October 14th, 2009 | 
Author: Connecting the wires
So now it’s only a matter of connecting the wires to the frontplate. Start by cutting all the wires on the same length. Make sure you do not cut them too short, you can always make them shorter later or put it partially inside the ATX housing. Put all the same colored wires together. You can also calculate how many wires are needed for the Amps but I just took all wires of the same color together.
Combining all wires with the same color
So now all wires of the same color are combined and are on the same length. It’s almost finished now. Soldering all wires together and to the connector is a very difficult job! You really need a soldering iron with a lot of power for this. Mine didn’t so after playing around with a lighter I went to the shop to buy a mini gas Torch… I also bought some isolation material that schrinks when heated. See the next picture for the work in progress on that stage.
Connecting the wires
The isolation is very important because the frontplate will be fitted as close to the metal housing of the ATX supply as possible.
The switch is connected to the GREEN wire and the other side to a black one. The LED should be connected (with the long pin) to the GRAY wire and the other (shorter pin) to a black one via a 1k Ohm resistor. On my power supply the led did not work… I do not know why, maybe because one of the big elco’s was visually broken and the voltage was not 100% okay anymore… I ended up by connecting a brown wire (3.3V) in stead of the power-okay signal. So now the leds function is not power-okay, but only power-on.. I printed that on the frontplate already in the beginning anyway.
Putting it all together
On the above picture you can see how it’s all put together. Note how the frontplate is fixed to the ATX housing with normal metal busses. Also the wires are combined with tie raps as much as possible to make at really compact and firm. The housing of the ATX can close easily and special care was taken that the wires do not interfere with other (possible hot) parts inside.
I noticed that some other designs use a power resistor just because the ATX supply needs a load before it can start. I noticed mine didn’t so I left out this load. I should also mention that in case a ’sense’ wire is found it should be connected! So sence 3.3V (tin orange wire) should be connected to the orange wires too.
