More Wiz Modding - USB Power Upgrade Time!!!

warkus · Post by **warkus** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 11:34

Hi all,

Hands up to all those that would want to be able to plug an external 2.5in HDD into your Beyonwiz and have it actually POWER UP???

Well, there may just be a way, although for conclusive evidence we need to wait a week till the IC comes in from overseas...

Suffice to say, there is a dual USB port power IC on the Wiz mainboard, that has a nominal current limit output of 500ma per port. It is an 8 leg SOP-8 IC, and protect against over current etc.

This IC is powered directly off the 5v rail from the PSU.

Today after some research, I found an IC that is an EXACT MATCH to the one on the Wiz, but it has a nominal current output of 1a - 1.5a.

That should help things along for those wanting to power up external HDD units.

There are many dual port USB power IC's around but 99% have different pinouts to the one in the Wiz, or only output 500ma, therefore removing the old IC and re-routing everything to a different pin configuration is annoying and time consuming.

After almost giving up, I found an IC with exactly the same pinouts, but higher current output. They have been ordered, and are on their way!!!

In theory it is just a case of remove old, resolder in new! Hey presto, higher current output for all.

I did think about just removing the old IC and bridging a 5v 1a regulator straight to the USB port but that is messy and will not provide any protection to devices plugged into the USB port, but with the replacement IC, it is an exact replacement so over current protection is there and eveything!!!

3756 in stock in Singapore, so should be here soon.

More details shortly.

Mark

PS,

Thanks to Ian for putting the idea into my head, no sleep for me last night...

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 13:48

Hi Mark,

Sorry! I didn't think I was going to create so much unrest in your household.

I must say, this change is much more sophisticated than the one we discussed on Friday night. Does this new idea mean that both the front *and* rear ports can deliver more power to attached devices?

Regards,
Ian.

warkus · Post by **warkus** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 14:30

Yep, both ports will be able to draw 1a of 5v power through the USB port.

There are some things to consider though like extra drain on the PSU and also there is a 1a fuse right next to the USB power IC, which is inline to the "voltage-in" on the chip, so that fuse will need to be upgraded to 2a I imagine, as the chip can now potentially draw double the amp load of the old chip.

Mark

bjbaker · Post by **bjbaker** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 16:15

warkus wrote:Hi all,

Hands up to all those that would want to be able to plug an external 2.5in HDD into your Beyonwiz and have it actually POWER UP???

Ummm... You mean the 250GB 2.5" USB drive I have been faultlessly using on my H1 for 15 months shouldn't be working?

prl · Post by **prl** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 16:18

There are quite a lot that don't work.

warkus · Post by **warkus** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 17:33

Well, how about that...

Beyonwiz have the same idea as me it would seem.

I just had a gentleman drop off a DP-P2 for repair (not for the USB issue).

Whilst it was open I checked the mainboard as it is different to the P1 I was playing with last night when doing my research for the USB power issue.

Guess what IC it uses to power the 2 x USB ports, yep, the same one I just ordered from overseas!

So, out of more curiosity, I opened my P2 up, and I have the same chip that was on the P1 that I was playing with last night.

I went and got my 500gb external 2.5in HDD and did the following tests...

Plugged into the P1 - Failed to power up, clicking noise only.
Plugged into my P2 - Failed to power up, clicking noise only.
Plugged into the now repaired P2 - powers up 100% perfectly...

So theory confirmed, those machines with either an AP2176SG-13 or HA8N4626 IC in them will power my external HDD. Those with an LM3526M-H will not.

It appears as though the revision and/or batch of the mainboards in our machines can come with different brands of these IC's on them, and some are rated to 1a and some are not.

So thats pretty much confirmed it... Once I receive stock of these IC's I will be able to replace 500ma IC's for 1a IC's to allow for operating a greater range of external HDD units.

It also may confirm why some people can run external 2.5in HDD units on their machine without any issue at all, while others can't.

Mark

cwiggles · Post by **cwiggles** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 19:49

Hi Walkus,

on the P2 with the updated USB IC, did you notice if the inline fuse you mentioned was also updated?

Craig

tonymy01 · Post by **tonymy01** » Sun Feb 27, 2011 21:56

I would suspect it wouldn't need to be unless you run two high powered devices off the 2 USB ports at the same time, then you might get in trouble... (and the main time a USB HDD needs lots of power is on spinup and probably when doing random seeking over, say, a fragmented disk structure, obviously less power in this situation).

warkus · Post by **warkus** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 00:28

Hi Craig,

No, the fuse is still a 1a fuse.

I suspect that Tony is correct, they would assume that there would not be a draw of above 1a from both ports combined at any one time. I should experiment a little when I get the IC's in and run 2 external 2.5in drives off the unit and see.

Should be interesting.

There seems to be about 3 or 4 manufacturers that make USB Port Power IC's with exactly the same pinout configuration, so I suspect that they just use whatever brand they can get at the time of manufactuer, as they are all interchangeable.

The only difference is that some of these IC's have a 500ma (1a absolute max) output rating and some have a 1a (1.5a absolute max) rating, even though the IC's are exactly the same other than that.

Once they arrive, I will replace the LM3526M IC in my P1 & P2 and report back with the good news.

Mark

trevsy · Post by **trevsy** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 16:03

Just a small question (way out of my depth here) will this upgrade work on the S1 ?

warkus · Post by **warkus** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 16:19

Yes,

So far all mainboards from the S1 up seem to use the same series/style/pinout/design of USB dual port power IC, but most motherboards came with an IC that delivers a 5v 500ma continual current to the USB port. Replacing this IC with a higher rated IC that is operationally the same as the one already in the machine (and pinned the same) will provide a higher current to the USB ports thus allowing for external HDD units to run directly from the machine.

I have IC's arriving this week and will test this 100% on a P1 & P2 mainboard and will report back.

PS, P1 mainboard is the same as an S1 mainboard (non SATA P1 anyway).

The Theory is definitely already confirmed however, as I have seem and tested P2 units in my office that seem to have come out of the factory WITH HIGHER SPEC'D power IC's already in them, with no other circuit design changes evident at all. Testing of my usually "non functional in a wiz" 500gb external 2.5in HDD in these machines worked perfectly! So the only thing left to do now is replace a 500ma continual current IC with a 1a continual current IC and make doubly sure that there isn't anything I have missed.

It's a pretty safe bet though that all will work fine. So all going well I will be able to confirm things for all by weeks end.

Mark

jeepers · Post by **jeepers** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 16:59

My 750Gb WD passport drive works faultlessly on my old P2..I have even plugged in a 16Gb flash drive in the front USB port while the WD was still attatched and they both worked fine.

cheers

warkus · Post by **warkus** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 17:08

Yep, That does not surprise me at all...

It would appear as though many units (strangely all P2 units so far) have various brands of power IC's in them directly from the factory depending on board version and batch.

Some have 8N4626-1 IC's (nominal 750ma current up to 1a max)
Some have AP2176SG-13 IC's (nominal 1a current up to 1.5a max)
MOST seem to have LN3526M-H IC's in them (Nominal 500ma current up to 1a max)

Those (including my P2) that have the LN3526M-H chip can't seem to power an external HDD well at all.

It appears though that some were lucky enough to have the better IC's inside, and it sounds like yours was one of them.

Mark

jeepers · Post by **jeepers** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 20:24

warkus wrote:Yep, That does not surprise me at all...

It would appear as though many units (strangely all P2 units so far) have various brands of power IC's in them directly from the factory depending on board version and batch.

Some have 8N4626-1 IC's (nominal 750ma current up to 1a max)
Some have AP2176SG-13 IC's (nominal 1a current up to 1.5a max)
MOST seem to have LN3526M-H IC's in them (Nominal 500ma current up to 1a max)

Those (including my P2) that have the LN3526M-H chip can't seem to power an external HDD well at all.

It appears though that some were lucky enough to have the better IC's inside, and it sounds like yours was one of them.

Mark

I'll take your word for it...

as i'm not about to pull it apart to find out....

cheers

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 10:45

Hi Moderators,

I believe that this thread may be of interest to a number of members here. Could this thread please be made Sticky.

Regards,
Ian.

warkus · Post by **warkus** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 09:02

Will attend to this thread as soon as I can.

Am playing catch up on a very large back log of work after unexpectedly having to take some time off.

Apologies.

Gully · Post by **Gully** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 18:05

IanSav wrote:Hi Moderators,

I believe that this thread may be of interest to a number of members here. Could this thread please be made Sticky.

Regards,
Ian.

From the sounds of it, maybe better to leave it till Mark does a new updated version of the post and let this one die. I'll make the new one a sticky.

Jawbraeka · Post by **Jawbraeka** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 00:10

could someone please do a step-by-step of this procedure and a part list to do the upgrade for the usb voltage mod? Warkus

could i also request a modification area to the forum so that way modifications can be talked about as well as discussed (with pictures if necessary) to show how the modification can be done... and the usual if you screw it up disclaimer also.