How to safely test if Power Supply is still working

[Massimo480]

Hello lovely Linus Tech Tips community!

I was given an Antec 1000 Watt power supply, but the person giving it to me has no idea whether it still works or not. It looks fine, and I would think it is working, but you never know of course.

 

Is it safe to swap the Power Supply in my PC with it to test and see if it works, or could a damaged power supply cause my PC components to get damaged? 

 

Thanks. 

[EnergyEclipse]

12 minutes ago, Massimo480 said:

Hello lovely Linus Tech Tips community!

I was given an Antec 1000 Watt power supply, but the person giving it to me has no idea whether it still works or not. It looks fine, and I would think it is working, but you never know of course.

 

Is it safe to swap the Power Supply in my PC with it to test and see if it works, or could a damaged power supply cause my PC components to get damaged? 

 

Thanks. 

Hello! Welcome to the forum!

 

You can purchase of PSU jumpers as such to externally from a functioning system to do a rough test just to see whether it explodes or not: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XXMRZ2B/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1498344878&sr=1-1&keywords=psu+jumper

 

Or: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Power-Supplies/DIGIFLEX-Power-Supply-Tester-Diagnose/B004IO5CT8

 

I hope this helps!

[faziten]

5 hours ago, Massimo480 said:

Hello lovely Linus Tech Tips community!

I was given an Antec 1000 Watt power supply, but the person giving it to me has no idea whether it still works or not. It looks fine, and I would think it is working, but you never know of course.

 

Is it safe to swap the Power Supply in my PC with it to test and see if it works, or could a damaged power supply cause my PC components to get damaged? 

 

Thanks. 

Depends on how deep you want to test the unit. 

Start by powering it on by shorting the Green cable with any black cable in the 24 pin connector. Don't mix colors. Green and black is what you need. Short it with a piece of wire, or whatever you have... a metal spring from a notebook, a clip, etc. If it has a plastic cover or is painted remove it before shorting or it wont make contact with the metal conectors. 

You could try to measure the 12V, 5V and 3.3V lines to check if they are within parameters (multimeter is required). 

 

Further testing requires a bit more knowledge and/or equipment. 

[Massimo480]

On 6/24/2017 at 9:10 PM, faziten said:

Depends on how deep you want to test the unit. 

Start by powering it on by shorting the Green cable with any black cable in the 24 pin connector. Don't mix colors. Green and black is what you need. Short it with a piece of wire, or whatever you have... a metal spring from a notebook, a clip, etc. If it has a plastic cover or is painted remove it before shorting or it wont make contact with the metal conectors. 

You could try to measure the 12V, 5V and 3.3V lines to check if they are within parameters (multimeter is required). 

 

Further testing requires a bit more knowledge and/or equipment. 

Thank you for your tip. I tested it with the green and black pin connector, and the power supply turns on. 

 

Would you say it is safe to test it now in my Computer with all my components? 

[faziten]

4 minutes ago, Massimo480 said:

Thank you for your tip. I tested it with the green and black pin connector, and the power supply turns on. 

 

Would you say it is safe to test it now in my Computer with all my components? 

i'd first check the voltages. At least the 12V, 5V and 3.3V. Since its an Antec it's probably fine, but i have a hard time recommending someone over the internet to plug his/her computer to an untested PSU, it's not how you do thing in my opinion. 

Take it to any friend/store with a multimeter, meassuring the 12v,5,and 3.3v takes literally a minute. (If you stare at the voltages for like 15 seconds each which is unnecessary ) 

If 12V is between 11.8 and 12.5V it's ok.
If 5V is between 4.5 and 5.5V is ok.
if 3.3v is between 3 and 3.5v is ok. 

 

High power psu lean towards having higher than usual clock, but we are speaking of, 0.5V higher not a whole volt or anything. Check those numbers and only then i'd suggest plugin your pc to test it in full load. Not without at least knowing the voltage regulator is not messed up. 

 

Just know this, having proper volts (voltage regulator check) does not mean the PSU is fully functional. But it does mean it's probably safe to plug in to your pc. 

 

Cheers!

[Massimo480]

2 minutes ago, faziten said:

i'd first check the voltages. At least the 12V, 5V and 3.3V. Since its an Antec it's probably fine, but i have a hard time recommending someone over the internet to plug his/her computer to an untested PSU, it's not how you do thing in my opinion. 

Take it to any friend/store with a multimeter, meassuring the 12v,5,and 3.3v takes literally a minute. (If you stare at the voltages for like 15 seconds each which is unnecessary ) 

If 12V is between 11.8 and 12.5V it's ok.
If 5V is between 4.5 and 5.5V is ok.
if 3.3v is between 3 and 3.5v is ok. 

 

High power psu lean towards having higher than usual clock, but we are speaking of, 0.5V higher not a whole volt or anything. Check those numbers and only then i'd suggest plugin your pc to test it in full load. Not without at least knowing the voltage regulator is not messed up. 

 

Just know this, having proper volts (voltage regulator check) does not mean the PSU is fully functional. But it does mean it's probably safe to plug in to your pc. 

 

Cheers!

I appreciate your detailed response once again!

Thank you (: