HP ProLiant ML350p Gen8 - How to power second SFF drive bay? No spare 10 pin power connector

[Petr0]

I’m stuck on figuring out how to add on a second drive bay to my HP ProLiant ML350p Gen8 server. 

I've got the second SFF drive bay installed (HP ML350 E/P G8 8x SFF Drive Cage wih SAS Backplane 660348-001), and I've got a Smart Array controller (HP Smart Array P420/1GB FBWC Controller) on order, plus some longer mini-SAS cables, and that’s all fine.

The problem is power. Each of the SFF drive bays has a 10 pin power connector. However the ML350p Gen8 only has a single 10 pin power connector, and that’s occupied by the cable to the first drive bay. How on earth are you supposed to power a second (or third) drive bay? There's a number of white and black 8 pin power connectors, but not 10 any more 10 pin connectors. And my google-fu seems fall apart when looking for an 8 pin to 10 pin power cable that could possibly solve this problem. There's got to be something much more straightforward I'm missing!

Thanks!

-petro

[KK]

Hi Pedro,

When the addional HDD backplane for the server is ordered, it should come with the additional power cable which can be connected.

Check if your order is missing the power cable. Refer https://partsurfer.hpe.com/Search.aspx?SearchText=661714-B21

Regards,

KK

[Petr0]

Thanks, I'm not looking for the power cable. I have that. The problem is where to plug the other end of the power cable in to? There's no extra 10 pin connector on the system board. There's only multiple 8 pins connectors, hence my confusion. Thanks for the response though!

[KK · Accepted solution]

Hi

Apologies for delay in response.

Physically checked the additional HDD cage and it has 10 pin power connector over it.

The cable shipped with it having 10 pin at one end and 8 pin on the other side.

The 10 pin connector will connect to the HDD backplane whereas the 8 pin connector needs to be connected on the system side on white coloured connector. There are two types of  connectors on system side, one is white and the other is black. Use the white connector to connect the HDD backplane power cable.

Regards,

KK

[Petr0]

 Thanks, I think I ended up getting slightly the wrong part as I've come to realise. The drive bay I recieved has a 10pin to 10pin connector on it, so isn't an "expansion" SFF drive bay, but a replacement for the existing first drive bay. Seems it's impossible to order just a 10pin to 8pin power cable. There's no listed part numbers, and my google-fu is letting me down on finding an appropriate cable from anywhere...

[KK]

Hi,

For the first drive bay, there is a 10 pin connector at both the ends and connects properly.

For the replacement of the drive cage, the same existing cable can be used.

But when the additional drive cage is ordered, it comes with a miscellaneous cable kit which includes the power cable for HDD cage and has one end with 8 pin connector to connect on system power and the other is 10 pin connector which would connect on the drive cage. This cable has 8 wires running.

The part number and description for the part is 

667266-001  -->   Miscellaneous cable kit - Includes Mini-SAS to Mini-SAS cable 324mm (12.75 inches) long, hard drive backplane power cable, and graphics card power cable (2x4)

https://partsurfer.hpe.com/ShowPhoto.aspx?partnumber=667266-001.

Let us know if you have any further doubts on it.

Regards,

KK

[amiraziz]

I am in  similar postion,

I have the LFF cage but it's missing power cable. I need the part number and link that will enable me to purchase it. Thanks.

Amir

[Petr0]

I tried a 3rd party cable, but it wasn't pinned properly. I've never found a working cable I can buy, and just avoided getting the second cage working for now. I'd still very much like to find the right cable though!

[SteveHop]

Appreciate that this thread is a little old to help @amiraziz and @Petr0 but I recently needed the 8 - 10 pin backplane connector and found that if you're prepared to do a little modding then you can convert the 10 - 10 pin cable to what you need.

If you plug the 10 pin MB connector to one of the cream coloured 8 pin connections on the MB you'll see that pins 1 - 8 are the correct configuration, only pins 9 and 10 are wrong and overhang. Of those two extra pins, one supplies 12v to the SATA and molex connectors which aren't needed and the second provides a ground connection to the backplane and to the molex connectors.

Here's how I modded the cable:

1. Removed the outer wrap from the cable and exposed the wires
2. Cut all wires for the molex and SATA connectors about 4-5 inches from the MB connector
3. Using a sharp stanley knife I cut away the plastic of pins 9 and 10. This left me with an 8 pin connector with one ground wire connected to a connector pin that needed tidying up.
4. I cut the remaining ground wire and crimped it to one of the ground wires that was freed up from removing the molex and SATA connectors in step 2.

Just to be safe I then used a multimeter to check continuity of all the pins at the backplane end of my modded cable, plugged in to the 8 pin connector on the MB, with the 10 pin connector on the MB. Don't be alarmed if one of the wires (orange if I remember correctly) doesn't show continuity with the 10 pin connector.

I now have a working LFF and SFF drive bay working in my server!

[Petr0]

Thanks Steve, hopefully it will help someone else out. I gave up on this server due to the constant challenges like this to add storage and power GPUs. I've got a used ML350p Gen8 parts for sale cheap now!