Source of 15 pin SATA power plugs?

[Kevin Horton]

The modular SeaSonic PSU for the NAS box I'm building didn't come with enough 15 pin SATA power cables, and it seems that SeaSonic doesn't sell extra modular cables. I could order some custom cables from Ensourced, or I could use some sort of 4 wire Molex plug to 15 pin SATA adapter. It seems that I should be careful to purchase something with good quality 15 pin plugs, to avoid potential shorts and fires.

DigiKey Canada sells Molex brand adapters, and looking at the specs for those, it seems that they are assembled from Molex 15 pin plugs and crimped pins. I've assembled quite a few Molex connectors in the past, and based on that experience I suspect that the Molex 15 pin SATA plugs are sufficiently high quality to minimize the risk of shorts and fires. But, I'd appreciate any comments from those who may be familiar with these parts before I order them.

Note: although the folks on this forum tend to use "Molex" to refer specifically to the four pin connectors used on older SATA drives, Molex in fact makes a huge variety of connectors, including 15 pin plugs used on current SATA drives. I'm using Molex to refer to the brand in this post, not just one type of plug.

Is anyone familiar with the quality of the 15 pin SATA plugs from Ensourced?

 

[BigDave]

could use some sort of 4 wire Molex plug to 15 pin SATA adapter. It seems that I should be careful to purchase something with good quality 15 pin plugs, to avoid potential shorts and fires.

Two things to caution you about.

1. Wire gage should be heavy enough if you plan to make your own.
2. Never try and use splitter connectors, stay with four pin molex to one SATA 15pin.

There was a post in here a few months back regarding a meltdown/fire using those splitters

 

[TheKiwi]

Ensourced does good work. Genuine molex brand connectors should be solid, too if you choose that route

 

[DrKK]

Just for the record, I bought a 1-to-4 SATA power splitter at Micro Center once. It was miswired, and fried, instantly, all the drives I put onto it.

Just want to throw that out there.

 

[jgreco]

The Molex stuff is great - as long as you have the appropriate crimp tool. If you do not, you may be able to carefully crimp manually and then carefully solder.

I see they're charging like $500 for the crimp tool. Obviously if you have a crimp tool for other terminals, you may be able to make do with that, just be sure you inspect carefully.

 

[Kevin Horton]

I've got a much cheaper tool (but somewhat fiddly to use) that does a very nice job on the two different size pins that are used in the Molex connectors in my aircraft. The pictures of the wire end of 15 pin Molex connectors for SATA power look similar to the ones I've used, but I can't tell if the sizing is similar or not. For the small number of connectors I would need, I would likely just buy preassembled ones from Molex.

 

[jgreco]

Eh, maybe... the non-ratchet tools never seem to work as well as the ratchety ones. Regardless, in the end, it is the pressure that does the trick, so if you make sure it closes fully it's probably just fine.