[SOLVED] Sleeved Extension lowering voltage on high load

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Hello,
I had Installed sleeved extension cables in my system to make it look good. But the issue is the voltage drop in high load scenarios is quite high.

From 12.08V down to 11.81V measured in Hwinfo64. At the same time I had a Multimeter hooked to another sleeved extension on a pcie connector and its voltage was 12.08V. From my understanding when load is applied to the sleeved extensions the voltage drops on them quite a bit. And in the Multimeter measuring point there was no load so the voltage was stable.

Voltage drop should be there as extensions increase resistance but isn't the drop too much.
I have removed the cables and now in High load voltage remains quite stable and the minimum dip was 11.986V.
Should I rma the cables or just return them as they still have a 30 day return period if faulty.
Brand is Coolermaster and they cost me $30.

My PSU is a 7month old Antec EAG Gold 750w (Seasonic Focus Gold GM)

PC Specs are:
Ryzen 3500, Asrock x570 PG4, Zotac 1660s, Ddr4 3200 8gb x2, 2xssd 1hdd, 2x200mm argb, 3x120mm argb, 1xAIO
 
Solution
First, 200mV drop is not 'that much', that's within 2% of 5% allowed by specification. Sure, on a new PSU with stock cables that would be alarming but not with extensions. You're basically increasing the amount of copper wire the electricity should go through twicefold and adding additional connectors, it's not unreasonable to expect the voltage drop to triple compared to stock cables. Second, your PSU doesn't have 12V v-sense so it doesn't know that the voltage on the far end have decreased so it can't compensate, if you're really worried about that (which you shouldn't), replace the PSU with the one that does has 12V v-sense (Corsair RMx/RM-i/HX/HX-i/AX/AX-i or Seasonic Prime Platinum/Titanium for example, among others).

Lutfij

Titan
Moderator
Do you know the quality and the gauge of the wire used in the sleeved extensions? Often times people don't take the extra length of cabling into consideration and more often than not, people don't bother with taking notice of the voltage drops. I do my own sleeving and it's for this reason that I do not make sleeved extensions, merely because a custom length set ensures that you get the right length of wire and with quality gauge of wire, you negate any voltage drop.

Did you use the PSU's stock cables and monitor the voltage drop when the system is under load?
 
Do you know the quality and the gauge of the wire used in the sleeved extensions? Often times people don't take the extra length of cabling into consideration and more often than not, people don't bother with taking notice of the voltage drops. I do my own sleeving and it's for this reason that I do not make sleeved extensions, merely because a custom length set ensures that you get the right length of wire and with quality gauge of wire, you negate any voltage drop.

Did you use the PSU's stock cables and monitor the voltage drop when the system is under load?
300mm and 16awg
 
Do you know the quality and the gauge of the wire used in the sleeved extensions? Often times people don't take the extra length of cabling into consideration and more often than not, people don't bother with taking notice of the voltage drops. I do my own sleeving and it's for this reason that I do not make sleeved extensions, merely because a custom length set ensures that you get the right length of wire and with quality gauge of wire, you negate any voltage drop.

Did you use the PSU's stock cables and monitor the voltage drop when the system is under load?
Yes used the psu stock cables and voltage drop was minimal. 12.09 to 11.98
 

Juular

Respectable
BANNED
Mar 14, 2020
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First, 200mV drop is not 'that much', that's within 2% of 5% allowed by specification. Sure, on a new PSU with stock cables that would be alarming but not with extensions. You're basically increasing the amount of copper wire the electricity should go through twicefold and adding additional connectors, it's not unreasonable to expect the voltage drop to triple compared to stock cables. Second, your PSU doesn't have 12V v-sense so it doesn't know that the voltage on the far end have decreased so it can't compensate, if you're really worried about that (which you shouldn't), replace the PSU with the one that does has 12V v-sense (Corsair RMx/RM-i/HX/HX-i/AX/AX-i or Seasonic Prime Platinum/Titanium for example, among others).
 
Solution
Hello,
I had Installed sleeved extension cables in my system to make it look good. But the issue is the voltage drop in high load scenarios is quite high.

From 12.08V down to 11.81V measured in Hwinfo64. At the same time I had a Multimeter hooked to another sleeved extension on a pcie connector and its voltage was 12.08V. From my understanding when load is applied to the sleeved extensions the voltage drops on them quite a bit. And in the Multimeter measuring point there was no load so the voltage was stable.

Voltage drop should be there as extensions increase resistance but isn't the drop too much.
I have removed the cables and now in High load voltage remains quite stable and the minimum dip was 11.986V.
Should I rma the cables or just return them as they still have a 30 day return period if faulty.
Brand is Coolermaster and they cost me $30.

My PSU is a 7month old Antec EAG Gold 750w (Seasonic Focus Gold GM)

PC Specs are:
Ryzen 3500, Asrock x570 PG4, Zotac 1660s, Ddr4 3200 8gb x2, 2xssd 1hdd, 2x200mm argb, 3x120mm argb, 1xAIO
11.81 is still fine and if that's as low as it goes I would leave it be.
 
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