PSU makes the breaker go off just when plugged in.

[Emillionaire]

Hi there, 

(backstory, can be skipped..)
I have not been using my pc for some days, as i had just moved into a new appartment. (completely new, so all new electrics).
I used my pc a bit in the beginning, but then i had not touched it for some days as i didn't have ethernet. 
Suddenly some days ago, when i turned on a lamp my breaker went off. I didn't think much more of it, and it didn't happen again when i turned it on again.

(Present time) 

Now today i wanted to turn on the power to my pc, as i often turn it off to save on the energy bills. When i fliced the switch on the power-extender, the breaker went off again. When i plugged out the pc, it didnt. I quickly found out it was the pc, and my initial thoughts were that i used to much power, so i tried different outlets in the same room, but every time my PSU is connected to a wall outlet it turns off the breaker.
Just by it being connected, and the PSU-button set to ON. I tried multiple cables, and also tried going to my kitchen, which is on a seperate breaker. Same thing: When PSU plugged into wall outlet, the breaker goes off. Therefore, i can't see it as a issue of drawing to much to much power, as it happened on different breakers, and therefore i can't see it being the electricals in the house being the issue. 

My theory is that my PSU is faulty, as i have nothing else connected to the PSU, and it turns off a breaker when connected to a wall outlet alone. Do you agree, that that is realistic? What confuses me, is that I bought the PSU, a Corsair SF600 SFX in April, and have not had difficulties with it before now. It also worked without problems when i first moved in. I don't remember changing anything from using it some days ago, where there were no problems, and now. Even though i tried different breakers, and tried turning everything off/plugging everything out in the appartment, its still the same issue. 

Whats your input? Bad luck and i should just RMA? Is it possible that i can get RMA, as i bought it in April? 

Thx. 

[CommanderAlex]

Perhaps there is a short to ground with the PSU causing a fault that trips the breaker due to a huge amount of power going to ground. Perhaps there was a lightning strike or power surge that took out the PSU. 

[Windows7ge]

Was the light on the same circuit as the PC when turning on the light tripped the breaker?

 

You may be out of the allotted return time for the 3rd party vendor (unless you bought it from Corsair directly) but most/all of Corsairs PSUs come with at least a couple years of warranty for replacement direct from the manufacturer.

[HanZie82]

Do other appliances work as they expect, like monitors, TV's other computer-y hardware?

Ive seen new houses built with wrong wiring (very few, chances are less then 1% here in Europe).

 

Try another cable. Maybe RMA the PSU.

[Emillionaire]

27 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Was the light on the same circuit as the PC when turning on the light tripped the breaker?

 

You may be out of the allotted return time for the 3rd party vendor (unless you bought it from Corsair directly) but most/all of Corsairs PSUs come with at least a couple years of warranty for replacement direct from the manufacturer.

Yes, that is on the first breaker as well. It was however put up by a former electrician. My TV (with ect.), lamp, ect. are connected to the same breaker as the first. But the problem still occurs when all of that is turned off. 

 

7 minutes ago, HanZie82 said:

Do other appliances work as they expect, like monitors, TV's other computer-y hardware?

Ive seen new houses built with wrong wiring (very few, chances are less then 1% here in Europe).

 

Try another cable. Maybe RMA the PSU.

Yes, everything else works like it should. 

I called my dad who was a electrician decades ago, and at first he said that it could be damaged wirerering. 
He also seems confident that the PSU is causing it, but neither of us have that much understanding about the PSU, and what could have caused it. 

From your comments, i guess my best bet is just go try for a RMA?

[HanZie82]

1 minute ago, L0gic said:

I called my dad who was a electrician decades ago, and at first he said that it could be damaged wirerering. 

He also seems confident that the PSU is causing it, but neither of us have that much understanding about the PSU, and what could have caused it. 

From your comments, i guess my best bet is just go try for a RMA?

I was just making sure.
But yeah if its not the cables seated incorrectly there is little you can do, as opening it would void the warranty in most country's.

So yeah RMAing might be the best option.

[Windows7ge]

10 minutes ago, L0gic said:

Yes, that is on the first breaker as well. It was however put up by a former electrician. My TV (with ect.), lamp, ect. are connected to the same breaker as the first. But the problem still occurs when all of that is turned off. 

Do you have a spare PSU?

[Emillionaire]

19 minutes ago, HanZie82 said:

I was just making sure.
But yeah if its not the cables seated incorrectly there is little you can do, as opening it would void the warranty in most country's.

So yeah RMAing might be the best option.

All right. I noticed now, that it got a burning smell. Is is likely that the RMA will cover?

[Emillionaire]

6 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Do you have a spare PSU?

No, sadly not. 
Do you have any theory in mind? 

[Windows7ge]

5 minutes ago, L0gic said:

No, sadly not. 
Do you have any theory in mind? 

You've mentioned a burning smell. It's not easy for me to say what the common failure modes are for these types of PSU's but be glad it didn't fail spectacularly. We've seen a couple horror stories here of peoples rooms filling with smoke after a PSU failure.

[Emillionaire]

20 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

You've mentioned a burning smell. It's not easy for me to say what the common failure modes are for these types of PSU's but be glad it didn't fail spectacularly. We've seen a couple horror stories here of peoples rooms filling with smoke after a PSU failure.

True that!
Saddens me however, i've had alot of failed components over the years... 
Could this be prevented from my side? If the RMA will not cover, should i stay away from certain brands? I bought a platinum certified PSU to prevent in order not to end in this situation haha.  

[Windows7ge]

14 minutes ago, L0gic said:

True that!
Saddens me however, i've had alot of failed components over the years... 
Could this be prevented from my side? If the RMA will not cover, should i stay away from certain brands? I bought a platinum certified PSU to prevent in order not to end in this situation haha.  

At the end of the day buying from a reputable brand is about the most you can do to try and get a unit that will work for an expected amount of time. Outside of not dropping screws or anything else inside the PSU there's not really any preventative maintenance you can do besides blowing a little compressed air in there but even them from my experience that's a niche necessity.

 

If you only bought it back in April Corsair's warranty should have you covered. The failure mode dictates the PSU is defective. Hopefully it didn't short the mains to the low voltage side.

 

I've always bought Corsair units and only ever had an issue once. Otherwise they're good. EVGA has a good reputation as well if you don't feel comfortable buying more Corsair units but there's always the forums PSU tier list you can reference going forward if you have more concerns.

 

 

[Ankerson]

3 hours ago, L0gic said:

Whats your input? Bad luck and i should just RMA? Is it possible that i can get RMA, as i bought it in April?

 

 

Contact Corsair and RMA it.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, L0gic said:

 

Now today i wanted to turn on the power to my pc, as i often turn it off to save on the energy bills. When i fliced the switch on the power-extender, the breaker went off again.

Ignore everyone in this thread.

 

That's normal behavior considering how you're treating your PC.

 

You're not saving any money flipping the PSU off from the back.  Leave it on.  If there's a bunch of RGB lit up in the case, you can disable that in the BIOS to save money.

 

What you're seeing is "in rush current".  You kill the power to the PSU and the bulk caps drain.  The SF Series, despite it's small size, has a decent amount of hold up time, which means those bulk caps need a decent charge whist in operation. 

 

When you flip the power back on, those bulk caps have to fully charge in under 100ms so the PSU can be ready again.  That big rush of current is tripping your breakers.  Solution:  Stop turning the PC off and on this way.

 

 

[Ankerson]

Plus LEDS don't burn a lot of power or save any money by turning them off in the 1st place.

 

None that would actually show up on the bill anyway. Maybe after 10 years or so it may show up in small change if you added it all up over a 10 year period.

 

Best just to turn the PC off the right way or let it go into sleep mode. Takes almost no power in that state.

 

 

 

[Emillionaire]

2 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

Ignore everyone in this thread.

 

That's normal behavior considering how you're treating your PC.

 

You're not saving any money flipping the PSU off from the back.  Leave it on.  If there's a bunch of RGB lit up in the case, you can disable that in the BIOS to save money.

 

What you're seeing is "in rush current".  You kill the power to the PSU and the bulk caps drain.  The SF Series, despite it's small size, has a decent amount of hold up time, which means those bulk caps need a decent charge whist in operation. 

 

When you flip the power back on, those bulk caps have to fully charge in under 100ms so the PSU can be ready again.  That big rush of current is tripping your breakers.  Solution:  Stop turning the PC off and on this way.

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Ankerson said:

Plus LEDS don't burn a lot of power or save any money by turning them off in the 1st place.

 

None that would actually show up on the bill anyway. Maybe after 10 years or so it may show up in small change if you added it all up over a 10 year period.

 

Best just to turn the PC off the right way or let it go into sleep mode. Takes almost no power in that state.

 

 

 

I never flipped the PC on the PSU to turn off the PC. What was referring to was that i flip off the outlet, in order to turn off other electricals connected to the outlet.

@Jonnyguru, I never thought that turning off the power, when the pc is turned off, would damage the PSU, but thats it the case you say?

[Guest]

2 hours ago, L0gic said:

 

I never flipped the PC on the PSU to turn off the PC. What was referring to was that i flip off the outlet, in order to turn off other electricals connected to the outlet.

Does the same thing. If you need to turn off other things, plug the PC into a different outlet. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, L0gic said:

 

@Jonnyguru, I never thought that turning off the power, when the pc is turned off, would damage the PSU, but thats it the case you say?

I didn't say it would damage the PSU, did I? 

[Emillionaire]

5 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

I didn't say it would damage the PSU, did I? 

Then how is the draining bulk cabs relevant?You're implying that the faulty PSU is from my actions, but from your comment I do not understand how. I never turned off any running electronics off manually from the PSU-button, wall outlet or anything else than through the OS. I have simply, when all electronics were turned off, also turned off the power. (two or three times max, even.) I can't why that is treating the PSU badly, when that is the same case every time someone moves their pc. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, L0gic said:

Then how is the draining bulk cabs relevant?You're implying that the faulty PSU is from my actions, but from your comment I do not understand how. I never turned off any running electronics off manually from the PSU-button, wall outlet or anything else than through the OS. I have simply, when all electronics were turned off, also turned off the power. (two or three times max, even.) I can't why that is treating the PSU badly, when that is the same case every time someone moves their pc. 

You're turning power off to the PSU, right?  If not through the switch on the back of the PSU, but through the power strip everything is plugged into, no?

 

Maybe I'm not understanding.  But from what I'm reading, you're turning off the power strip that has everything INCLUDING the PSU plugged into it.

 

[Ankerson]

Yeah, he is cutting the power off completely to the PSU, I missed it the 1st time because of the way he is doing it.

[Ankerson]

1 hour ago, L0gic said:

I can't why that is treating the PSU badly, when that is the same case every time someone moves their pc.

 

 

It's not the same thing.

 

When one moves a PC the PSU isn't without power long enough for the CAPS to drain all of the power stored in them.

 

Shut the power off from the PSU overnight they have the time to completely drain or almost drain all the way.

 

So what happens when you turn the power back on it's a strain on the PSU because it has to recharge the caps in microseconds.

 

Not usually a big deal when the PSU is new and you plug it in or turn it on the 1st time or if the power goes out for a long time every now and then, maybe once or twice a year.

 

Do that everyday, that's not good.

 

You can shut the PC down all you want, but leave the PSU plugged in and powered on. Or don't cut the power to the PSU so the caps will stay charged up.

 

 

[Emillionaire]

11 hours ago, Ankerson said:

 

 

It's not the same thing.

 

When one moves a PC the PSU isn't without power long enough for the CAPS to drain all of the power stored in them.

 

Shut the power off from the PSU overnight they have the time to completely drain or almost drain all the way.

 

So what happens when you turn the power back on it's a strain on the PSU because it has to recharge the caps in microseconds.

 

Not usually a big deal when the PSU is new and you plug it in or turn it on the 1st time or if the power goes out for a long time every now and then, maybe once or twice a year.

 

Do that everyday, that's not good.

 

You can shut the PC down all you want, but leave the PSU plugged in and powered on. Or don't cut the power to the PSU so the caps will stay charged up.

 

 

Now i understand. That makes sense, thank you for clarifying.