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been lurking a while (and gone too) but I have a new idea...

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RevelatorHarmon

Registered
Ok, this may sound crazy, but has anyone ever tried building a completely wireless system, and by completely wireless I mean hard drives, media drives, power supply, etc.

I don't necessarily mean broadcast, but I wonder how hard it would be to use a circuit board and etch the power grid onto it, then solder connectors on that grid where the devices connect, forming a power distribution grid on a single board that handled all of the power for the system.

I'll try to draw up some concept images soon, wanted to throw the idea out there, anyone ever thought of doing this?
 
Sounds Interesting Idea, I have myself never seen it done, but I suppose with alot of know how..

The only thing is, It's somewhat impossible to have it fully wireless since every piece will need power...
So you will need power running to all of these..
I suppose batteries would be a possibility, but that would not be very useful or practical...
 
With a single power suppy, it wouldn't be much of a grid and with everything being soldered, changing something out would be more difficult. It may work better with multiple servers and multiple power sources where uptime must be 100%.

Also, running all the signal connections wirelessly would give much lower transfer rates as well as the extra energy needs.
 
I think some misunderstood what I meant, maybe I wasn't clear enough, here is a pic

GJGHVMBNMBNM-copy.gif


you see, I mean to replace the wires with PCB, I think I know a place I can get it printed and drilled at (guess I could do it myself) and I would have to make a custom case, has anyone ever tried this before?
 
far as i can tell you'd be a first.

you CAN make pcbs bend 90* like, ifyou make a slot in one for the other to fit into, and have the solder pads lined up right, just put a bit of solder there to hold it. or use pin headers and it would be more sturdy.
 
Niku-Sama said:
you know if you could make the power wireless too you could make a ton of money

Well, google em induction and maybe Tesla and his ionasphere (spelling), technically its possible, and it's going on in your PSU right now in the transformers. Technically he could get power 'wirelessly' through having inductors on both boards, but you'd have to go to AC, and back to DC, and thats not what he wants anyways, but it would be cool. Someone made a wireless batteryless mouse using this idea, a giant induction in his mouse pad, and one in the mouse.

You're idea seems possible, and probably a good idea for small purpose built computers. I haven't seen it done before, but the complexity is something someone could do on their own and have the boards made for not to much money. My only concern would be interference with data lines. Cool idea.
 
Yea, I'm not doing this to make money, I mod for the same reason George Mallory climbed Everest, "because it's there"

I don't want to use broadcast for the power supply, I am too worried about EM interference with the hard drives and dvd drives and video cards and processors and... you get the idea. the only way I see to do that would be to build a faraday cage around the entire setup, and you would have to have all of the components outside of the cage to even utilize it.

I am planning at the moment for the circuit board design, actually heading out to regal plastics in a few minutes to take a look at their cutoff pile and get some case design parts. found some places on the internet that will print and drill my board for me if I supply a CAD program, and it is looking like it will only cost about $30 to get this done, next step is going to synergy datacom and hoping they have the connectors I need, otherwise I will be forced to de-solder them from other MOBO's, and friend, that don't sound fun.

hehe, well, off to the stores, guess if I am going to do this I need to start designing that board, I'll need to know which mobo and parts I'll use because they are all different, and I need to start a project log, so much to do, and I can only move so fast! Arg, my kingdom for an extra set of hands!!




sorry, I'm fine now...
 
RevelatorHarmon said:
Yea, I'm not doing this to make money, I mod for the same reason George Mallory climbed Everest, "because it's there"

I don't want to use broadcast for the power supply, I am too worried about EM interference with the hard drives and dvd drives and video cards and processors and... you get the idea. the only way I see to do that would be to build a faraday cage around the entire setup, and you would have to have all of the components outside of the cage to even utilize it.

I am planning at the moment for the circuit board design, actually heading out to regal plastics in a few minutes to take a look at their cutoff pile and get some case design parts. found some places on the internet that will print and drill my board for me if I supply a CAD program, and it is looking like it will only cost about $30 to get this done, next step is going to synergy datacom and hoping they have the connectors I need, otherwise I will be forced to de-solder them from other MOBO's, and friend, that don't sound fun.

hehe, well, off to the stores, guess if I am going to do this I need to start designing that board, I'll need to know which mobo and parts I'll use because they are all different, and I need to start a project log, so much to do, and I can only move so fast! Arg, my kingdom for an extra set of hands!!




sorry, I'm fine now...

For parts, check out www.digikey.com, www.jameco.com, and this last site is a stretch as they have random parts, but they are dirt cheap, www.goldmine-elec.com.
 
www.mouser.com also has 80% of the connectors you need.I have a full part inventory list for my circuitboard so if you need to find a certain PC type connector I can give you the part number for it.

My circuit board is ready to be made, but i want to finish making the case first. I don't specifically see the point in replacing something variable with something rigid and unadaptable but good luck.
 
Whew! What started out as a minor glitch escalated into a system debilitating problem that, through a series of blunders on my part (stupid .NET framework) took my main system down for a week, everything is back up and running now, I hate drivers in win XP, without SP2 installed none of my systems drivers would install, and once I got that burned onto a disk and installed it my network card would not take it's driver, I spent TWO days trying to get the stupid thing to work, then I call up my buddy Daniel, first thing out of his mouth "did you try swapping out the network card with one you knew worked?" at that point I nearly dropped the phone I had busted out laughing at my own short sightedness, popped in new card, XP installed it in seconds, I was online, got to windows update to finish updating windows, and lo-and-behold I had been trying to install THE WRONG DRIVER for my network card for TWO DAYS!!! That’s what I get for trusting the Mobo manufactures website to list the correct drivers for download... I felt really stupid after that... but I'm okay now.

so, back to the project.


Captain Slug said:
www.mouser.com also has 80% of the connectors you need.I have a full part inventory list for my circuitboard so if you need to find a certain PC type connector I can give you the part number for it.

My circuit board is ready to be made, but i want to finish making the case first. I don't specifically see the point in replacing something variable with something rigid and unadaptable but good luck.


Well, it is more of the challenge and experimental value than it is for the mobility, if you don't mind, could you point me to the thread with the circuit board you mentioned? I would very much like to see any preliminarily designs you have (I have always admired your work).

The part numbers I need I quickly realized that I could not get off of the motherboard; the motherboard doesn't have the right connectors, heh.
What I am searching for is:
40pin female IDE HDD through board mount connectors
34pin female floppy drive through board mount connectors
(Both of these the connectors on the ribbon cables, but made to solder onto a board)
I have the current mouser catalog and have found the power connectors that I need with the exception of the female board mount power connector for an ATX power supply
Any help you could give in this area would be most appreciated.


Adragontattoo said:
Airflow outta be interesting in that case.

Interference wouldnt be much of an issue.


Theoretically you could achieve the maximum possible throughput though.


yes, that is what I am going for, performance gain was one of the biggest perks of this idea for me, of course airflow was a nice gain as well completely unrestricted air flow...
 
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