Paperclip Test

I have a bad PSU from Corsair... on their website they recommended testing the PSU with a tester to troubleshoot. They noted in their official doc to use the paper clip test if the user did not have an official tester. I've used the testers when I was a net admin and all they do is turn the PSU on.

So the paper clip test is to connect two leads in the connector to enable power to flow. Is this safe (obviously assuming you don't hold the damn clip)? I wouldn't want to fry a new PSU. I do want to test it before I throw it in. The bad PSU from Corsair is brand new, and I tore a Dell apart for an hour to install it.

I don't want to spend another hour to install another bad PSU. (Yes I can get a tester, but it seems all it is is a paper clip with a plastic cover and button.)

Thanks!

You can hold the clip, I've done it without insulation. Just do green to (any) black.

This will only test the very basics of the power supply.

It's not an issue to hold the paper clip because there's very little current going through it. It's just shorting two nodes that tell the power supply to turn on. Doing this won't help you much except in seeing if the psu turns on at all. If it turns on and you're still having problems, the best bet is to grab a digital multimeter (pretty cheap at radioshack) and test all of the voltage rails.

Put the paper clip on yellow and black , Tell me what happens lool Just kidding , Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TorqueRanger said:

Put the paper clip on yellow and black , Tell me what happens lool Just kidding , Don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

With the power supply off, nothing will happen.

Held it in hand just fine. Funny thing is I had to grab an old hard drive to plug in to hear it working. The friggen PSU was so quiet. I am used to replacing Dell PSU's from warranty, and we had a "tester". When the PSU cranked it was clearly audible. Antec's are not. +1 Antec

You could've watched for the fan spinning too

The hard drive was on the desk. I sort of have computer parts littered all over. I am sure I am the only computer person who has that problem/tendency.

As someone else said, the paper clip trick will only check to see if the PSU powers up. It does not prove if it functions properly under load.

Thanks trents, thats the real reason I hooked up a hard drive as you seem to well know. I couldn't resist the humor though.