Hinsight4 15" iMac G4 Intel NUC Upgrade

[kiwisincebirth]

Tried hooking up my inverter this evening and feel like I'm missing something b/c the backlights do nothing.

5V red inverter wire to 5V red molex
GND black wire inverter to GND molex
5V green inverter wire + 1k ohm resister to 5V red molex
12V blue inverter wire to 12V yellow molex

Left the orange and purple wires (dimmer & on/off) floating.

Plugged the power brick into the 2.5mm jack on the Pico PSU and no dice. Tried jumping the power supply with the normal "on" to GRD on the ATX plug and no luck with that either.

Tried hooking the 5V purple inverter wire to + 1k ohm resister to the 5V on a molex and that didn't get the backlights on either.

Does anyone know if I'm supposed to ground the Pico PSU, or is plugging it directly into the 19V DC brick sufficient?

Attached a few pics, even though I'm sure you can't make out what is going on

have a read of this post and MacTesters response, looking at your pictures I cannot see a grounded chassis

http://www.tonymacx86.com/imac-mods/104625-mactester57s-hemimac-g4-21.html#post806800

 

[ersterhernd]

Is the 15" inverter wiring any different than the 17"? If Hinsight gets his going with a new PSU, then its no different that its larger brother, although the dimming hasn't been tested yet.

 

[InsaneCultist]

just a little correction, the "Haswell" NUC while provided with 19v PSU has a wide input on MB, and I have tested it down to 12v using a power brick that comes with an external HDD, same plug. Not sure if this makes a difference in your build since pico fried, but just pointing out you actually don't need the 19v

Kiwi

Interesting. Good to know, Kiwi. Thanks.

 

[hinsight4]

Is the 15" inverter wiring any different than the 17"? If Hinsight gets his going with a new PSU, then its no different that its larger brother, although the dimming hasn't been tested yet.

Update on my progress this week, just got back from my wedding so been out of the loop for awhile. Glad to see all the comments!

I temporarily hooked up the inverter with alligator clips and the backlights do indeed work. I used the guide from dremel junkie on the 17" for the inverter cable.

• Orange left floating
• Purple left floating
• Black grounded
• Green inverter hooked to 5V with 1kohm resister
• Blue inverted hooked to 12V
• Red inverter was hooked to 5V

The backlights come on, can't test any dimming just yet. Using the wide input Pico PSU so I could use the 19V power brick from the Intel NUC definitely made the difference.

Also had to look at the 20 pin ATX connector and use the paperclip method to jump the power switch and get the Pico PSU to power up. I had the Pico PSU plugged directly into the 19V power brick from the NUC into the wall.

 

[hinsight4]

Hello, I am new to this too and I finally decided to try this after thinking about it for couple of month. I am also stuck at the inverter step. I connected the inverter wires to Pico PSU and nothing happens. I did get a wide input PSU. I will be coming back to this thread to see your progress and see if I can learn from it.

Way - check out my previous post, I just got my backlights working this evening, so I have a photo of the setup and the pinout I used to connect to a standard molex connector.

If you have the wide input Pico PSU, maybe you don't have the ATX connector jumped to actually power on?

 

[hinsight4]

Tonight I hooked up the inverter permanently with some shrink tubing - so the inverter cables are hooked to a molex connector so I can easily unplug it from the Pico PSU (and followed Dremel Junkie's guide).

Attached are pics of the completed inverter wiring using the 17" inverter cable pinout diagram, which works on this 15" model.

 

[Waysop]

Hinsight4 15" iMac G4 Intel NUC Upgrade

Your wiring looks nice and neat. I was able to get mine also done but I didn't connect anything to the purple wire and orange wire. However, I think I blew my inverter shortly after it was done. I can see a very dark image without the back light. My wiring must be wrong. Looking forward to your progress.

- - - Updated - - -

Your wiring looks nice and neat. I was able to get mine also done but I didn't connect anything to the purple wire and orange wire. However, I think I blew my inverter shortly after it was done. I can see a very dark image without the back light. My wiring must be wrong. Looking forward to your progress.

 

[machummer]

I am mod my 15 imac g4 ,i found it's tmds cable is defferen to 17 imac g4.can anyone share the pin out

 

[machummer]

Your wiring looks nice and neat. I was able to get mine also done but I didn't connect anything to the purple wire and orange wire. However, I think I blew my inverter shortly after it was done. I can see a very dark image without the back light. My wiring must be wrong. Looking forward to your progress.

- - - Updated - - -

Your wiring looks nice and neat. I was able to get mine also done but I didn't connect anything to the purple wire and orange wire. However, I think I blew my inverter shortly after it was done. I can see a very dark image without the back light. My wiring must be wrong. Looking forward to your progress.

can you share you wire to dvi pin out picture, for me reference. thanks

 

[hinsight4]

can you share you wire to dvi pin out picture, for me reference. thanks

Here is the TDMS to DVI pinout that I found for a 15" iMac, but I haven't started on my DVI conversion yet. I have only completed the wiring for the inverter cable at this time.