jocanon
Member
I have a question on a power supply I was testing. So I was testing this new power supply I got (well, new to me, but it was taken from a working computer server so it's really used). I plugged it in to my dummy load, cranked the amps up to about 18 amps and everything was going along just fine for about 10 min or so. Then, when I was handling it, with my ear up close to the fan to hear how loud the fan was, I just about went deaf when a very loud POP sounded off and everything just shut down. It tripped my house breaker. Once I turned the breaker back on, everything, except the power supply, still worked (i.e. my dummy load was not damaged). Now when I plug in the power supply that POPPED, the fan spins up but there is no DC power, so it's dead.
Any ideas what might have gone wrong? My theory is maybe one of the caps shorted to ground by touching the metal case because it happened when I was handling the case and putting a slight bit of pressure on the case with my hand so I may have made it touch accidentally. I did not get any electric shock when it happened because the case is grounded to AC ground, just an ear full. I would like to know what went wrong and if the problem can be corrected because I have 200 more of the same model of power supply. If it was a cap shorting to ground, how can I test and find which one so that I can add more insulation at that point??? Thanks in advance for any help!
Any ideas what might have gone wrong? My theory is maybe one of the caps shorted to ground by touching the metal case because it happened when I was handling the case and putting a slight bit of pressure on the case with my hand so I may have made it touch accidentally. I did not get any electric shock when it happened because the case is grounded to AC ground, just an ear full. I would like to know what went wrong and if the problem can be corrected because I have 200 more of the same model of power supply. If it was a cap shorting to ground, how can I test and find which one so that I can add more insulation at that point??? Thanks in advance for any help!