connectors ... similar to how ethernet wall sockets are. Each pin in the sata connector has a sort of U shape with sharp edges at the end and a machine presses the wire through the U channel and the wire makes a very strong connection with the individual pin 

It's how the old IDE cables were made ... wires pressed into the pins.

 

Example of such extension cable : https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Pack-Power-Splitter/dp/B012BPLW08/

 

Video showing the individual connectors and how wires are pushed in : 

 

 

 

what not to get .... molded connectors ... basically the ends of wires are spot welded to individual pins, the pins are placed on  the plastic housing and then a machine injects liquid plastic and makes the housing of the sata connector trapping the wires and pins inside the connector. 

 

The problem ... there's no hard plastic separating the pins only some air and that softer plastic that was injected. if for some reason the connector overheats (can be from the hard drive case being hot, or high current the pins inside the housing can shift and touch and create a short circuit which in turn can burn the housing or warm up the plastic to the point where it melts and lets pins loose inside to make additional shorts.

 

 

[cachethrash]

Wire gauge is another concern, obviously you want a thick enough wire to handle whatever current is flowing. Gamers Nexus did a little video about this sort of thing not too long ago, and I believe they said that some of the cheapest adapters just outright lie about the gauge of wire they use.

[mariushm]

Well, yes and no...

 

For a simple molex to sata adapter, gauge doesn't matter that much.  It's not a long enough cable to matter what gauge or composition of wire the adapter uses. 

For a longer extension (1 to 3-4 connectors), it may start to matter. 

 

Cheap adapters may use thinner AWG20 gauge wires instead of the standard AWG18, or even the thicker AWG16.  The pins and connectors/housings are typically designed for AWG20-AWG18, and AWG18 is perfectly adequate for around 10-12A of current. 

 

Visually it's hard to tell if the wires are proper or not.

Sometimes they fake it by using thicker insulation, making the wire look like AWG18 but in fact it's AWG20 or worse. 

Often, the cheaper extension cables add strands of aluminum wire or steel wire, besides the copper strands, to thicken the bundle and get the cable to AWG18 but be cheaper made compared to a cable made out of pure copper strands.  

You get the thickness, but the wire itself has a higher resistance compared to a pure copper cable, so there's higher losses on the cable at high currents, and it heats up a bit due to the higher resistance of the cable.