I finally found a reliable way to test a power supply without a dedicated tester

Last week at the shop, I used a simple paperclip to jump the green and black wires on the 24-pin connector, which spun up the fan and confirmed the unit was dead. Has anyone else had success with this method on newer PSUs, or is there a better trick now?

3 comments

3 Comments

michaelk2317d ago

Wait, you just used a paperclip on a live connector at the shop? That's a good way to get a nasty spark or worse. I'm surprised you didn't fry something else in the process. There are way safer ways to do a basic test now, even without the fancy tools.

ben_nguyen17d ago

Guess my survival instincts need a firmware update, @michaelk23.

the_kevin11d ago

Seriously, that paperclip trick is asking for trouble. Michael's right about the spark risk, but it gets worse. Modern power supplies can have weird voltage on standby lines that a simple short doesn't check for. You might spin the fan but still have a bad 12v rail that kills a motherboard. I keep a cheap old hard drive as a test load now. Plug it in with the paperclip, and if the drive spins up properly, you know the main power is actually good. It's still not perfect, but it's safer and tells you more.