EZ Power Supply Tester

Author: Jani 'Japala' Pönkkö Published: 08.01.2005 Manufacturer: Casebuy Product Group: PSU & Related In English Suomeksi

Inside

Top

Me being a modder, I really need to see inside the device to learn what makes it tick. By showing you our findings we try to separate us from all those "shiny-product must-give-award" reviews that you might have grown accustomed to see around the net these days.

From here you can see two high wattage resistors that are used to give proper load to 3.3 volt and 5 volt lines. Without these the PSU would not perform as it would in real life situation. These resistors are also why the manufacturer ask one not to leave the unit connected to the powered PSU long periods of time. They will start to heat up and might cause damage to the PSU tester or the PSU.

Bottom

All the solders are well made and the printed circuit board itself is well thought. This image also reveals the biggest problem that the unit has. All the lines that have the same potential are tied together. This means that the unit will indicate "OK" even when you cut one or more individual power wires. That is partly because inside most PSUs you will find similar method of wiring. All the wires that will carry the same potential start from the same point. This way it doesn't matter if you cut away for example one ground wire because they all are connected parallel to each other. I'll demonstrate this better on the last page of the review so stay tuned.

Testing

20-pin power cable

I really like the simplicity of the testing process with this unit; Turn on the PSU from the back switch if it has one. Connect the ATX power cable to the unit to see the results. Easy, simple and fast.

4-pin Molex, ATX12 and floppy

To test the other connectors, just plug them in one by one. Because they all share the same indication leds you really need to test them individually.

First we have 4-pin Molex connector that is used for example with HDDs, optical drives and display adapter. Both the +12 and +5 leds should shine green when everything checks out ok. ATX12 4-pin power connector only have ground and 12 volt lines in it so you will only see +12v led light up if the lines are ok. Finally the floppy power connector and its +12 and +5 lines that were ok.

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