I've removed the DC power socket from my QMX and replaced that with silicon 16 AWG (thick so that the solder joints should be quite resilient) which is terminated with powerpole connectors. In the circle, on the 5V smps board, I've removed the stock Zener with a 5 Watt version for improved power protection (as discussed elsewhere in this forum) in case of unexpected input power fluctuations. The new Zener is too large to fit in place on the board, so I had to solder 2 very short wire stubs to the board and attach the new Zener to them. Then I squeezed some electronic grade silicon under it to keep it from bouncing around. You can see I put dabs of that goo around other components to prevent them from vibrating while traveling with the QMX and potentially breaking away from the board over time.
One other word of caution,?NEVER REMOVE THE 5V SMPS BOARD WITHOUT FIRST REMOVING THE 3.3V BOARD. Otherwise you'll inevitably sheer a diode right off the top of the 3.3v board. Don't ask me how I know this! :-(?
