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Hot heatsinks?

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’m‚³‚ñ

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jun 20, 2003
Messages
7,300
I remember in a thread here a long time ago, there was a post someone made where they were working on a PSU and touched a heatsink, which was electrically hot. Can anyone find that thread again? Or at least corroborate the information. There's someone on another board who is thinking about running copper tubing through his PSU and I'm attempting to warn him of potential risks, but he refuses to listen to me. He's going to do this mod as a cooling solution to remove noisy fans from the PSU.

Or am I completely wrong, and heatsinks in PSU's are isolated from any current?
 
A great many MOSFET ICs, amplifier ICs, regulator ICs, etc. have insulated and uninsulated versions. The insulated versions often cost more, and since the power supply interior is generally sealed and protected by warning labels and warranty stickers, they can get away with the uninsulated versions. I think you would find that many power supplies have live heatsinks because of this. Do not let your friend install a watercooling system in his power supply before he has safely(!) installed insulators on every MOSFET screwed onto those heatsinks, or water blocks.
 
xonik said:
A great many MOSFET ICs, amplifier ICs, regulator ICs, etc. have insulated and uninsulated versions. The insulated versions often cost more, and since the power supply interior is generally sealed and protected by warning labels and warranty stickers, they can get away with the uninsulated versions. I think you would find that many power supplies have live heatsinks because of this. Do not let your friend install a watercooling system in his power supply before he has safely(!) installed insulators on every MOSFET screwed onto those heatsinks, or water blocks.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks. :)
 
xonik said:
Do not let your friend install a watercooling system in his power supply before he has safely(!) installed insulators on every MOSFET screwed onto those heatsinks, or water blocks.
Click to expand...
Unless he likes his friends crispy :D
 
SJetski71 said:
Unless he likes his friends crispy :D
Click to expand...

Actually, I'm starting to rethink my attempt to prove to this person not to do this... Might be best for the genepool if he died (at least he would die doing something he enjoyed...)
 
WTF are you guys talking about? Uninsulated mosfets? Let's recap here, electricity that is allowed to actively flow through your aluminium heatsink is bad. Why? Cause the charge would then jump into those other uninsulated mosfets (as you claimed) and end up killing your psu. It'd happen as soon as you plugged it in.

Then there's also the possibility of the electricity on the heatsink to jump to different locations within the PSU, possibly even the metal casing. Kinda moronic to allow the heatsink to be electrified.

I think we need to let the other ppl in this thread be pulled out of the gene pool or drowned in it. One of the two.
 
krotch said:
WTF are you guys talking about? Uninsulated mosfets? Let's recap here, electricity that is allowed to actively flow through your aluminium heatsink is bad. Why? Cause the charge would then jump into those other uninsulated mosfets (as you claimed) and end up killing your psu. It'd happen as soon as you plugged it in.

Then there's also the possibility of the electricity on the heatsink to jump to different locations within the PSU, possibly even the metal casing. Kinda moronic to allow the heatsink to be electrified.

I think we need to let the other ppl in this thread be pulled out of the gene pool or drowned in it. One of the two.
Click to expand...
If you think that many psu heatsinks aren't conducting juice then you're likely to be on the dead-gene-pool-waiting-list yourself :rolleyes:

We aren't debating whether this is proper or not, we're just relating a known phenomenon. Don't be a dumb gene so make sure you remember that.
 
Yes, I've nabbed various pretty stickers off the tops of heatsink from old PSUs that say, among other things, "High Voltage Heatsinks, Do Not Touch"
 
Labels on your heatsinks, cause those damn PSU builders expect you to open them up. Also seeing as their heatsinks, they tend to...uhhh....conduct heat. Not that I'm an uber genius and all, but it'd probably heat up the adhesive and cause them to fall off and onto some other electrical component and start a fire.
 
krotch said:
Labels on your heatsinks, cause those damn PSU builders expect you to open them up. Also seeing as their heatsinks, they tend to...uhhh....conduct heat. Not that I'm an uber genius and all, but it'd probably heat up the adhesive and cause them to fall off and onto some other electrical component and start a fire.
Click to expand...

Wow, we have a certified genius here.
 
krotch said:
Labels on your heatsinks, cause those damn PSU builders expect you to open them up. Also seeing as their heatsinks, they tend to...uhhh....conduct heat. Not that I'm an uber genius and all, but it'd probably heat up the adhesive and cause them to fall off and onto some other electrical component and start a fire.
Click to expand...
:rolleyes: Because all adhesives are equal, so it *must* be impossible to have a sticker on a 50 Degree Celcius object :rolleyes:

Come back when you've stopped trolling
 
It's okay that he questions our thoughts, but why he would take the standpoint of saying that all power supply heatsinks are safe from electric shock is beyond me...
 
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