2 cases, 2 psu's, one power on button. Is this asking for trouble?

i'm trying to think of how i'm going to watercool my PC, but make it also look very flashy and very hard to steal. So i came up with an idea where i'll have two cases and two power supplies, one for my system, and the other for my future radiators, pumps, and reservoirs to be housed in.

since i'm housing many different parts of my future loop in one case, and just looping it to my main case, is there and easy method to connect 2 power supplies? maybe a cable connects two power supplies and when you turn on one power it turns on the other? or a power supply that does that? (like on some cable boxes where you can plug in the tv power to it and it turns the tv on with the cable box).

good idea? or scrap it?

btw i plan to WC my cpu, GPUs (x2), NB and Mosofet, SB, and if i have enough i'll watercool my HDD's. HDD's are not in the plan atm though.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5637/cpa-167/Lian_Li_Dual_Power_Supply_Adapter_Cable.html

This will allow the 2nd PSU to turn on with the first, just plug the second PSU into the end with only 2 wires (basically just like the paperclip trick but turns on with the first PSU) Now obviously you'd have to extend and protect the wires running between cases but it's one possibility that will turn both on at the same time.

hmm. thanks for the link, that's exactly what i was looking for.

but you do bring up a point, it'll be hard to protect the wires, unless i build a wanna be mountainmod case.

i could leave the back of a case open and loop it through and build the other casing onto the side of my main cpu.

Well since you have to extend the wires anyway you can get some with better insulation and maybe sleeve them and like you said loop them through the back (it's only going to be 2 wires so even an open or modified PCI bracket would so). The big thing to worry about with that is making sure the cases can' be easily separated so the wire's don't get pulled on or you could always get some sort of quick disconnect to put on the exposed part also making it easier to work on them separately. That shouldn't be a big issue as those wires won't carry alot of current, it's just a signal to turn on the PSU.

well it'll be a very big issue because the other PSU is planned to have power going through all my pumps and fans on my "Rad-box". so if that snaps, there goes everything.

i'm going to build my cases though over the summer, so i'll plan to make them inseparable.

well they shouldn't really snap without excessive force.. they are small wires, but still should require 10+lbs of force to pry apart/out of the connectors or even more to literally snap in half.. could always just extend them and tuck the extra wire into the pump case so if you pull away they won't go far enough to break anything away

donneee said:

well it'll be a very big issue because the other PSU is planned to have power going through all my pumps and fans on my "Rad-box". so if that snaps, there goes everything.

i'm going to build my cases though over the summer, so i'll plan to make them inseparable.

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Making the inseparable may cause more problems getting to what you need. You could always come up with some sort of latch system to lock them together but allow them to separate for maintenance.