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Procedure in opening PSU?

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silverphoenix

Gawd
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Feb 15, 2006
Messages
780
I need to replace a rattling fan in my old antec trupower480 in my dual server. Now I've never even thought of opening up a PSU and I know those charged capacitors are dangerous. Now how do you go about it? My friend just recommends I wear latex gloves. Other people say just leave it unplugged for a few hours? Which is right and wrong?
 
silverphoenix said:
I need to replace a rattling fan in my old antec trupower480 in my dual server. Now I've never even thought of opening up a PSU and I know those charged capacitors are dangerous. Now how do you go about it? My friend just recommends I wear latex gloves. Other people say just leave it unplugged for a few hours? Which is right and wrong?
Click to expand...

Make sure it's off for a few moments before opening it, that will give the capacitors a chance to discharge.
 
no, caps stay charged.

Keep it all pluged in, except power to the mains. press the on button on the pc a few times. The fans should spin up and spin down, lights on and off. Then you void the warrentee, pop er open, and go nuts.
 
1) Be careful. This is powerful stuff.

2) wait a few hours (with everything unplugged) and the caps will drain. That's my suggestion.

 
yeah you should leave it off for a few hours at least..

if you're careful you won't even touch the capacitors.
but you shouldn't just rely on being careful

you can discharge it with a screwdriver, but that can create a big spark and I don't think you would want to risk damaging your power supply...
 
Pulling the AC plug while the computer is running is probably the best way to discharge the PSU. Most PSUs have a bleeder resistor across each high voltage capacitor that should discharge it completely in 30 minutes, but I've seen exceptions, such as my 350W Enermax, which retains high voltage for a long, long time because sometimes when I've forgotten that the power strip has been turned off and I press the front panel power button, I can hear a fan spin for a fraction of a second, and that's even after the power strip was turned off for 1-2 days. IOW, check the voltages with a meter set to DC volts and connected between one of the black wires on the outputs and at least the big heatsinks. A lot of designs have one of those heatsinks connected directly to the high voltage capacitors and 170VDC, including Antec SmartPower, Enermax, and Delta. I haven't seen a Fortron-Source like this, but don't take chances. Checking for high voltage at other spots can be difficult because the parts are so crowded.
 
[size=+3]C[/size]apacitors Do not discharge if you let them sit for a few minutes ! Best to discharge it by unplugging the power supply from the house power, and pressing the on and off button of the case several times.
 
I'll try to the power button. My Physics proffesor also suggested the screwdriver method to short it.
 
larrymoencurly said:
Pulling the AC plug while the computer is running is probably the best way to discharge the PSU.
Click to expand...

Yep.

What I do is have a PSU tester hooked up to the PSU and then pull the power cord. Slowly the LED's on the tester fade out and the PSU will then be dead.
 
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