I've seen lots of yall modding your PSU's by changing the housing, changing fans, etc... What I want to know is, how safe is this? I've always been told (and have read) that if you touch certain parts inside of the PSU that you could receive an electrical shock that could kill you. Is this true and if so what part will do this? (Describe part please, never opened one to look.)
first, and i guess most obvious, dont attempt to mod your PSU whilst it is still on. 240VAC does not go well with your system, and whilst non-lethal will still give you something to worry about. also.. the capacitors inside, the big "tower" like objects that are cylindrical in shape, just touch a piece of INSULATED wire across the terminals of them to discharge them. capacitors (caps) store charge, and as such are still dangerous after the PSU is switched off so be careful.. but otherwise just have fun
I have never got an electric shock of my PSU and i dont intend to start now, What i normally do is unplug the psu about 30 mins befor i do anything to it, NEVER NEVER do anything to it with the plug still in . Then when u go to mod it, unplug it off your motherboard aswell, in case there is excess voltage floating around, when you have opened it up be very cairfull, and try not to touch much inside it to make sure you dont get any shocks, and just be cairfull in general, and always seel up the psu befor pluging it back in. Apart from that, modding is quight safe, just as long as you are cairful and always unplug everything.
Im my early mod days I"ve recieved some might powerful shocks. Some powerful ebough to nock me flat on my ass.
Another way of discharging it is to unplug it form the wall, then with a hard drive or something plugged in turn it back on. The remaining electricty stored in the caps should then power the hard drive for a second before being used up.
Wow! Thanks all! I assumed that it was the capacitors, but was unsure. And of course, having it turned off was a natural assumption to me, but maybe not to all.
I would be careful if trying to short a capacitor as i have heard (not seen in person) they can explode. Small are no problem as they do not hold a huge charge but the ones in the PSU some *MIGHT* be large enough. If i am wrong someone plz say but i would just leave the PSU unpluged from wall Buzz
i heard you can wrap a peice of uninsulated wire to a screwdriver and plug it into the ground on a wall socket (3rd prong in canada/us not sure about internationally) and touch it to the caps and they ground themselfs.. but use a screwdriver with a plastic/rubber handle
that is exctly what i o but i normally only wait 10-15 i have touched most things in my poersuply while trying to put the board back in (had to put a screw through the bottom to mount in breifcase) and ive never been shocked
I'm lame You do have to remember that this message board is mostly europeans...soo stuff like that MUST be cleared up (cheap UK shot...i love you guys)
Noticed that. Just love that Brit wit. (Rhyme intended) OK, this lets me know what I should look out for when/if I decide to work on one.
yesterday i was plugging something into the wall and touched the metal prongs, and it didnt even hurt. actually it took like 5 seconds before i realized what why my hand went numb. felt cool. (120v AC here in america) a cap charge hurts ALOT more, if it doesnt kill you tho. But on the + side, 12v DC barely tingles.
just unplugg the mains power from the PSU and press the powerbuton before you take out the PSU... by the time you have gotten it out of you'r PC it should be safe... i don't recomend shorting the cap though... the arch can damage the soldering joints quite a bit... after all, there is no need to short it out.. only if you are in a hurry (and then you shouldn't be modding anything at all).. normally those PSU's have resistors over the +and - poles of that cap... this is to empty the cap... it's slow, but it does it's job... a first aid kit won't help if you get a lethal shock... lov voltage electricity (yup, 220v is low voltage) isn't dangerous as long as you don't get it trough you'r hart or head... so working with one hand is a smart thing to do if you are unsure... it can still hurt, but it's less dangerous.. i have worked with such PSU's still connected to the mains.. no problem at all, as long as you know what you are doing... it gets scary first when working on TV's... there you don't even have to touch things to get a shock.. 30Kv is what i define as high voltage..
i touched a PSU when it had just been turned off...let me tell u it throws your body right back and u get a really bad dull pain in your arm for like 20 mins after...it was kinda weird, not painful during the time. but i wont b doin it agen
Agh i know what u mean - when leccy stuff's jus sitting there, all exposed, u kinda jus get this impulse to rapidly tap things jus to see what happens Its pre-programmed into all of us i think.... PSUs are generally safe - the warnings are there just in case some fool decides to lick it If yr still not sure, its gotta be protective rubber suit time, jus for some unadulterated live electrical equipment handling overkill
if you really like being on the safe side, use rubber gloves (medical ect.) or maybe better: working gloves. whenever i open my psu to clean it i unplug it, switch on the computer to uncharge the caps and wait for two hours before touching anything
I agree with what Smilodon said. When I was taking a course in electronic servicing many moons ago, my instructor said that when working on stuff with large caps (PSUs, monitors, etc) it was good practice to keep one hand in your pocket until you were SURE that no charge was left in the unit. That way any shock couldn't cross your heart. Remember, the voltage carried means nothing, it's the current that can kill you!
if i remember correctly it was 50mA trough you'r heart and you are dead... the worst electric shock i have gotten was when working on an amplifier... I was going to take out a fuse, but i remember that the mains was still plugged in... it was cinds tight where the fuse was (near the mains intake wich the socket on the amp had exposed wires) i stuck my finger between the mains wires and a large cap... THAT did hurt... i really don't get thrown back when getting shocked, but i have heard that getting a shock from the Kv line in a tv/monitor puts you on the floor for some minutes... i'm not going to try that out...
