How to determine what solder points I should piggyback?

http://imgur.com/gallery/iubfJhJ

I am working on a mod to add 4 more drives to my laptop.

However even with supplement powered hub I can't sustain 4 drives. So to combat this I will use the 2 USB ports that I never use because I am right handed. The cables I have now accept supplement power individually, so I will power 2 drives via that method to reduce draw on the hub. Then the hub will simply power 2 drives with supplement power from external USB charger 2.5amp iirc.

The question I have is, what tool can I use to determine what solder points on the PCB I can piggyback to power the supplement USB?

I know @Khenglish is educated in this sort of thing but if anyone else knows I am happy to hear it! Lol

Thanks in advance

 

Funnily enough, someone in that imgur post had a pretty novel idea, a voltmeter (hard to measure it however)

 

Ah he must have edited that post, it originally just said light bulb and wires.

Voltmeter, OK next step will be after I make the cuts to the chassis after work tomorrow.

Cable management and piggybacking that power are actually the main challenges that I see so far.

 

Couldn't you devise something that could take power from the power in jack, or the slot on the board? Or maybe the MXM slot? Risky, I know

 

The best point of interest would be where the battery connects. Those leads could be useful but I'm a laymen lol

 

The problem with that from the daughter board is that the gpu fan is power from the as well.
Also the way to find out is to look up the link of a usb post and follow the lines to the through holes on the board.

The best please to take power from is the dc power cable U just neee to use a a dc to dc step down converter and adjust the pot. It doesn't generate very much heat..none really. But you will need to cover the step down with emi shielding. Drill from m3 holes and mount it with nylon stand offs. You have around100 watts from 19v-3.3v to at use in spare you are using the 4900mq and the good version of the gtx 1070 3.01b. U will have all the headroom in the world for anything that u can add internally to say the least.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk

 

For the battery. If it is not a good solder joint or if it heats up and something goes wrong. The power delivery layout for the ranger will not work if the battery charging circuit is bad. That is risk to do it on the battery. Dc cable is the safest. But I need to be insulated and done right.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G928A using Tapatalk

 

I am currently probably not going to use the supplement usb power. Too much work and I dont have the space for 3 additional drives. The main purpose of this project is to keep the drives I have and finally retire the m4600.

That being said I have found opportunity to add an external usb port utilizing the same hub. I have plenty of cables to make it all happen. I will lose one hdd screw mounting point but I only really need 2 screws for that anyways.

I have successfully mounted everything but I must have skipped something as the machine wont power on. I have work in the morning and dont want to rush things so I will resume tomorrow after work. I have 2 days off after that to dedicate to this little project.

 

Could always have one of those external power packs that put out 5v and just have another plug when charging at a desk.

 

Already using one. It can't maintain 3+ drives.

 

Any pics of the M4600? I have a similar idea planned

 

M4600 won't post with a mpcie usb adapter

 

How many drives are in the M4600? I have 3 2tb drives in the Ranger plus a 1tb msata. I can't imagine needing more room so I am curious what kind of setup you have and what you use it for. Must be pretty cool.

 

Basically my thoughts above, but I have a lot of spare 500GB/1TB drives from parting out SFF PC/laptops

 

Basically the m4600 had 9tb at one point but only one hdd was internal and that was the 5tb Seagate drive for 130 usd. I tried using an mpcie usb adapter for the 1st or second wlan slot but after installation refused to post which was a bummer but really was just a test to see if it would play nice.

The reason I am more cautious this time around is with the powered hub I was using an external DVD burner, USB router, and 2x2tb drives. However at some point one of the firecudas died and almost lost the other but was able to recover the drive. I think this was due to straining power draw as altogether it should be 3.1 amps with the powered hub providing maybe 3.3amps (2.5 amps external and 800ma from hub connector)

Most of what I have are just things that I ripped from DVDs from back in the day that would be a serious pain to source in a foreign country. Things like game soundtracks, engine swap tutorials, emulators w/ roms for all the various consoles of two generations ago and lots anime and movies etc. Not to mention pc games which seem to be getting quite large. Siege being 100gb just to name one.

This laptop will be what I believe a DTR should entail when I am done with it. It will also be my plex server as well as my primary pc until I decide I want to build a desktop.

I also believe I can enlarge the mass of the heatsinks by about 20-30 percent.

Then I will follow the footsteps of the gtx 980 upgrade as I believe that method is best for powering the 1080.

Most importantly I have to get another 4930mx and get 4.5ghz stable as well as attempt to Mod 2133mhz ram for 2400mhz+

Once I upgrade the main ssd to 1tb I will reuse the msata ssd on the hub as there is just enough space for it.

Lastly I will also include a USB powered router as it can be quite useful to use as a bridge when the signal is weak to the machine and also frees up bandwidth on the primary router. I can probably give it actual antenna's to give it a bit more signal but I know without additional power it won't be that significant.

These are my thoughts on my ranger for the time being.

 

pics!

 

I tested last night and laptop wouldn't power on, I was rushing so I expect I skipped something and I need to reduce the wire profile anyways.

I get off work in 20 minutes and will begin again. Once it's successful I will post pics of what I did. It's nothing too remarkable but I had the itch to Mod and this is rather cheap compared to component upgrades.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/internal-powered-usb-3-0-hub-via-dmc-56k-warning.827276/