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TIL to always test voltage under load when fixing power supplies
I wasted a whole afternoon swapping out a power supply unit in a desktop, thinking it was bad. The system still wouldn't turn on after I put in a new one. A buddy told me to hook up a dummy load to check if the voltage drops, and sure enough, it was a bad capacitor on the board. Now I test with a load every time, and it saves me from chasing the wrong fix.
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sanchez.dylan6mo ago
I've made that same mistake more than once, my bench is full of perfectly good power supplies I swore were bad. You only learn that lesson the hard way, huh?
5
grantb926mo ago
Wait what was the actual thing you missed? I'm trying to avoid filling my own bench with good parts.
4
dakota8636mo ago
My buddy spent a whole weekend swapping caps in a monitor, totally convinced the power board was fried. He even ordered a replacement. Turns out he never flipped the little physical power switch on the back. The look on his face was priceless. @grantb92, that's the kind of thing that'll haunt your bench.
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