Adapt a HP DL380 Gen10 NVME backplane to a standard ATX power supply?

[nutsnax]

So I just got done cutting holes in my case and that got me thinking. Would it be possible to adapt a HP DL380 Gen10 NVME backplane to a standard 4 pin ATX power cable? Or even 6 pin or SATA power?

Also does anyone know of a resource for HP pinouts? That Russian pinout site doesn't appear to have this.

I've got a bunch of extra PCI-e lanes on my epyc board and thought that it would be cool to try something like this.

 

[Sean Ho]

Great idea but very non-standard, so you'll largely be on your own. Power cable is 869810-001 / 875096-001; see if you can track down PDB pinout. It's probably just 12v, 5v, gnd (same as Molex).

 

[nutsnax]

Great idea but very non-standard, so you'll largely be on your own. Power cable is 869810-001 / 875096-001; see if you can track down PDB pinout. It's probably just 12v, 5v, gnd (same as Molex).

This enclosure is the dimensions of two 5.25" drives stacked on top of each other, so it seems somewhat standard in that regard.

As far as power cable. I would do a Re-pin and/or re-crimp if necessary. I cut the proper sized hole in my case. Just waiting for one of these now.

 

[ano]

I can probably measure it one of theese days, the pinout. should be easy enough to make a cable, or solder stuff

 

[nutsnax]

I can probably measure it one of theese days, the pinout. should be easy enough to make a cable, or solder stuff

That would be great, I'd do it myself but I don't have one.

 

[nutsnax]

I ordered one from a DL380 gen10. Came with power cable. We'll see how it goes, but I think

 

[nutsnax]

So I got this backplane in, all pins trace out to 12v pins in the u.2 connection....

The question is, how to tell which are ground and power? The 3.3v traces out but that's certainly voltage step-down occurring since everything else traces out to 12v power in the u.2 connector and I thought manufacturers switched the bulk of everything over to 12v some time ago.

 

[ano]

I can give you the layout... just need 5 minutes at work one of theese days, I actually have a gutted chassis in lab ready to go, (we had a loose connector inside one of leads on the cable that comes with the cages... what a horrrrrrible thing to debug, was causing drives to randomly fall out

 

[nutsnax]

I can give you the layout... just need 5 minutes at work one of theese days, I actually have a gutted chassis in lab ready to go, (we had a loose connector inside one of leads on the cable that comes with the cages... what a horrrrrrible thing to debug, was causing drives to randomly fall out

That would be awesome thanks!

 

[loolroco]

That would be awesome thanks!

any update?
see the photo in this 350732V00-245-G HP HARD DRIVE BACKPLANE POWER CABLE FOR HPE PROLIANT DL380 G10 2.5 SFF 8B ( GEN10 ) / DL385 G10 - 8 INCH 6 PIN TO 5 PIN HDD BP PWR ( KIT PN: 875096-001 ) maybe the pinout is 12V ground empty 5V ground 12V?

 

[ano]

I will do it shortly, sorry for the wait, been swamped with work :| got some gen10&10plus work on either sunday or monday list of work, then its only a minute of checking it

 

[nutsnax]

any update?
see the photo in this 350732V00-245-G HP HARD DRIVE BACKPLANE POWER CABLE FOR HPE PROLIANT DL380 G10 2.5 SFF 8B ( GEN10 ) / DL385 G10 - 8 INCH 6 PIN TO 5 PIN HDD BP PWR ( KIT PN: 875096-001 ) maybe the pinout is 12V ground empty 5V ground 12V?

I traced all of the power pins and they all seemed to touch a 12v u.2 pin per the u.2 pinout. No idea which sense ground

Edit: that reminds me I forgot to check which of those pins also touch ground... That would be kind of important.

 

[BeTeP]

Most modern systems (including servers) follow the same power delivery design - PSU is only producing 12VDC and if any part of the system needs other voltages - they have their own local VRM. So you only need to find 12V and GND pins. The "3.3V" pins some pinout schemes show are not part of the power delivery but "sense" circuitry. Just ignore those.

 

[sacrob]

So I have a similar question I'm trying to swap a SAS backplane with a NVME backplane in a HP ML150. Or add the NVME as a secondary. but i've run into a power issue.
The HP MB has 3 8 pin headers labeled BP box 1-3 this is what the sas backplane is connected to. the white side looks just like a gpu connector.


The NVME backplane came with the 5 conductor cable with a 5 pin on one side and a 6 pin on the backplane side like Nutsnax linked above.



I would assume hp makes a standard cable that would convert the 8 pin BP box power header to the NVME 6 pin connector?? if not I could just create one with the two cables i have. Just need the pinout

 

[cctv180]

So I have a similar question I'm trying to swap a SAS backplane with a NVME backplane in a HP ML150. Or add the NVME as a secondary. but i've run into a power issue.
The HP MB has 3 8 pin headers labeled BP box 1-3 this is what the sas backplane is connected to. the white side looks just like a gpu connector.
View attachment 27795

The NVME backplane came with the 5 conductor cable with a 5 pin on one side and a 6 pin on the backplane side like Nutsnax linked above.

View attachment 27797

I would assume hp makes a standard cable that would convert the 8 pin BP box power header to the NVME 6 pin connector?? if not I could just create one with the two cables i have. Just need the pinout

Here is the interface definition of GEN8

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/converting-an-hp-dl380e-gen8-14xlff-server-to-a-disk-shelf.29584/

 

[chrisx]

Any news to that topic? I have a similar project (but with SFF drives instead of NVME).

The interface definition of gen8 is not helping since its an 8pin connector.

I found out that for my project, the power cable is compatible with Gen9 as well (using a 869825-001 power cable). With this, I have found a forum post at TrueNas forum concerning the pinouts: dl380 gen9 8sff cage 747592-002 Power layout / connector

Maybe it is worth to check if there are some similarities between those cables.

 

[nutsnax]

Any news to that topic? I have a similar project (but with SFF drives instead of NVME).

The interface definition of gen8 is not helping since its an 8pin connector.

I found out that for my project, the power cable is compatible with Gen9 as well (using a 869825-001 power cable). With this, I have found a forum post at TrueNas forum concerning the pinouts: dl380 gen9 8sff cage 747592-002 Power layout / connector

Maybe it is worth to check if there are some similarities between those cables.

Nothing new on my end - I'd like to get this running but I've not figured out the pinout as yet.

 

[chrisx]

Hi there,
I just wanted to update my findings so far: I've tested the pins and got it working. Because it's quite similar, maybe you might have also some luck.

The other end of the power cable of the backplane is a 5-pin cable (at least in my case).
When you turn the 6-Pin End to you and with the header clip to the right hand side, the first pin on the upper right corner might be free:


The other end is a 5-pin connector. In my case, I've connected it via a custom cable to a standard ATX 4-pin molex connector on my power supply (simply cut whatever there is on the other end and apply dupont male connectors on it). For this, I've used the following pinout:

1: 12V
2: GND
3: 3.3V (or empty)
4: GND
5: 12V

With this, on my Gen10 normal Backplane, the drives are spinning and working just fine.
In my case I have installed it in a Streacom DB4 housing:

As you can see, I don't have the HPE SAS controller, so probably that's why the lovely lights aren't on. At startup, they shortly blink up in a row. Maybe there is a good Linux package to enable this feature again?

 

[Mithril]

Hi there,
I just wanted to update my findings so far: I've tested the pins and got it working. Because it's quite similar, maybe you might have also some luck.

[...]
As you can see, I don't have the HPE SAS controller, so probably that's why the lovely lights aren't on. At startup, they shortly blink up in a row. Maybe there is a good Linux package to enable this feature again?

Any chance you have the correct part number for that backplane? I'd like to search for it on ebay to see the price, and make sure I'm getting the same one so I know I can power it. thanks!

Would a gen9 have have the same pinout?

Whats the difference for DIY use between gen9 and gen10?

 

[chrisx]

Sure thing!
My Backplane is the following:

HPE Box1/2 Cage/Backplane Kit for HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10
Article No: 826691-B21
EAN: 0725184031885, 4514953925489

The Gen9 has a different pinout (see links above).