I'm looking at trying to clean up the cables inside my case, prior to putting a window in. Right now, the cables to my front mounted USB ports, while not completely out of control, are running right near the drive bays. I'd like to tuck them in behind the drive bays, and to do this, I'll need to lengthen the cables. I should be able to do something like this using about 18-24ga wire, and a steady hand with a soldering iron, yes? Obviously, the joins would be covered with heat shrink tubing, to prevent shorts. Also, while I have 6 front USB ports, I've only got 2 USB headers on the MB, (2 ports = 1 header) would it work if I "spliced" a couple of the ports together? I generally only have one device at a time connected (flash drives, and the like), so I'd probably never exceed the max voltage a single port could support. Or, would I be better off trying to custom make a new front panel with 2 fewer USB ports. If it helps, I've got a Cooler Master Stacker 810 (see here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119093)
If you could find any laying around, cat 5 cable would be pretty good for extending the USB cables, not shielded (unless you got STP around) but not too big of a deal for a short run inside the case. No, you cant splice the ports together, USB doesnt support multi-drop like that, you need a hub to split it. I would get a 4 port hub, solder 3 of the front ports to the hub, run the remaining 3 to the motherboard, and the last one on the motherboard of course supplies the hub. Just find a nice slim one, and crack it open. Or just dont hook up 2 ports
Cool. I just happen to have a bunch of Cat5 laying about, too, that I "rescued" from a dumpster. Worse, it was my fault it was in the dumpster in the first place (run snarled in conduit, had to cut to get it out) Not too concerned about leaving a couple USB ports disconnected, so that's how it'll be.... Thanks!
