Project gigaQube | s h o n . o r g

As stated earlier I suspected problems with the factory power supply. Especially after adding the 2nd drive. Mine lasted about 4 months and then cooked itself on a particularly hot summer day. I think the 2nd drive was drawing a bit too much current for the old part. What sucks about this is that a new qube power supply will run between $40-$100 depending on where you go. Which sucks because you can buy a whole other Qube for not much more. What sucked more was that the GigaQube was so useful that I had loaded it up with over 200 gigs of important data before it died. The good news is that I found a super-solid and CHEAP replacement that works perfectly. I looked all over to find a compatible supply. I looked at new parts, old parts, replacement parts, variable supplies, etc. They are all expensive. Plus I didn't want to buy an exact replacement as it too would be destined to failure without serious (think Heat Sinks) modification. I wanted the same voltage, slightly more amps, in a similar form factor.. for under $10 bucks. Impossible you say??? Nay!!! Enter the HP F1044B. The F1044B is a power supply for older HP Omnibook models. It runs out at 12 Volts, 3.3 Amps and I bought mine on ebay for $6 dollars including shipping.

I've been up and running for a few months on the new part with no problems. It runs waaaay cooler and is similar in size to the factory unit. The only thing you need to do is cut the plug off the old PS, and graft it on to the new. Here's the blow by blow:

First you'll need to cut the ends off of both adapters.Be careful not to cut too close to the plugs, as you'll need some wire to work with. I was sniping away and almost cut the qube plug too short.

Here you can see the severed Qube plug being wired up to the new PS.

Cut and paste. The HP part has two wires separated by a layer of insulation on the center wire. The Qube plug has two separate wires (red and black). Cut the plugs, strip the wires and solder the black qube wire to the white (center) wire on the HP side. Then solder the red qube wire to the black (outer) wire on the HP. I then used electrical tape to insulate the two wires and to tape up the cord. If you want to get fancy get yourself some heat-shink tubing.

*Remember kids, this is all very simple but you are working with electricity here so if you cross up the wires and cook your qube it's not my problem. Also, these instructions are based on the wire colors, voltage and amperage specs in my parts. Your parts *should* be the same but then again, who knows? Case in point: use your brain. If the wire colors are different, grab a multimeter. If the directions aren't clear, then use extra caution and proceed at your own risk.