Decent PSU + Ungrounded Wall Oulet = Will it work?

[KOS_Soc]

I live in an old house in the US, built before 1950, and all of the wall outlets are non-grounded. Currently using an old desktop that I've steadily upgraded and it currently has a non-modular Thermaltake TR600w psu. Recently got my hands on a Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 650w. It doesn't want to turn on. Before you start saying, "PSU must be dead", I want to know if it Should Be Working even when plugged into our non-grounded wall outlets. My thought is that my TR600 is dumb and doesn't mind/understand that it's not grounded, but this Focus Plus unit is smart enough to not turn on. Just wondering if someone knows for sure. Don't know any neighbors here well enough to walk in their house and can't exactly go to any businesses right now with CoVid going around. 

 

Again, don't say the psu must be dead... I have my own reasons to believe that prior to being in my hands it should have been alive.. Do my hands just mysteriously kill electronics?... TBD.

 

Thanks for the help!

[ShadySocks]

I know that surge protectors can tell if the ground wire is working properly, so I assume a PSU can...

[W-L]

13 minutes ago, KOS_Soc said:

I live in an old house in the US, built before 1950, and all of the wall outlets are non-grounded. Currently using an old desktop that I've steadily upgraded and it currently has a non-modular Thermaltake TR600w psu. Recently got my hands on a Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 650w. It doesn't want to turn on. Before you start saying, "PSU must be dead", I want to know if it Should Be Working even when plugged into our non-grounded wall outlets. My thought is that my TR600 is dumb and doesn't mind/understand that it's not grounded, but this Focus Plus unit is smart enough to not turn on. Just wondering if someone knows for sure. Don't know any neighbors here well enough to walk in their house and can't exactly go to any businesses right now with CoVid going around. 

 

Again, don't say the psu must be dead... I have my own reasons to believe that prior to being in my hands it should have been alive.. Do my hands just mysteriously kill electronics?... TBD.

 

Thanks for the help!

The psu should work even not grounded but you will want to remedy that grounding issue as it's more of a matter of safety than anything else. If a fault were to occur or charge to build up it can potentially give you a full mains shock if you make contact with the metal casing. 

[KOS_Soc]

It's a rental house and I highly doubt the landlord will agree to the $3,000+ cost for rewiring the house and electrical panel. I know the possible dangers of frying the computer and though it's a bit sad to say, the cpu/mobo are old to the point of balancing that possibility. Especially since the alternative is no desktop. 

 

W-L, how sure are you that it should work though? 

[W-L]

1 minute ago, KOS_Soc said:

It's a rental house and I highly doubt the landlord will agree to the $3,000+ cost for rewiring the house and electrical panel. I know the possible dangers of frying the computer and though it's a bit sad to say, the cpu/mobo are old to the point of balancing that possibility. Especially since the alternative is no desktop. 

 

W-L, how sure are you that it should work though? 

Grounding is an auxiliary part on the mains side all it really is, is the wire being connected to the metal casing. You can test the PSU using the paperclip method by jumping the unit and seeing you wiring a simple device like a fan or LED strip works. Note newer PSU's don't run the fan anymore until it reaches a specific temp. 

[LukeSavenije]

2 minutes ago, W-L said:

Grounding is an auxiliary part on the mains side all it really is, is the wire being connected to the metal casing. You can test the PSU using the paperclip method by jumping the unit and seeing you wiring a simple device like a fan or LED strip works. Note newer PSU's don't run the fan anymore until it reaches a specific temp. 

except that focus can actually shift between the semi-passive and always spinning mode with the button on the back, so that's not a problem here

[KOS_Soc]

2 minutes ago, W-L said:

Grounding is an auxiliary part on the mains side all it really is, is the wire being connected to the metal casing. You can test the PSU using the paperclip method by jumping the unit and seeing you wiring a simple device like a fan or LED strip works. Note newer PSU's don't run the fan anymore until it reaches a specific temp. 

I had tried the paperclip method but didn't get any fan spin, hadn't double checked by redoing all the cabling with the pc yet.. But I previously had another 80+gold psu that I did fully connect and wouldn't turn on. Which is what's making me think of the possibility of the ungrounded outlet. 

[W-L]

13 minutes ago, KOS_Soc said:

I had tried the paperclip method but didn't get any fan spin, hadn't double checked by redoing all the cabling with the pc yet.. But I previously had another 80+gold psu that I did fully connect and wouldn't turn on. Which is what's making me think of the possibility of the ungrounded outlet. 

What about putting a fan or simple device on the PSU output or checking the lines using a multi-meter? Grounding won't affect the functionality of the unit.

[KOS_Soc]

No multimeter. I'll try hooking up the pc tomorrow.

[KOS_Soc]

After pming W-L it would appear that I have learned something new. A Seasonic psu requires Seasonic cables, not Corsair cables. Had no idea the pin layout was different on different brands of psu's. Time to buy new cables..

 

Update: Got new Seasonic cables and now it does indeed work with a non-grounded wall outlet.

Edited April 21, 2020 by KOS_Soc