FAQ for the 45HomeLab HL15

General
1

Do you ship internationally?

Absolutely! With our shipping partner FedEx, we can ship anywhere in the world.

Is there an additional credit card fee?

No additional credit card fee.

Technical Questions

What motherboard will fit in the server?

The 15-drive chassis is designed to accommodate ATX motherboards and ATX modular power supplies. The backplane will come prewired including an easy-fit adapter that will allow you to plug in power cables without modifying the existing wiring.

What are the dimensions of the server?

20" x 17" x 7"

What is the clearance for the CPU heatsink?

The server uses a 2U Passive Heat Sink with the dimensions of 108.0 x 80.0 x 64.0 mm. You can view the cooler here.

I want to source my own PSU, can you tell me what PSU are and are not compatible?

The PSU we provide with the appropriate options is a Corsair RM750e.

If you are sourcing your own power supply, you can use this as a minimum guideline. It is especially important to ensure you have at least 20A of 5v power.

In addition, if you plan on using a graphics card, or anything that will increase power draw, you may require a more powerful supply.

Corsair Modular ATX Power Supplies are guaranteed to fit.

Ask in the Hardware Section on the Forum if you want us to review a specific PSU.

What is the max size GPU (Dimensions) that will fit in the server?

The card will need to fit within a 4U form factor and not exceed 8.5” in length.

How much spare power can the PSU accommodate for a GPU?

The system in its current build is not tested for a graphics card. However, there are PCIe power ports available on the power supply. We encourage you to post any results you have using graphics card on the forum.

Can I use an AIO water cooling case fan?

Probably not, but we haven’t tested it. If you do try please post your results.

Can I install RGB lighting?

Yes! Techno Tim has a great video showing him installing RGB in his Storinator, which should be a similar process to what would be needed here. We currently plan on having more RGB options in the future.

What is the form factor of the backplane connectors?

There are four MiniSASHD (SFF 8643) data connectors on the backplane, which can support 15 drives. There is a separate power management board for powering the drives, which accepts 4x 4-pin Molex connections.

What drives are compatible? SATA 1 2 3, SAS, SSD, NVMe?

The backplane accepts SATA 3 or SAS, but does not currently support any NVMe protocol drives.

Do I need caddies for 2.5” SSDs?

Yes, you do. The HL 15 features 15 toolless, top-loading drive bays. Caddys are necessary for mounting SSDs and will be available as an add-on at time of final purchase.

What addons will be available?

Some of the addons that will be available include:

  • Caddys

  • Data Cables for Chassis Builds

  • Rack Rails

  • SSD Drive Brackets with 2/4/6/10 Capacities.

What fans, how many, and how are they configured?

Included will be: COOLERGUYS 120X120X25MM 3 PIN FAN MEDIUM. Quantity: 6.

Is the drive cage removable?

Yes, it is removable.

Where can I find your Printables page for STL files?

You can find our Printables page below for any HL15 3D Print parts.
https://www.printables.com/@45Drives_1257568

How can we reach 45HomeLab?
For general inquiries or for help with your purchase, please contact info@45homelab.com.

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Don’t suppose we could print our own caddies? Pretty please? :slight_smile:

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Hey @doodlemania - We just uploaded some links to our STL files, re: Caddies in a separate topic.

We’ll update the FAQ here shortly to reflect where these can be found so it’s easy access for all.

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I’ll be putting in my own components, as well as an HBA Card that has 2 SAS connectors ( LSI Logic SAS 9207-8i Storage Controller). Right now I have 2 SAS > 4 SATA3 Breakout cables being plugged into each of my drives. Can you let me know what exact cable I’ll need to use to connect my HBA card to the HDD Backplane?

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@neardeaf You will need 2x MiniSAS HD (backplane side) → MiniSAS (HBA side) cable per HBA card. To be specific on the connector names it is SFF 8643 → SFF 8087.

You will be able to select these cables directly from our store when you place your full order.

You will need 4 of these cables to access all 15 drives. As the backplane has 4x MiniSASHD connectors . These cables are included in the price of the chassis.

Here is a picture of the cable for reference.

minisashd_to_minisas
minisashd_to_minisas1500Ă—1500 77 KB

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Exactly what I needed, thanks a ton!

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@Ashley-45Drives I plan to use my own motherboard/CPU/PSU with the HL15 chassis. My motherboard comes with 10 SATA ports. I currently have 15 drives plugged in with 8 directly through the motherboard SATA ports, and 7 through one LSI 9211-8i (two 8087 to 4 SATA breakouts). How would this work with the HL15 setup?

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Hi, you answered the CPU cooler clearance question with the cooler you use, but I assume that all 4U coolers (like Noctua 9s line) are OK? They are typically 125mm/4.92In in height. Thanks.

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Looks like they did! One of my first thoughts after seeing it was coming up with a 3D printed caddy for ssd’s. They also chose Printables to upload to boot, which is easily my favorite.

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Hi @etoel , we have seen some issues with other 4U coolers hitting the top cover on the chassis. Although this is the same size some coolers have the heat pipes stick out of the top a little extra which causes interference issues just be cautious of this when picking a cooler

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@nightcrawler2164, the cables that come off the backplanes are MiniSAS cables (4 cables) which are designed to go into an HBA card. each one of these MiniSAS cables supports 4 drives from the backplane. if you are looking to take advantage of you’re 10 on-board SATA ports I would recommend picking up 2 MiniSAS to SATA adapters which will let you use the 8 ports on your motherboard for the drives bays and the extra 2 ports could be used for redundant boot drives. you would still need a HBA card for 2 MiniSAS cables(8 more drives)

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Perfect. That’s what I assumed but appreciate the clarification! Can’t wait to get my hands on the chassis already

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The Noctua D9L is listed as a 3U cooler with a height of 110mm, or just 2mm taller than the Dynatron listed. Is it save to assume that is within tolerances? Any info on the limit would be great.

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Hi @seanseagren welcome to the 45Drives Homelab Forum!

You are correct in saying the 3U cooler will fit within the specs.

CORRECTION Any CPU cooler that is 160mm or less will fit in the chassis. I just measured from the top of the motherboard to the top of the chassis and it is exactly 160mm

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Can you recommend a specific cable (or query)? Many of these cables are breakouts and labeled as directional saying they will not work if the MiniSAS port is on a backplane.

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I found this cable after looking online which should work for your usecase

“The SAS8087S4R50 SFF-8087 to 4x SATA Reverse cable features one 36-pin plug (SFF-8087), which fans out to four SATA 7-pin receptacles, providing a reliable solution for connecting a Mini SAS backplane to a SAS / SATA RAID controller or motherboard.”

this cable should take a MiniSAS backplane and adapt it to work with 4 motherboard SATA cables

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Thank you. “Reverse cable” is the term I was missing.

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Wondering what the rack rails are going to be? Are the sliding or fixed and do we have the cost of them as well? Depth adjustable?

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@eric.stammen Welcome to the Forum

We will be selling our standard server rails which are Super Micro MCP-290-00053-0N rails.

These rails are adjustable from 26.5" to 36.4" and we will be selling these for $60 USD a pair

2 Likes