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| Modern G4 Cube PSU replacement? | |
| Posted by: stormy on 2020-10-24 08:11:24 Hey guys, The G4 Cube PSU is terribly inefficient. Even when the machine isn't turned on the PSU is kicking out heat. Has anyone known of a modern equiv or has anyone got the pinout for it? | |
| Posted by: Byrd on 2020-10-24 15:24:48 Hi stormy, It's a 28V 200W power supply, there are several 28V switch mode power supplies out there that would fit the bill, available from Aliexpress/eBay. Unattractive, but you could fit the PSU into a plastic case. The power connector is known as a "standard power DIN, terminal 4 pin or mini DIN 4 pin". Pinout is below - found online  | |
| Posted by: stormy on 2020-10-26 15:23:18 Thank you @Byrd ! 😀 | |
| Posted by: Stephen on 2021-01-18 18:45:38 I had this problem myself recently. My (temporary) solution is below. This is powered by my 30v/10a bench power supply set to 28v. I can see from the power supply that at idle the G4 Cube draws ~1 amp (28 watts) without an Apple Studio Display. With a 27" Apple Studio Display the G4 Cube is drawing nearly 4 amps (112 watts). The original power supply is rated for 8 amps (224 watts) and I'm not really sure why it would need that much power. I'm trying to understand if a smaller more common PSU would be acceptable for a G4 without ADC (e.g., DVI).  | |
Posted by: François on 2021-08-13 09:25:52The original power supply is rated for 8 amps (224 watts) and I'm not really sure why it would need that much power. The lineup of Apple Studio Display that plugs into an ADC port includes this beast:  Rated at 113W ! (and powered exclusively through the ADC port) Half of the power of the Cube power supply is just to power this big CRT (the last one ever produced by Apple, an incredible design imho! (just look at that transparent stand: it’s a double möbius loop 😵)) | |
| Posted by: stormy on 2021-08-21 07:59:53 Would you guys say either of these are compatible connectors? : The Amphenol looks correct pin placement, but says DIN not mini-din. The Kycon says mini-din, but the pin placements doesn't seem right. | |
| Posted by: François on 2021-08-21 11:05:47 Here’s’a close-up photo:  The outer diameter of the ring is 10.2mm Hope that helps… | |
Posted by: cheesestraws on 2021-08-21 11:08:01The lineup of Apple Studio Display that plugs into an ADC port includes this beast: Good grief, that thing is epic. I love the möbius base, as you pointed out... | |
Posted by: stormy on 2021-08-27 08:00:33Here’s’a close-up photo:Okay then I think that rules out the Kycon mini-din as that is 8.90mm: And of course, for some reason the Amphenol one has no measurements... Am I reading this correctly? Thx | |
| Posted by: François on 2021-08-27 08:49:19 The cube psu plug is definitely not a mini-din. Everything is too small in a mini din, the outer diameter, the pins, the current rating… And if the Amphenol one is a standard din plug, I think they’re too big! | |
| Posted by: stormy on 2021-08-27 09:14:54 @Byrd What do you think? Can the plug be sourced? | |
| Posted by: sfiera on 2021-08-29 00:21:14 I think you’re looking for the KPPX-4P. It’s sometimes called “Power-DIN” (not “DIN” or “Mini-DIN”) but I don’t think that’s an official name for it, and the term doesn’t appear on the KPPX datasheet. In an ideal world, you might be able to pick up this PLUG-P1J-R7B adapter and use a standard barrel jack PSU, but there’s no pinout listed for that adapter, so for all I know it’ll short power to ground. At $5, though, it couldn’t hurt to buy one and check. | |
| Posted by: François on 2021-08-29 00:54:46 It just happens that I have in my stash an old power supply (from a broken external FireWire disk) that has this very plug!  And I can confirm that it fits perfectly in the Cube socket. (I didn’t check for height clearance, an angled plug might be necessary) | |
Posted by: mg.man on 2021-08-30 03:02:19an old power supply (from a broken external FireWire disk)Ooo... I have a dodgy Cube PSU - needs to be warmed up to work - so have been following this thread. I believe I also have an old PSU like this I can lift the cable from and avoid cannibalising the Cube PSU. Thanks for the find!! | |
| Posted by: davidg5678 on 2021-08-30 03:41:34 I have four of these LaCie PSUs. They are very prone to failure, and three of mine have already died. Perhaps they will make for good donors. | |
Posted by: sfiera on 2021-09-03 19:56:58At $5, though, it couldn’t hurt to buy one and check.Unfortunately, looks like a bust. I decided I’d pick one up to check, but the pin assignment is orthogonal to the Cube PSU’s, and the pins aren’t given separate wires in the cable. It’s a shame, because the fit is pretty good.    | |
| Posted by: stormy on 2021-09-23 06:58:23 Guys... thank you all for your valuable info! I've found a modern top-quality efficient replacement for our Cubes: All on mouser: 80 Watt TDK PSU List of other PSU wattages available (110 and 65) Datasheet of 80 watt (says +v is on pin 3&4) Datasheet of plug (shows pin 3&4 are the two close-together pins) So the pin out should be correct, a full all-in-one solution. I think 80 Watts is enough for my Cube so I'll go with that one. I'll let you guys know how it performs. | |
| Posted by: kitsunesoba on 2021-09-23 14:17:43 Excellent, very interested to hear of the results. One of the things that made me hesitant to buy a cube is the PSU that's bound to croak sooner than later with any level of usage. | |
Posted by: stormy on 2021-10-01 03:20:57Excellent, very interested to hear of the results. One of the things that made me hesitant to buy a cube is the PSU that's bound to croak sooner than later with any level of usage. I can confirm that it * DOES * work. This PSU is perfectly compatible. Plugged into my Cube today, all is well! | |
| Posted by: shadedream on 2021-10-01 14:08:08 Nice! If only we could find one closer to the stock PSU it'd be perfect. Would be nice to be able to power ADC displays also. I think I'd probably be most comfortable running it on the 110 just for some headroom. | |
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