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Front IO Alternate Power

RevvedUpGaming
By RevvedUpGaming
in Troubleshooting
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So, I chose to build the Project 0 Cables desk from an LTT video (LINK HERE). I did it, it looks great, and all of that. The only issue is I don't want to run a SATA POWER cable into my pc to power the front IO (LINK HERE). 

 

Does anyone have an alternate way of powering it? I thought about using a USB-to-SATA plug and plugging it directly into the power strip I am using, but something tells me that isn't a great idea. I have had it for a couple of years and have just never gotten around to fixing it, but I finally decided to do so. Maybe I am just missing something, but I cannot figure it out.

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

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51 minutes ago, wjm22400 said:

I thought about using a USB-to-SATA plug

A USB plug won't be able to supply the same amount of current, so I definitely wouldn't do this. 

 

Why not just directly wire it to something else.  You could sleeve the cables and it would look fine. Looks like you just need 12 and 5 volts those cables you definitely have going into the motherboard.  

 

I know for my HTPCs I needed to splice into my 24 pin cable for the remote wiring. Not wanting to splice the actual PSU wiring I picked up short ATX extensions, 6" IIRC, and splices my wires into those.  You could pick up the wires needed from there?  Or another PSU port. 

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Not sure your level of electrical jank, but you could grab a dual rail power supply and make your own adapter cable. Just remember, yellow is 12V; red is 5V. 😉 You'll still need to run AC to the power supply, so it's probably a wash compared to running the 12V/5V from the PC directly.

Main System (Byarlant): Ryzen 9 5950X | Asus B550-Creator ProArt | EK 240mm Basic AIO | 32GB G.Skill DDR4 3600MT/s CL16 | XFX Speedster SWFT 210 RX 6600 | Samsung 990 PRO 2TB / Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB | Corsair RM750X | StarTech 4× USB 3.0 Card | Realtek RTL8127 10G NIC | Hyte Y60 Case | Dell U3415W Monitor | Keychron K12 Blue (RGB backlight)

 

Laptop (Narrative): Lenovo Flex 5 81X20005US | Ryzen 5 4500U | 16GB DDR4 3200MT/s (soldered) | Vega II 384SP Graphics | SKHynix P31 1TB NVMe SSD | Intel AX200 Wifi | Asus 2.5G USB NIC | Asus ProArt PA278QV | Keychron K4 Brown (white backlight)

 

Proxmox Server (Veda): Ryzen 7 3800XT | ASRock Rack X470D4U | Corsair H80i v2 | 128GB Micron DDR4 ECC 3200MT/s | 2× Samsung PM963a 960GB SSD / 4× WD 10TB / 4× Seagate 14TB Exos / 4× Micron MX500 2TB / 8× WD 12TB (custom external SAS enclosure) | Seasonic Prime Fanless 500W | Intel X550-T2 10G NIC | LSI 9300-8i HBA | Adaptec 82885T SAS Expander | Fractal Design Node 804 Case

 

Proxmox Server (La Vie en Rose): GMKtec Mini PC | Ryzen 7 5700U | 32GB Lexar DDR4 (SODIMM) | Vega II 512SP Graphics | Lexar 1TB 610 Pro SSD | 2× Realtek 8125 2.5G NICs


Media Center/Video Capture (Jesta Cannon): Ryzen 5 1600X | ASRock B450M Pro4 R2.0 | Noctua NH-L12S | 16GB Crucial DDR4 3200MT/s | EVGA GTX750Ti SC | UMIS NVMe SSD 256GB / TEAMGROUP MS30 1TB | Corsair CX450M | Viewcast Osprey 260e Video Capture | TrendNet (AQC107) 10G NIC | LG WH14NS40 BD-ROM | Silverstone Sugo SG-11 Case | Sony XR65A80K

 

Workbench (Doven Wolf): Lenovo m715q | Ryzen Pro 3 2200GE | 16GB Crucial DDR4 3200MT/s (SODIMM) | Vega 8 Graphics | SKHynix (OEM) 256GB NVMe SSD | uni 2.5G USB NIC | HDMI add-in module

 

Network:

Spoiler 
                       ┌─────────────── Office/Rack ───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
Google Fiber Webpass ── Cloud Gateway Max ══╦═ Pro XG 8 ══╦═ Flex 2.5-8 ══╦═ Doven Wolf
                      La Vie en Rose (DNS) ═╬═ Narrative  ╠═ Veda-NAS     ╠═ La Vie en Rose (vmbr)
                                Veda (DNS) ─┘             ╠═ Veda (vmbr)  ├─ Ptolemy (vmbr)
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╩═ Ptolemy-NAS  ├─ Veda (Mgmt)
║   ┌ Closet ┐      ┌───────── Bedroom ─────────┐                         └─ Veda (IPMI)
╚═══ Flex XG ══╦╤═══ Flex XG ══╤╦═ Byarlant
       (PoE)   ║│              │╠═ Narrative 
Kitchen Jack ══╣└─ Dual PoE ┐  │╚═ Jesta Cannon*
   (Testing)   ║┌─ Injector ┘  └── Work Laptop
     Bedroom ══╝│        ┌─────── Media Center ────────────────────────────┐
     Jack #2    └──────── Switch 8 ────────────┬─ nanoHD Access Point (PoE)
Notes:                                         ├─ Sony PlayStation 4 
─── is Gigabit / ═══ is Multi-Gigabit          ├─ Pioneer VSX-S520
* = cable passed from Bedroom to Media Center  └─ Sony XR65A80K (Google TV)
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32 minutes ago, AbydosOne said:

Not sure your level of electrical jank, but you could grab a dual rail power supply and make your own adapter cable. Just remember, yellow is 12V; red is 5V. 😉 You'll still need to run AC to the power supply, so it's probably a wash compared to running the 12V/5V from the PC directly.

 

37 minutes ago, OhioYJ said:

A USB plug won't be able to supply the same amount of current, so I definitely wouldn't do this. 

 

Why not just directly wire it to something else.  You could sleeve the cables and it would look fine. Looks like you just need 12 and 5 volts those cables you definitely have going into the motherboard.  

 

I know for my HTPCs I needed to splice into my 24 pin cable for the remote wiring. Not wanting to splice the actual PSU wiring I picked up short ATX extensions, 6" IIRC, and splices my wires into those.  You could pick up the wires needed from there?  Or another PSU port. 

See, and that's why I was wondering if the USB like this would work LINK if it only allows the 5v 2A unless I'm misunderstanding.

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24 minutes ago, wjm22400 said:

it only allows the 5v 2A unless

Except where are you getting that 2A from? It normally would not be from any USB A port on a motherboard. Generally those would be 0.5 - 0.9 A max depending on the type. I think it's just saying 2A is the max it will handle, perhaps if you plug it into a phone charger or other supply? 

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22 minutes ago, OhioYJ said:

Except where are you getting that 2A from? It normally would not be from any USB A port on a motherboard. Generally those would be 0.5 - 0.9 A max depending on the type. I think it's just saying 2A is the max it will handle, perhaps if you plug it into a phone charger or other supply? 

I'm not quite sure, but with my desk build, I was planning on plugging it directly into my surge protectors' built-in USB port.  I thought that might work, but I wasnt 100% sure.

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5 minutes ago, wjm22400 said:

I'm not quite sure, but with my desk build, I was planning on plugging it directly into my surge protectors' built-in USB port.  I thought that might work, but I wasnt 100% sure.

That will likely supply more than your PC motherboard, but you would have to check your surge protector documentation. 

 

The million dollar question is... The connector that came with your IO panel has both 5V and 12V in. That adapter you are looking at (USB to SATA) is 5V only. So is the 12 volt really needed?  

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1 hour ago, OhioYJ said:

That will likely supply more than your PC motherboard, but you would have to check your surge protector documentation. 

 

The million dollar question is... The connector that came with your IO panel has both 5V and 12V in. That adapter you are looking at (USB to SATA) is 5V only. So is the 12 volt really needed?  

I'm confused where you see 12V; everything I read is 5V, and the only difference is amps. I also did some research into the USB port on my surge protector, and it says "USB rating 2.1A total". So I just don't know the v.

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1 hour ago, wjm22400 said:

I'm confused where you see 12V; everything I read is 5V, and the only difference is amps. I also did some research into the USB port on my surge protector, and it says "USB rating 2.1A total". So I just don't know the v.

SATA power also provides 12V. I suspect the 12V is needed to provide 9V (IIRC) for QC3.0.

Main System (Byarlant): Ryzen 9 5950X | Asus B550-Creator ProArt | EK 240mm Basic AIO | 32GB G.Skill DDR4 3600MT/s CL16 | XFX Speedster SWFT 210 RX 6600 | Samsung 990 PRO 2TB / Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB | Corsair RM750X | StarTech 4× USB 3.0 Card | Realtek RTL8127 10G NIC | Hyte Y60 Case | Dell U3415W Monitor | Keychron K12 Blue (RGB backlight)

 

Laptop (Narrative): Lenovo Flex 5 81X20005US | Ryzen 5 4500U | 16GB DDR4 3200MT/s (soldered) | Vega II 384SP Graphics | SKHynix P31 1TB NVMe SSD | Intel AX200 Wifi | Asus 2.5G USB NIC | Asus ProArt PA278QV | Keychron K4 Brown (white backlight)

 

Proxmox Server (Veda): Ryzen 7 3800XT | ASRock Rack X470D4U | Corsair H80i v2 | 128GB Micron DDR4 ECC 3200MT/s | 2× Samsung PM963a 960GB SSD / 4× WD 10TB / 4× Seagate 14TB Exos / 4× Micron MX500 2TB / 8× WD 12TB (custom external SAS enclosure) | Seasonic Prime Fanless 500W | Intel X550-T2 10G NIC | LSI 9300-8i HBA | Adaptec 82885T SAS Expander | Fractal Design Node 804 Case

 

Proxmox Server (La Vie en Rose): GMKtec Mini PC | Ryzen 7 5700U | 32GB Lexar DDR4 (SODIMM) | Vega II 512SP Graphics | Lexar 1TB 610 Pro SSD | 2× Realtek 8125 2.5G NICs


Media Center/Video Capture (Jesta Cannon): Ryzen 5 1600X | ASRock B450M Pro4 R2.0 | Noctua NH-L12S | 16GB Crucial DDR4 3200MT/s | EVGA GTX750Ti SC | UMIS NVMe SSD 256GB / TEAMGROUP MS30 1TB | Corsair CX450M | Viewcast Osprey 260e Video Capture | TrendNet (AQC107) 10G NIC | LG WH14NS40 BD-ROM | Silverstone Sugo SG-11 Case | Sony XR65A80K

 

Workbench (Doven Wolf): Lenovo m715q | Ryzen Pro 3 2200GE | 16GB Crucial DDR4 3200MT/s (SODIMM) | Vega 8 Graphics | SKHynix (OEM) 256GB NVMe SSD | uni 2.5G USB NIC | HDMI add-in module

 

Network:

Spoiler 
                       ┌─────────────── Office/Rack ───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
Google Fiber Webpass ── Cloud Gateway Max ══╦═ Pro XG 8 ══╦═ Flex 2.5-8 ══╦═ Doven Wolf
                      La Vie en Rose (DNS) ═╬═ Narrative  ╠═ Veda-NAS     ╠═ La Vie en Rose (vmbr)
                                Veda (DNS) ─┘             ╠═ Veda (vmbr)  ├─ Ptolemy (vmbr)
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╩═ Ptolemy-NAS  ├─ Veda (Mgmt)
║   ┌ Closet ┐      ┌───────── Bedroom ─────────┐                         └─ Veda (IPMI)
╚═══ Flex XG ══╦╤═══ Flex XG ══╤╦═ Byarlant
       (PoE)   ║│              │╠═ Narrative 
Kitchen Jack ══╣└─ Dual PoE ┐  │╚═ Jesta Cannon*
   (Testing)   ║┌─ Injector ┘  └── Work Laptop
     Bedroom ══╝│        ┌─────── Media Center ────────────────────────────┐
     Jack #2    └──────── Switch 8 ────────────┬─ nanoHD Access Point (PoE)
Notes:                                         ├─ Sony PlayStation 4 
─── is Gigabit / ═══ is Multi-Gigabit          ├─ Pioneer VSX-S520
* = cable passed from Bedroom to Media Center  └─ Sony XR65A80K (Google TV)
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8 hours ago, AbydosOne said:

SATA power also provides 12V. I suspect the 12V is needed to provide 9V (IIRC) for QC3.0.

Okay, that makes sense. The Technical details for the front IO panel say that the only Voltage it takes is 5V.

 

In the end, I measured the output of the USB on my surge protector, which is at 5.2V. So that should mean that the USB is 5V 2.1A total. Which falls under what the Cable can do, correct?

 

At this point, I'm thinking about sending it and hoping it doesn't catch on fire 😂

 

In the case of additional Voltage needed, would a dual USB like this work? LINK

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42 minutes ago, wjm22400 said:

In the case of additional Voltage needed, would a dual USB like this work? LINK

Nope. That just extra 5V.

Main System (Byarlant): Ryzen 9 5950X | Asus B550-Creator ProArt | EK 240mm Basic AIO | 32GB G.Skill DDR4 3600MT/s CL16 | XFX Speedster SWFT 210 RX 6600 | Samsung 990 PRO 2TB / Samsung 990 EVO Plus 4TB | Corsair RM750X | StarTech 4× USB 3.0 Card | Realtek RTL8127 10G NIC | Hyte Y60 Case | Dell U3415W Monitor | Keychron K12 Blue (RGB backlight)

 

Laptop (Narrative): Lenovo Flex 5 81X20005US | Ryzen 5 4500U | 16GB DDR4 3200MT/s (soldered) | Vega II 384SP Graphics | SKHynix P31 1TB NVMe SSD | Intel AX200 Wifi | Asus 2.5G USB NIC | Asus ProArt PA278QV | Keychron K4 Brown (white backlight)

 

Proxmox Server (Veda): Ryzen 7 3800XT | ASRock Rack X470D4U | Corsair H80i v2 | 128GB Micron DDR4 ECC 3200MT/s | 2× Samsung PM963a 960GB SSD / 4× WD 10TB / 4× Seagate 14TB Exos / 4× Micron MX500 2TB / 8× WD 12TB (custom external SAS enclosure) | Seasonic Prime Fanless 500W | Intel X550-T2 10G NIC | LSI 9300-8i HBA | Adaptec 82885T SAS Expander | Fractal Design Node 804 Case

 

Proxmox Server (La Vie en Rose): GMKtec Mini PC | Ryzen 7 5700U | 32GB Lexar DDR4 (SODIMM) | Vega II 512SP Graphics | Lexar 1TB 610 Pro SSD | 2× Realtek 8125 2.5G NICs


Media Center/Video Capture (Jesta Cannon): Ryzen 5 1600X | ASRock B450M Pro4 R2.0 | Noctua NH-L12S | 16GB Crucial DDR4 3200MT/s | EVGA GTX750Ti SC | UMIS NVMe SSD 256GB / TEAMGROUP MS30 1TB | Corsair CX450M | Viewcast Osprey 260e Video Capture | TrendNet (AQC107) 10G NIC | LG WH14NS40 BD-ROM | Silverstone Sugo SG-11 Case | Sony XR65A80K

 

Workbench (Doven Wolf): Lenovo m715q | Ryzen Pro 3 2200GE | 16GB Crucial DDR4 3200MT/s (SODIMM) | Vega 8 Graphics | SKHynix (OEM) 256GB NVMe SSD | uni 2.5G USB NIC | HDMI add-in module

 

Network:

Spoiler 
                       ┌─────────────── Office/Rack ───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
Google Fiber Webpass ── Cloud Gateway Max ══╦═ Pro XG 8 ══╦═ Flex 2.5-8 ══╦═ Doven Wolf
                      La Vie en Rose (DNS) ═╬═ Narrative  ╠═ Veda-NAS     ╠═ La Vie en Rose (vmbr)
                                Veda (DNS) ─┘             ╠═ Veda (vmbr)  ├─ Ptolemy (vmbr)
╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╩═ Ptolemy-NAS  ├─ Veda (Mgmt)
║   ┌ Closet ┐      ┌───────── Bedroom ─────────┐                         └─ Veda (IPMI)
╚═══ Flex XG ══╦╤═══ Flex XG ══╤╦═ Byarlant
       (PoE)   ║│              │╠═ Narrative 
Kitchen Jack ══╣└─ Dual PoE ┐  │╚═ Jesta Cannon*
   (Testing)   ║┌─ Injector ┘  └── Work Laptop
     Bedroom ══╝│        ┌─────── Media Center ────────────────────────────┐
     Jack #2    └──────── Switch 8 ────────────┬─ nanoHD Access Point (PoE)
Notes:                                         ├─ Sony PlayStation 4 
─── is Gigabit / ═══ is Multi-Gigabit          ├─ Pioneer VSX-S520
* = cable passed from Bedroom to Media Center  └─ Sony XR65A80K (Google TV)
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11 hours ago, AbydosOne said:

Nope. That just extra 5V.

So, what I think I am going to do is use the one USB to SATA power adapter and hope it doesn't burst into flames, because, according to everything I read and measured, it should work.

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On 10/15/2025 at 5:33 AM, AbydosOne said:

Nope. That just extra 5V.

 

On 10/14/2025 at 4:54 PM, OhioYJ said:

That will likely supply more than your PC motherboard, but you would have to check your surge protector documentation. 

 

The million dollar question is... The connector that came with your IO panel has both 5V and 12V in. That adapter you are looking at (USB to SATA) is 5V only. So is the 12 volt really needed?  

Just an update in case y'all were interested. I talked to my buddy, who installs security systems, and they set up portable IT for rigs and such. One of the guys recommended this, which is perfect for this situation --> LINK

 

So hopefully this helps for anyone looking for something similar.

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