Need A Little Help From Some Tech Savvy Folks

[Quazimoto]

Howdy,

So...  I need a little help as I know basically nothing about this (still learning).

I have a few RetroFlag (and similar) Raspberry Pi cases I want to use for a home media streaming box.  Everything's fine and works great, except I'm getting the under-voltage warning lightning bolt periodically when it's running.  When researching the cause, it seems that there is some voltage loss due to low quality wiring between the power boards within the case.  Numerous people online have recommended replacing those wires, which is where the trouble lies as I don't know how to go about doing that or what materials to look for (as in what they're called) and can't seem to find any place online or help video to assist in that.  I know some folks here like to tinker with wiring and custom electronic whatnots, so I thought it couldn't hurt to ask.  Here's some pics for visual reference...


Show the two wire portions that would need replacing.  One red & black set coming from the power input board and another set of wires that connect to the raspberry pi via the black box thing there.


Little white box thingy that connects the wires to the power input.


Another angle for the white box thingy connecting the wires to the power input. 


The other end of the power input wires.  Appears to me to be the same type of connection to the circuit board.  Would also need to replace two of the wires coming out of the four port white box thingy (they lead to the black box thingy seen in the first picture) directly behind the power input white box thingy.

My humblest apologies for the, shall we say, less than technical terms above.  I just don't know the right terms for them, so I'm hoping someone here might be able to clue me in as to what they're called, where to find them, and how to replace the wires that need replacing.

FYI...  Don't know if it would help at all, but it has been suggested to use 22 gauge wiring as replacements.

Any help is truly appreciated and totally fine if you can't either.  Just thought it couldn't hurt to ask. 

[ShoothimNow]

Is that white box thingy suppose to be cock-eyed?  looks to me that that might be loose, and you might have a broken connector

[Quazimoto]

Is that white box thingy suppose to be cock-eyed?  looks to me that that might be loose, and you might have a broken connector

I don't think that's the issue... it's on there nice and solid, doesn't wiggle a bit.

[wiggy]

I don’t know why they used male molex connectors (the white clips) if they weren going to connect them to female molex connectors.

Basically, a connector should be soldered to the board, and another to pigtail wires (which you have), and then clipped to the board, allowing for easy assembly and disassembly.

Those connectors are doing absolutely nothing for you. I would remove them entirely and solder the leads directly to the board in their stead.

[Quazimoto]

I don’t know why they used male molex connectors (the white clips) if they weren going to connect them to female molex connectors.

Basically, a connector should be soldered to the board, and another to pigtail wires (which you have), and then clipped to the board, allowing for easy assembly and disassembly.

Those connectors are doing absolutely nothing for you. I would remove them entirely and solder the leads directly to the board in their stead.

Thanks Wiggy.

I thought something seemed a little odd with the way the wires were connected to the boards.

Soldering/De-Soldering doesn't seem to difficult, but it still scares me a bit and I'm a totally newbie to it.  I'd need to do the same thing to four case setups to cover all the TVs in the house once I get the media center up and running.  Is there any materials I should be looking for specifically in order to replace the wires and get a good, solid connection? 

Would something like this work for what I need...?

https://www.amazon.com/Vastar-Soldering-Iron-Full-Welding/dp/B01712N5C4/ref=sr_1_4_acs_twc-5bddfe5a-5f_3?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1528077986&sr=1-4-acs&keywords=soldering+iron&ingress=search&content_id=5bddfe5a-5f09-4448-804c-13db1e65e880&widget_name=expert_recommendation&content_provider=osp&ascsubtag=5bddfe5a-5f09-4448-804c-13db1e65e880&content_type=story&tag=ospsearch-20

and this wiring...

https://www.amazon.com/Hook-Silicone-Wire-total-Black/dp/B073PG8XKL/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1528077628&sr=8-16&keywords=22+gauge+wire

[wiggy]

60W is gonna be WAY overkill for that project, and you could potentially fry something if you're not really careful.  15-20W would do the job (and any other job at this scale) just fine.

If it were signal wire, I'd say go with a higher gauge.  But I believe you're just running power, so 22G is a better choice.

[Quazimoto]

60W is gonna be WAY overkill for that project, and you could potentially fry something if you're not really careful.  15-20W would do the job (and any other job at this scale) just fine.

If it were signal wire, I'd say go with a higher gauge.  But I believe you're just running power, so 22G is a better choice.

Okay.  Thank You so much for the tips. 

[Quazimoto]

Little update...

Turns out it might not be the chords within the case... Might have been a power supply issue.  I was using the micro usb power cable that came with the Raspberry Pi canakit.  That was a 5volt 2.5amp cable.  Others online suggested trying a 5volt 3.0amp cable, so I bought one of those to test.  Haven't seen any more undervoltage issues while testing it for a bit. 

Soldering worries me a bit (even though it doesn't SEEM that hard), so I'll be delighted if I don't have to do it (would still probably replace those inner cables if I could find someone to do it for me cheapish), but for now, the new power cable seems to have resolved the problem.  We shall see...