changing the casing

[echelon]

for anyone wanting to change this dreambox into more of a media centre and use 3.5 inch sata hdd drives internally , and cool it , etc , etc , here is a solution that I have just done this weekend !

take the lid and front panel off , and fit the box into a suitable case , like a HTPC case , so you get 12v power for the dreambox ( centre pin is positive 12v , the outer is earth ) , so 12v and 5v power for the 3.5 inch sata hdd , an internal housing for the hdd , fitted power on/off switches , cooling by the pc case fans , fan control using a 3 fan 3.5 inch pc fan controller on the front of the pc case , standard pc "kettle plug" power cable , and any other benefits you see fit

I have had to make a 20 pin HD lead from the dreambox to the front led using a laptop 44 way hdd cable , cut in the middle and a 15 inch length of 20 wire ribbon soldered in to extend it ( do not use the original if possible ). mount the oled with on/off button and infra red led on the front of the case , and a power on/off switch too while there ( connected to the green and black wires on the psu motherboard connector )

the cases are about £25 ( with psu ) and the fan controller is about £8

the only downside is the case is too big for most ppl , and the diy work involved may put some ppl off , but anyone familiar with building a pc should find it straightforward

_http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/Desktop/Arianet+Synergy+HTPC+Media+Centre +Case+?productId=32170 is cheapest I found for the cases

see this link for further SYNERGY HTPC case info , quickcode 32170

Review here:

_http://xflux.com/2009/02/14/arianet-synergy-htpc-media-centre-case-review/

this is a suitable black 3 fan controller from there which I hope to extend and use the usb connectors on as well :)

_http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Fans%2C+Heatsinks%2C+Coolers/Akasa+AK-FC-06BK+Black+3.5%22+Fan+Controller? productId=31623

Akasa AK-FC-06BK Black 3.5" Fan Controller , quickcode 31623

the fan controller is mounted in the front 3.5 inch bay as normal , and the OLED is mounted in place of the usb sockets on the bottom front 5.25 inch section with the pull down plate removed , and some suitable use of a hacksaw and drills is required on the metal housing and the plastic front fascia too , so bear this in mind as this is a diy project and not for the inexperienced person

if you want to add an internal usb hub use something like a 5v powered belkin , and tap off the red 5v rail and a black earth to power it , then rewire the front usb leads onto usb A plugs to plug into the belkin , then use the standard usb A to B lead with the belkin to connect to one of the rear usb sockets , you can connect a usb stick into this internal hub if you wanted to, or have a flying male to female lead from the back usb sockets into the case and have the pen drive in that cable instead for booting. this way you can detach the rear usb cable for the internal pen drive , allowing the front usb sockets to be used for booting a different pen drive for test purposes etc , this gives you front and back capability , but needs a powered hub to do so , an unpowered one does not work , probably due to voltage drop.

I would also explore other avenues like a pvr , sly pvr , dvd recorder pvr , humax pvr , topfield pvr , xbox or any other smaller case that uses 12v and 5v to power a 3.5 inch hdd and hopefully an internal mounting cradle too

lastly , this also means the card reader in not accessible from the front as the lid needs to be removed to insert or remove any card , but the back of the dm800 will just about fit where the rear backplane of the pc motherboard would be , so easy access from the back !! lol

good luck

[loveman]

a few pics would be nice :)

[sonic1]

Some pics would be good but I have to say you must have had alot of spare time on your hands over the weekend:sifone:

[echelon]

I will take some pictures and post them , but yes I had a weekend "ddos" attack on the dreambox as it had an esata 3.5 inch 250 gig hdd attached run by a pc psu ( also running the dm800 too ) , and also had a laptop cooler under it as well , all a bit messy hence the HTPC solution :)

by the way , there are lots of pictures in the links in my first post about the actual case and the fan controller I used

[echelon]

here are some pictures I have taken with a digital camera

download , unzip and take a peek at all of them :)

regards

[echelon]

some more now of the finished article :)

I have added a usb extension lead from the lower rear usb socket to the usb pen drive in the left rear above the sata hdd , and can unplug this on the rear if necessary to allow the front ones to operate from the 7 port hub

I have added a usb lead from the top usb socket to a LINK-IT , 5 volt , 7 port , usb2.0 , powered usb hub , and powered this from a 5 volt psu rail from the standard molex hdd power plug ( red 5v positive and black earth ). 2 ports are used to connect to the 2 front usb sockets , these allow the box to be booted with a pen drive in either front socket if you disconnect the other internal one at the lower rear usb socket on the back of the case
so detaching the lower rear lead allows me to boot a test usb stick on the front usb sockets of the fan controller on the front of the case

I have also changed the 3.5 inch hdd metal cage at the rear to a better one that screws to various points inside the case , and allows easier hdd access or removal. I have several of these cages from old scrap pc cases ;)

so nearly all the changes were all to the usb facilities , and the hdd cage was replaced as well while I was in there

also a clear perspex front cover was fitted over the front oled and on/off switch on the front lower right

several pictures in the new zip file as well as those posted

[sonic1]

Nice work m8, I think though that these pics may invalidate the warranty :sifone:

[echelon]

Nice work m8, I think though that these pics may invalidate the warranty :sifone:

lol :) the dreambox can be easily put back together as I have not modified any of the original parts , which is why I made my own ribbon cable for the front IR led and oled pcb. I have put back the screws in the front panel , kept it with the lid and screws etc , and any modifications are external to the actual dreambox , this was deliberate so that I can keep all the original parts in the original cardboard box and can always reassemble it in the future if I so wish back to how it was originally

in the meantime I had never taken out the 2.5 inch hdd carrier and so had not noticed the additional usb slot next to the card reader on its left as viewed from the front , until I read this thread that is

https://www.satpimps.co.uk/showthread.php?t=90860&page=2

so I have just plugged in the internally mounted LINK IT , 7 port , usb2 , 5 volt hub directly into this internal usb socket , leaving the flying lead for the internally mounted pen drive still going out the back to the lower slot

detaching this external flying lead allows disconnection of the internally mounted pen drive , and then allows you to boot from the front mounted usb sockets instead , which I use for a test pen drive at the moment. the fact that the front mounted fan controllers are there help to adjust noise levels and hot air is still blown out the back

so all in all , one set of solutions to various problems , although I would still like a smaller htpc case , but for the money its well worth while and covers what most people would want , apart from physical size that is ;)

[Gone_Fishing]

ebuyer have quite a large number of "Micro ATX / Media Centre Cases" from £20 upwards


TNT

[echelon]

ebuyer have quite a large number of "Micro ATX / Media Centre Cases" from £20 upwards


TNT

thanks , I had checked them a few weeks ago but the cases dont always have a psu , and they all tend to be around the same size as this one I bought from aria

usually they are approx (LxHxW) 440x140x360mm

the ideal length would probably be about 250mm , and width can be smaller at say 250mm

so something like 250mm x 100mm x 250mm LxHxW would be a better size

so if size matters , members should look for smaller cases , I would say about the size of a tm9100 sat receiver or a sony 970b dvd recorder

[jeffdmlover]

Very nice.


Nice work m8, I think though that these pics may invalidate the warranty :sifone:


You could be well right.lol

[CROSSBONES]

Top post echelon!

If you could get hold of a 8000 casing and mount the 800 inside? lol:leaving:

[nofear]

thanks for the try
but it remains a very limited HTPC as it can not run DIVX or surf the net ect..

you will make all this change just to cool the box

[echelon]

thanks for the try
but it remains a very limited HTPC as it can not run DIVX or surf the net ect..

you will make all this change just to cool the box

well , in that case you clearly havent read my thread very well

the updates made using this box are thus

1) cooling using fans near the chip and on the rear vents , controlled by front mounted fan controllers

2) using a pc psu to power all peripherals including the dreambox

3) the addition of a 3.5 inch ( not 2.5 inch ) external sata hdd of any size you like ( 250 gig in this at the moment )

4) the addition of a 7 port usb powered hub to the internal usb socket next to the card reader , and connected to 2 front mounted usb sockets on the fan controller

5) the addition of a flying lead from the rear usb sockets to the inside of the unit terminated on a 2 gig internally mounted pen drive

6) the addition of a front mounted on/off power supply switch ( not present on a dreambox )



and no harm befell any dreambox components in the making of this project :)

[echelon]

I have now finished transplanting this project into a plus box , and I have added a card reader extension lead ( home made ) from the card slot on the front to the dm800 internal card reader , added a 7 port usb 5V powered hub internally (connected at the back) connected to the front usb socket under the card flap , added a cheap pc rear fan controller for the rear-mounted 12V plus fan , changed the internal 3.5 inch sata hdd from 250 gig to 500 gig for bigger storage capacity/recording , replaced the 5V fan cooling the onboard chip near the tuner , and added a rear plate around the cutout for the dm800 rear ( bolted through from the back with self tapping screws ). the OLED was previously extended with a home made cable and is fitted behind the front fascia with additional strategic holes made for the reset button and the infra red detector. an old dvd duplicator psu from a faulty unit was used to power this project internally in order to give the required 5V and 12V power supplies , and it has its own rear mounted "kettle" socket with illuminated mains switch salvaged from that same faulty duplicator for easy on/off of the mains