Synology 1812+ PSU Exchange

[Kanashii]

WARNING: I'm noob on this and doing it on my own so be careful and DIY at your own risk! Or better wait while I try to complete the adapters before you burn your NAS...

Hello, after some years of hard duty my Synology make some irritating noise. As you can find in Synology's forums is caused by the PSU fan. Due warranty is now finished I decided to exchange the original PSU (300W) to a fanless low power PSU (150W). A review shows 103W as maximum W so the 80% 150W (~120W) must be enought for 8x3TB discs.

Being a noob in electrical issues I want to share and ask for help to complete this operation. Let's do it!


Original Synology PSU Data:
PSU 250W_1
Description: PSU 250W 24p+8p+6p
Connectors: ATX, 12 pin molex, 8 pin molex
EAN: 4711174729210
UPC: 846504009213
Dimensions: 15.5 x8.1 x4.1 cm
Weight: 0.82 kg
Models: DS1010+, DS1511+, DS1512+, DS1812+, DX510, DX513, RS409, RS411, RS810+, RS812, RS812+, RX410
Detailed PSU specs

150W Fanless PSU replacing unit:

type: Fortron Source FSP150-50TNF Flex ATX v2.0 power supply
performance: 150 Watt
ventilation: completely fanless construction
connectors:
- 1 x 20+4-pol. mainboard-connector (ATX)
- 1 x 4-pol. 12V / P4-connector
- 2 x SATA- connector
- 1 x 4-pol. Molex- connector + 1 x 4-pol. Molex Floppy- connector
Output: - +3,3V / 14A
- +5Vsb / 2.0A
- +12V combined / 14A
- -12V / 0.5A
dimensions: (W x D x H) : 150mm x 81,5mm x 40,3mm
additional: - suitable for use in very narrow 19" server enclosures with a height of 1U or certain mini ITX enclosures
- active PFC
- Over voltage protection
Detailed PSU specs

Starting the PSU's connector adapters...

Synology PSU connectors & adapters schemes. ATENTION: This schemes are from male molex to male molex (obviously the female molex in the new cable is mirrored)

Normal ATX connector. All PSU will have this connector (ATX 20 pin + 4 pin) so no adapter is needed.

Own Synology molex connectors (12 pin molex and 8 pin molex):

Synology Connectors Color scheme (R - Red 5v, N - Black Ground, A - Yellow 12v1, AN - Yellow/Black 12v2) both molex front view :

Normal PSU connectors (4pin molex & SATA) have to be adapted to synolgy own molex. As long as my PSU don't have the 12v1 & 12v2 (only 12v) the adapter from molex to synology connectors will be:

My fanless PSU have only ATX, 2xsata and 1x4pin molex so I have to split the 4 pin molex in two 4 pin molex or adapt SATA to 4 pin molex and then create my own adapted connectors.
In the molex+SATA scheme we can keep the Watts splited on both PSU cables (4pin molex & SATA) to no overcharge one single molex connector.

Will continue....comments are welcome.


References, sources and others...
- I'm using a fantastic guide to make your own wires from here

 

[Kanashii]

Making the wires...

What do you need?
- 16/18 AWG stranded wire
- Molex male/female pins for Mini-Fit Jr (we're going to split 3 wires to 12 so get bigger pins than wires to mix).
- Wire cutter
- Molex pin extractor
- Molex Mini-Fit Jr crimper
Optional
- heat shrink
- wire sleeves
- soldering tool
- heat pistol (or hairdryer)

4 pin to 8 pin molex (simple mod)
To complete the 4 pin to 8 pin connector I used the tipical 4 pin to 8 pin PCI-E (VGA power) but you must change the yellow +12v pin to the other side, the red +5v pin. The good thing is the ground cables are fine and no soldering is needed.

Althoug the connector is 4 pin to 8 pin only 2 wires are connected on one side.

One of these wires must be moved to another pin position. Use the pin extractor tool to unmount the yellow wire from the 4 pin molex and mount it on the red wire position:

First adapter done!!

As we reused the pre-made PCI-E cable the wire is yellow in spite of red but no problem at all (it's just the color) the pin the is right one. You can see how the red wire from the PSU molex continues to the yellow wire on the own made connector.

 

[Kanashii]

Testing the new created 4 pin to 8 pin adapter...

It's alive!!!

Now I must continue with the 4 pin to 12 pin molex adapter... the hard one!

 

[Kanashii]

4 pin to 12 pin molex
To complete the 4 pin to 12 pin I need to make my own molex cable.

If you don't want to buy the 12 pin Mini fit jr molex enclosure you can unmount the one from the original PSU (only the enclosure, not the wires or pins). That make you save some money or order it from a major reseller. Use the pin extractor tool to remove the pins from the 12 pin molex. You will get 12 pin wires and a 12 postion molex enclosure (plastic).

Then you can choose one of two methods:
1.- Soldering wires + heat shrink.
2.- Wire splitting on pin connectors.

First method is similar to the cable I bought (4 pin to 8 pin PCI-e) and you must use soldering skills and I heat pistol (or strong airdryer). Second one is usual for 4 pin to 4 pin fan's connector model splittering the wires from the female pin piece.

First method require build 2 soldered wires and a single one:
1.- One single wire with the same length than the soldered ones 1--->1
2.- 1 wire soldered with 5 wires (the yellow, +12v wire) 1----->5
3.- 1 wire soldered with 6 wires (the black, ground wire) 1----->6


I discovered there are too much wires to use the molex female pins to crimp/soder them together (damn!). But then realized that the ground wires can be linked from 2th and 3rd pin from molex, as shown:

Final schema (as before, the 4 pin female molex is inverted from the first draw):

So the soldering will be:

1.- One single non soldered wire with the same length than the soldered ones. 1---->1
2.- 1 wire soldered with 5 wires (the yellow, +12v wire). 1----->5
3.- 1 wire soldered with 3 wires (the black, ground wire). 1----->3
3.- 1 wire soldered with 3 wires (the black, ground wire). 1----->3

 

[Kanashii]

Reserved for futures posts

 

[Kanashii]

Another post reserved, hopefully the last one.

 

[Kanashii]

Let's reserve one more.

 

[spinmd]

PSU Adapters

Hi Kanashii,

I'm in the same boat with an intermittent PSU for a Synology RS411. Sometimes the hard drives spin up, sometimes they don't. Tapping on the PSU seems to get them going so I figure it's a PSU issue.

I'm considering reflowing the PSU circuit board with my soldering unit's hot air iron to see if that fixes the issue, but I have a replacement PSU that I think I'll adapt using your adapter info and Synology's molex connectors. This way, I'll be able to replace a PSU whenever necessary.

My question is whether your adapters worked?

If so, with 3 molex connectors on my replacment PSU, I plan on splitting the 12-pin molex using 2 molex connectors to ensure enough amperage from the replacement PSU (first molex with 3 yellows/3blacks, second molex with 2 yellows/1 red/3 blacks).

Thanks,

Ron

 

[VKGH]

A Synology adapter with 12pin & 8pin and a PSU are available on eBay. Search for "Synology PSU" or "Synology adapter" on eBay.