Question about power supply tesitng?

[gargoyle47]

I was under the impression that if you plugged in a power supply without the propere load on it that it would blow the power supply. Yet in looking that the page advertizing the Coolmax power supply test it gives instructions on howto us it.

Turn-on your power supply
Plug-in your 24 pin power supply connector to mini tester
Check LED light it ON or OFF
Plug the HDD con, check +12V, +5V
Remove HDD, Plug p4(p6/p8)con, check +12V
Remove p4(p6/p8)con, plug FLOPPY con, check +12V, +5V
Remove Floppy con, plug SATA con, check +12V, +5V, +3.3V
Do not plug wrong position when you use P4 connector

Line 1 says to turn on power supply then plug in the 24 pin connector. Is this right?? Or am I going on old outdated information??

I would not want to blow a good power supply just because I had the wrong information.

Never Say Never (Romeo Void)
SeeYa
#1 Homebuilt Iwill KK266plus-r 1.0Ghz AMD Win98Se, DVD-rom, LG-cdwriter.
# Homebuilt FIC AZ11 900MHz AMD, daul boot Win98SE/ Fedora Core 2

 

[edfair]

Earlier supplies needed a load to regulate properly. If 12v load was missing the PS self-immolated. But I don't recall any issues from about the time of the 486s.

Current supplies have a standby supply that pulls up the mains supply when the external circuitry shorts the control line.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[G0AOZ]

I doubt you'd blow a modern PSU by switching it on with no load attached. It will have a load of sorts - the internal 12v cooling fan.

The mini-testers I've seen do have built in resistors to put some load on the PSU. However, I'd suggest that this is minimal to say the least.

Years ago I made a PSU loading device out of some heavy duty high wattage resistors - this put a good load on all supply lines, and warmed the workshop nicely during the winter months!

ROGER - G0AOZ.

 

[gargoyle47]

Would it be prudent to go ahead and have the power supply plugged in anyway just in case?

As I said I would not want to ruin a good power supply for a simple mistake.

Never Say Never (Romeo Void)
SeeYa
#1 Homebuilt Iwill KK266plus-r 1.0Ghz AMD Win98Se, DVD-rom, LG-cdwriter.
# Homebuilt FIC AZ11 900MHz AMD, daul boot Win98SE/ Fedora Core 2

 

[G0AOZ]

If I'm using that device to test a PSU here, mains is switched on, and then the tester is plugged in as per instructions. If the PSU is working the tester gives one beep and the relevant l.e.d.s light up. As Edfair says, the PSU won't start until the PS ON line is shorted to ground internally by the tester.

ROGER - G0AOZ.