How to Correct Poor Hard Drive Power Connector Contacts?

[ken]

Have a Hard Drive (HD) that makes a very loose contact with the power
connector. At first thought it was dead but changed PCs and it is
OK. Also some other Good HDs have start up problems with this PCs
power connector.

Normally when the HD does not show in the BIOS on startup I shut down
the PC, then I move the power connector and restarted the PC and the
HD starts OK.

Am wondering if can wiggle the power connector while the PC is going
or can this damage either the HD or power supply?

Am also wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what was
done to solve it?

Should mention that the PC with this problem is inexpensive so am
wondering if the contacts are corroded so the resistance is increased
or if the contacts have just become loose from changing HDs? Maybe
both?

Thanks

Ken

 

[Meat Plow]

Have a Hard Drive (HD) that makes a very loose contact with the power
connector. At first thought it was dead but changed PCs and it is
OK. Also some other Good HDs have start up problems with this PCs
power connector.

Normally when the HD does not show in the BIOS on startup I shut down
the PC, then I move the power connector and restarted the PC and the
HD starts OK.

Am wondering if can wiggle the power connector while the PC is going
or can this damage either the HD or power supply?

Am also wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what was
done to solve it?

Should mention that the PC with this problem is inexpensive so am
wondering if the contacts are corroded so the resistance is increased
or if the contacts have just become loose from changing HDs? Maybe
both?

Thanks

Ken

Those kind of connectors will suffer from frequent use. I would try to
crimp the contacts in the plug so they fit tighter around the pins in the
drive jack.

 

[Baron]

Meat Plow inscribed thus:

Those kind of connectors will suffer from frequent use. I would try
to crimp the contacts in the plug so they fit tighter around the
pins in the drive jack.

Actually this problem so common that I turned a brass rod with a
tapered bore that I can push over the pin to compress and/or remove
it. The other problem that occurs is that the retaining tabs get
bent or broken, so the the pin becomes offset and pushed back.

 

[Meat Plow]

Meat Plow inscribed thus:


Actually this problem so common that I turned a brass rod with a
tapered bore that I can push over the pin to compress and/or remove
it. The other problem that occurs is that the retaining tabs get
bent or broken, so the the pin becomes offset and pushed back.

Yes that's another problem, the pin tabs. Not really designed for heavy
usage.

 

[Art]

Another means of repair, if you have the ability, is to actually cut the
cable at the connector, attach a known good connector to the existing wires,
securely solder and apply insulating tape to the new connections.
This is a viable fix, the other means would be replace the power supply,
the new supply will come with new connectors attached.

 

[Andy]

Have a Hard Drive (HD) that makes a very loose contact with the power
connector. At first thought it was dead but changed PCs and it is
OK. Also some other Good HDs have start up problems with this PCs
power connector.

Normally when the HD does not show in the BIOS on startup I shut down
the PC, then I move the power connector and restarted the PC and the
HD starts OK.

Am wondering if can wiggle the power connector while the PC is going
or can this damage either the HD or power supply?

Am also wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what was
done to solve it?

Use a contact extractor such as # W-HT-2054 STD For .093 Pins

Should mention that the PC with this problem is inexpensive so am
wondering if the contacts are corroded so the resistance is increased
or if the contacts have just become loose from changing HDs? Maybe
both?

The reason the contacts are loose is because of their mediocre
quality. The original AMP contacts did not exhibit this problem.

 

[ken]

Everyone,

Thanks for the comments. Sounds like this is a common problem which
gets worse with age.

Art thanks for the suggestion "attach a known good connector to the
existing wires," I think will be able to do this.

As a result, would be interested to find out what are considered the
best power connectors for the std PC HardDrives.

Thanks

Ken

 

[Eeyore]

Another means of repair, if you have the ability, is to actually cut the
cable at the connector, attach a known good connector to the existing wires,
securely solder and apply insulating tape to the new connections.
This is a viable fix, the other means would be replace the power supply,
the new supply will come with new connectors attached.

It's easy enough to fit new contacts if you have the right tools. That's much
easier.

Graham

 

[Eeyore]

The reason the contacts are loose is because of their mediocre
quality. The original AMP contacts did not exhibit this problem.

I have experienced various 'Asian equivalents' of genuine Amp/Molex etc parts
and the quality (especially contact pressure) leaves a lot to be desired.

Graham

 

[Baron]

ken inscribed thus:

Everyone,

Thanks for the comments. Sounds like this is a common problem which
gets worse with age.

Art thanks for the suggestion "attach a known good connector to the
existing wires," I think will be able to do this.

As a result, would be interested to find out what are considered the
best power connectors for the std PC HardDrives.

Thanks

Ken

AS someone else said the original Amp connectors were the best, but
even those suffer from repeated connect/dis-connect use. Maplin do
keep the male & female pins and housings! But you really need the
proper crimp tools to make best use of them.

If you are into salvage old dead PSU get thrown away daily, they are a
good source of connectors. A bit of three way terminal strip and you
are good to go.

 

[ken]

Baron,

Thanks for the tip "If you are into salvage old dead PSU get thrown
away daily, they are a good source of connectors."

All the "dead PSUs" I have seen are "cheap" ones so wouldn't they have
cheap connectors?

Ken

 

[Michael Black]

Baron,

Thanks for the tip "If you are into salvage old dead PSU get thrown
away daily, they are a good source of connectors."

All the "dead PSUs" I have seen are "cheap" ones so wouldn't they have
cheap connectors?

Ken

The point is that those connectors are hardly in constant use. I
was doing a lot of plugging and unplugging with one computer recently,
but I was moving drives to it to transfer their content to the main drive.
I've had this Pentium I'm writing on for four years, and the only time
I've unplugged the power connectors was when I put in a bigger drive,
and switched the two CD drives.

Chances are good that some random connector taken of some scrap
power supply is still in good shape.

Michael

 

[ken]

Everyone,

After reading your comments did some searching on Molex site and found
this "The pins come in either the standard (2.13mm) .084" or
(2.096mm) .0825" diameter."

Maybe the problem is the HDs with poor electrical contacts have the
smaller pins?

Here is the link for the Molex 8981 power connectors
http://www.molex.com/cgi-bin/bv/mol...geTitle=Disk Drive Power Connector | Overview

Thanks again everyone for your suggestions!

Ken

 

[Baron]

ken inscribed thus:

Everyone,

After reading your comments did some searching on Molex site and
found this "The pins come in either the standard (2.13mm) .084" or
(2.096mm) .0825" diameter."

I don't think 1.5 thou is going to make a lot of difference to a
connector with 20+ thou of compliance.

Maybe the problem is the HDs with poor electrical contacts have the
smaller pins?

If you look closely the male pin has a taper along its length.

The issue is that the female part gets expanded with use. Simple
misalignment of the pins as they are mated and detached. They do
float slightly but nowhere near enough to compensate.

If you remove a female pin from the housing and try it on a male one
you will see what I mean.

 

[ken]

Baron,

"The issue is that the female part gets expanded with use. Simple
misalignment of the pins as they are mated and detached. They do
float slightly but nowhere near enough to compensate.

If you remove a female pin from the housing and try it on a male one
you will see what I mean.

Here is the link for the Molex 8981 power connectors
http://www.molex.com/cgi-bin/bv/molex/jsp/family/intro.

Thanks for the link! Was able to locate a few from a friend so will
give it a try.

Ken