Drilling air holes in laptop power supply?

N

nd1377

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 29, 2009
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I was wondering if there would be any problems if I drilled small air holes in a laptop power supply casing so the power supply can run cooler.

Has anyone tried this at all?

Thank you in advance.
 
Wouldn't advise it. If it runs hot, it was meant to. It it fails, time for a new one... drilling holes, I wouldn't bother. Maybe it helps, but it makes little difference in the long run.
 
Haven't tried it, but definitely be careful. There's a lot of parts that can easily be damaged with a drill (electrolytic capacitors, flyback transformer, etc.).

Also you might want to do a full disassembly to check for blown electrolytic capacitors. Lower quality caps have a tendency to fail under high temps.
 
There's a good chance you'll drill into a component and destroy that component, unless you first disassemble the case. If you drill holes, keep them small, like 1/8" maximum, and it would probably be best to place holes only around the low voltage areas (near he cable that connects to the laptop). Also I think there are design rules of good practice requiring a certain minimum amount of distance be left between the case and any openings in it, and that may not be possible with a power pack with tightly packed components inside it.

The UL approved power packs I've seen inside were all made with high quality Japanese capacitors known for being able to take the heat well. OTOH a non-UL or non-CSA power packs can be so bad that I wouldn't use one if it didn't have a 3-wire grounded AC cord.
 
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Sounds like an awesome idea. That way when you spill your Coke on it you fry your power supply and possibly the laptop.
 
rcashier said:
Sounds like an awesome idea. That way when you spill your Coke on it you fry your power supply and possibly the laptop.
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It depends how clumsy someone is really. I have spilled a drink in probably a decade. :D

I just think he shouldn't drill it. It would be hard to tell if you did damage without popping it open first. Making it a proper case out of aluminum and adding heatsinks sounds like it would work but not for something that will be very mobile.
 
Seriously?

The brick is supposed to run hot. Don't break something that doesn't need to be fixed.
 
My laptop PSU has holes on one end, and a 20mm fan on the other.

I don't know that I would ever try to do that myself though.
 
Dan_D said:
This will end well.
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Specialy when he does it when it's pluged in!!!! :D



Seriously tho.....power brick are not like psu's , they are inclosed to prevent liquid and contact happening. Don't mess around with it.;)
 
bigddybn said:
Seriously?

The brick is supposed to run hot. Don't break something that doesn't need to be fixed.
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IT depends... I've seen power bricks from old HPs that have actually warped casings from how hot they got.
 
Jorona said:
IT depends... I've seen power bricks from old HPs that have actually warped casings from how hot they got.
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I was thinking this the whole way down this thread. The ZD7000 series HP's were ridiculous...
 
cortexodus said:
I was thinking this the whole way down this thread. The ZD7000 series HP's were ridiculous...
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I had one come into my shop acouple days ago that looked like it was slowly becoming round. I was amazed that it wasn't the problem with the system charging. Damn HP and their shitty jacks.
 
I retract what I said about garbage power bricks being safe if they have a 3-wire AC power cord because often the ground prong isn't connected to anything inside:

SPP34 power supply is included with many external hard disk enclosures:
scaled.php


The circuit board proves that the ground lug of the AC connector is just a fake:
scaled.php


The component side of the SPP34 circuit board, showing the general low quality and lack of components like an AC line filter (meaning the claim of FCC approval is probably fake), surge protector MOV, and overvoltage protection:
scaled.php
 
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