Is the paper clip trick dangerous?

[Murilo_A]

I have an old pc and a router that apparently is overheating, I have a fan lying around, so I did the paper click trick, so that the fan powers on, without having to power up the pc, when I was searching the correct pins to do this, I found a guy saying that this could be dangerous and kill the psu, I've seen Linus do it some times and other people as well, but I've never seen anyone saying that this can kill your psu. Can the masters of PSU's help me here? =P @Energycore @STRMfrmXMN

[PeachyUwUSenpai]

everything can kill your psu given enough time but it wont kill it any faster most 3d printers use this method to power the 3d printers its fine

[Enderman]

If you short the wrong pins then yeah, so just be careful.

[ARikozuM]

I just use my tongue.

 

Note: I'm kidding!

[Murilo_A]

Just now, ARikozuM said:

I just use my tongue.

I'd get bored pretty fast staying all day with my tongue on a PSU connector 

[Murilo_A]

2 minutes ago, Enderman said:

If you short the wrong pins then yeah, so just be careful.

Green one and black one, already did it, still working fine

[Mira Yurizaki]

As long as you poke the green wire to a black one, it's fine. All that it's doing is sensing if that pin goes to 0V before powering on.

 

The PSU should not be providing power while it's off on any other pin except the +5V_SB line.

[Murilo_A]

3 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Note: I'm kidding!

I hope no one actually tries this =P

[Murilo_A]

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

The PSU should not be providing power while it's off on any other pin except the +5V_SB line.

Fan is +12V so yeah, it needs to be on

[Mira Yurizaki]

4 minutes ago, Murilo_A said:

Fan is +12V so yeah, it needs to be on

The fan shouldn't be on when the PSU is in standby.

 

I'm also talking about the 24 pin connector. There should be no power going out of it other than from the +5V_SB when the PSU is in standby. (EDIT: That may not be true though)

[Bananasplit_00]

not really, there isnt much current flow through the clip and unless you short the wrong ones it should be just like normal operation

[Murilo_A]

Just now, M.Yurizaki said:

The fan shouldn't be on when the PSU is in standby.

 

I'm also talking about the 24 pin connector. There should be no power going out of it other than from the +5V_SB when the PSU is in standby.

But it's not standby, it's on

[Mira Yurizaki]

4 minutes ago, Murilo_A said:

But it's not standby, it's on

So are you asking if it's dangerous to do the paper clip trick period, or when it's on? Because all the paperclip is doing is functionally acting like the power button on your computer when pressed.
 

Which in either case, no, it's not dangerous as long as the paper clip is not touching any other pins.

[Murilo_A]

3 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

So are you asking if it's dangerous to do the paper clip trick period, or when it's on? Because all the paperclip is doing is functionally acting like the power button on your computer when pressed.
 

Which in either case, no, it's not dangerous as long as the paper clip is not touching any other pins.

I didn't understand what do you really mean with that, what the paper clip trick does is turn the psu on without turning the motherboard on, it's not standby

[Mira Yurizaki]

10 minutes ago, Murilo_A said:

I didn't understand what do you really mean with that, what the paper clip trick does is turn the psu on without turning the motherboard on, it's not standby

Again.

 

A PSU has three operating modes:

• When the physical switch in the back is turned off or there is no power cable connected to it, the PSU is OFF. This means it is not receiving electricity period.
• When the physical switch is on and the power cable is connected to it, the PSU is in STANDBY. This means parts of the PSU are receiving electricity but it is not actively converting AC power to the 12VDC power the computer wants. It is waiting for a signal to begin that process.
  • The only exception is the +5V_SB line, which is there to keep some parts of the motherboard powered on when the system power state is S5 to allow for things like boot on Ethernet.
• When the physical switch is on, the power cable is connected to it, and the PS_ON_N pin is shorted to ground, the PSU goes to ON. This means the PSU is actively converting AC power into the 12VDC power (and 5V, 3.3V and others) that the computer wants. Shorting the PS_ON_N pin to ground is normally done by the physical switch on the case if the 24-pin connector on the PSU is connected to the motherboard and the switch is connected to the front panel header.

If the 24-pin connector is hooked up to the motherboard and the PSU goes to the ON state, it will power up the motherboard and the rest of the system assuming nothing is wrong with it.

 

However, this is derailing from the question, which I answered in my previous posts. But if I need to repeat myself: The paperclip trick is functionally the same as using the power button on your computer.

[Murilo_A]

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Again.

 

A PSU has three operating mods:

• When the physical switch in the back is turned off or there is no power cable connected to it, the PSU is OFF. This means it is not receiving electricity period.
• When the physical switch is on and the power cable is connected to it, the PSU is in STANDBY. This means parts of the PSU are receiving electricity but it is not actively converting AC power to the 12VDC power the computer wants. It is waiting for a signal to begin that process.
  • The only exception is the +5V_SB line, which is there to keep some parts of the motherboard powered on when the system power state is S5 to allow for things like boot on Ethernet.
• When the physical switch is on, the power cable is connected to it, and the PS_ON_N pin is shorted to ground, the PSU goes to ON. This means the PSU is actively converting AC power into the 12VDC power (and 5V, 3.3V and others) that the computer wants. Shorting the PS_ON_N pin to ground is normally done by the physical switch on the case if the 24-pin connector on the PSU is connected to the motherboard and the switch is connected to the front panel header.

If the 24-pin connector is hooked up to the motherboard and the PSU goes to the ON state, it will power up the motherboard and the rest of the system assuming nothing is wrong with it.

 

However, this is derailing from the question, which I answered in my previous posts. But if I need to repeat myself: The paperclip trick is functionally the same as using the power button on your computer.

I understand that, but u asked me if I wanted to know was if it was dangerous to do the paper clip trick or if it was dangerous with it on, which, as you also said in this last post, is basically the same thing.

[manikyath]

it is only as dangerous as the guy operating it.

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, Murilo_A said:

I understand that, but u asked me if I wanted to know was if it was dangerous to do the paper clip trick or if it was dangerous with it on, which, as you also said in this last post, is basically the same thing.

 

20 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Which in either case, no, it's not dangerous as long as the paper clip is not touching any other pins.

I answered your question in that post too to cover every freakin' case.

[Murilo_A]

Just now, M.Yurizaki said:

 

I answered your question in that post too to cover every freakin' case.

I'm sorry, I probably misunderstood smth u said and caused all of this =P

[Energycore]

1 hour ago, Murilo_A said:

I have an old pc and a router that apparently is overheating, I have a fan lying around, so I did the paper click trick, so that the fan powers on, without having to power up the pc, when I was searching the correct pins to do this, I found a guy saying that this could be dangerous and kill the psu, I've seen Linus do it some times and other people as well, but I've never seen anyone saying that this can kill your psu. Can the masters of PSU's help me here? =P @Energycore @STRMfrmXMN

Not really.

 

If you put the paper clip on the wrong pins you could short it, but good PSUs have SCP

[Guest]

The only wire that is going to be live before the paper clip is inserted is the +5VSB.  And if you somehow accidentally stuck the paper clip in the +5VSB and any other pin, the PSU should latch off because of SCP.  If it doesn't latch off and the PSU dies, it was a piece of crap to begin with and good riddance.

[Murilo_A]

1 hour ago, Energycore said:

Not really.

 

If you put the paper clip on the wrong pins you could short it, but good PSUs have SCP

 

 

1 hour ago, jonnyGURU said:

The only wire that is going to be live before the paper clip is inserted is the +5VSB.  And if you somehow accidentally stuck the paper clip in the +5VSB and any other pin, the PSU should latch off because of SCP.  If it doesn't latch off and the PSU dies, it was a piece of crap to begin with and good riddance.

The PSU is probably a piece of crap and probably doesnt has SCP