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Hinsight4 15" iMac G4 Intel NUC Upgrade

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It's been several months since I last worked on this project with a move from one house to another, but I finally have some time to wrap this up.

At this point I'm looking for the simplest solution to get the project working and usable, but I have a couple issues remaining around powering the unit.

1. I have the 19V 65W NUC power brick split into two 5MM jacks, one that plugs into the NUC itself, and the other which plugs into the Pico PSU
2. The NUC power brick is plugged directly into the wall
3. The Pico PSU is jumped using a paperclip to always be on

At this point, I'm unsure of the easiest, yet reliable way to assemble the project for extended use. My thought at the moment is to just leave the NUC outside the case, with the HDMI cable & Pico PSU jack extended through the back and plugged in.

However, I'm not sure of the long term use of the paperclip for jumping the Pico PSU.

If I place the NUC inside the base (which I can do), I'm unsure of how to press the button to turn the NUC on - I'm guessing I can jump a pin on the unit as well so that everything is powered on as soon as it's plugged in. With this setup, I'll just use a powerstrip and be done with it.

The last solution is above my head, including using the iMac's provided power brick and taking those wires to provide power to the power brick somehow, which I suppose involves splicing into the AC cord that would have plugged directly into the wall. No clue how to get a power button working on that setup either.

Anyone have suggestions from this point on? I'm booting to a BIOS screen on the NUC and I'm so close to being able to use this thing!

Definitely looking for ideas from other mods, thanks to all who have helped so far!
 
It's been several months since I last worked on this project with a move from one house to another, but I finally have some time to wrap this up.

At this point I'm looking for the simplest solution to get the project working and usable, but I have a couple issues remaining around powering the unit.

1. I have the 19V 65W NUC power brick split into two 5MM jacks, one that plugs into the NUC itself, and the other which plugs into the Pico PSU
2. The NUC power brick is plugged directly into the wall
3. The Pico PSU is jumped using a paperclip to always be on

At this point, I'm unsure of the easiest, yet reliable way to assemble the project for extended use. My thought at the moment is to just leave the NUC outside the case, with the HDMI cable & Pico PSU jack extended through the back and plugged in.

However, I'm not sure of the long term use of the paperclip for jumping the Pico PSU.

If I place the NUC inside the base (which I can do), I'm unsure of how to press the button to turn the NUC on - I'm guessing I can jump a pin on the unit as well so that everything is powered on as soon as it's plugged in. With this setup, I'll just use a powerstrip and be done with it.

The last solution is above my head, including using the iMac's provided power brick and taking those wires to provide power to the power brick somehow, which I suppose involves splicing into the AC cord that would have plugged directly into the wall. No clue how to get a power button working on that setup either.

Anyone have suggestions from this point on? I'm booting to a BIOS screen on the NUC and I'm so close to being able to use this thing!

Definitely looking for ideas from other mods, thanks to all who have helped so far!
The NUC front panel header has a switched 5V pin. You can rig a simple transistor circuit (2N3904 will do) to jump the picoPSU. I read about this around here, did it myself, and recomended it to another fellow flowerpot modder. :thumbup:
 
The NUC front panel header has a switched 5V pin. You can rig a simple transistor circuit (2N3904 will do) to jump the picoPSU. I read about this around here, did it myself, and recomended it to another fellow flowerpot modder. :thumbup:

Do you have a link to the post that you referenced to do this part of the mod? I think this part has been the most difficult to find documentation on, and I'm not as hardware inclined I suppose :)

But basically using the transistor, the 5V line off the Pico PSU flips the transistor on so that once the PSU has power it flips a switch to power on the NUC as well?
 
But basically using the transistor, the 5V line off the Pico PSU flips the transistor on so that once the PSU has power it flips a switch to power on the NUC as well?
No, it's the other way around. You turn on the NUC using a power button, then its 5V pin turns on the transistor, turning on the picoPSU and the other stuff. The NUC should receive always-on power.
 

Thanks for the link Esterhernd, that's spelled out wonderfully clear. The only part that I'm unsure of is how the wiring from the power button on the original iMac is wired to the front panel on the NUC itself. Did you reuse the power button on the original motherboard that the plastic button actually presses, and wire from that to the front panel?
 
Hinsight, I soldered the + and - wires from the NUC front panel header directly to the power button traces on the bottom side of the iMac G4 logic board. Worked like a charm and preserved the operation of the original power button.


Cheers!
 
Hinsight, I soldered the + and - wires from the NUC front panel header directly to the power button traces on the bottom side of the iMac G4 logic board. Worked like a charm and preserved the operation of the original power button.


Cheers!

Great, makes perfect sense. Thanks for taking the time to explain and share!
 
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