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power supply without the casing.. bad idea?

L

lithium726

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Jun 16, 2004
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ok so i am modding a fairly small casing from a broken compenet into a computer case... and i have gotten stuck on the PSU. ive figured everything else, inculding fans and pci cards, but i need to know if running a PSU without the casing (while not touching anything, duh) is a horribly bad idea, because this is the only way i can see it fitting right now, so if something is going to blow up when i turn it on, i need to know. any wisdom on this? thanks
 
Not a great idea for a few reasons. One it could allow more interference out of the unit that could interfere with the other components, it may not cool as well without a normal air stream going through it, and the best would be dangerous since those capacitors inside will send you to your grave should you happen to make contact with them.
 
touching the heatsinks inside is what you have to worry about, trust me. Was one of the worst shocks I've ever had and I have been shocked ALOT! I have ran psu's without the covers on them for long periods of time with no real issues other than it is dangerous as heck.
 
well i realize it is dangerous, i didnt know if running it open like that would make it fuck something else up... its gonna be in pretty close proximity to the ohter componets, and i dont want it to fry, say the video card. if there are too many risks to this i might just break down and get a shuttle psu... unless anyone has some advice on modding a power supply? *hopefull*
 
It should be ok but just make absolutely sure nothing is going to come in contact with the inside of the PSU. In most cases the heatsinks are wired directly to outlet so you've got full AC power on them. Needless to say most parts inside the computer won't react well to 120 V AC if something does make contact. Humans also don't react well to 120V AC.

Getting ahold of somethign energized by one of the caps is possible but it takes some serious poking to get to one of those.

Other than a little extra interference and possibly cooling issues it shouldn't be a problem as long as it's only for a long time. Still not a great idea but i've done it before with no problems. Until I managed to put 120VAC across the 80mm fan by accident. It cooled well for about 1/4 of a second.
 
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