Power Supply Tester

S

sharpwitz

New Member
Reaction score
0
I was debating on keeping this unopened Power Supply Tester that I just bought.

If I suspect a bad power supply on a client's computer, why not just use my spare PSU and connect that to the client's computer? If everything runs well, then I know that the PSU in the computer is broken. Beside portability, why would I want a PS Tester? Maybe there are unforseen things I have not though of?

Looking forward to your responses.

BTW, I bought the Coolmax LCD PS Tester PS-228. Recommend another type?
 
sharpwitz said:
I was debating on keeping this unopened Power Supply Tester that I just bought.

If I suspect a bad power supply on a client's computer, why not just use my spare PSU and connect that to the client's computer? If everything runs well, then I know that the PSU in the computer is broken. Beside portability, why would I want a PS Tester? Maybe there are unforseen things I have not though of?

Looking forward to your responses.

BTW, I bought the Coolmax LCD PS Tester PS-228. Recommend another type?
Click to expand...

I would imagine it's much smaller and easier to whip out and take a quick look if onsite. I've done swapping and it will certainly tell you if it's the supply, but is a bit of a hassle. In shop it's probably about even for ease. Also the best testers put a LOAD on the supply, because if the voltage is ok with no load but the PSU can't produce the juice under load the voltage will sag and you'll have issues. I haven't got one of those, nor have I looked too much.
 
Testing

Purple, since I don't have the decades of experience in this business of a lot of you guys maybe I should keep quiet, but both by what I've read and what I've seen for myself I just don't believe any "test" of anything is worth the trouble. Seems to me that most times you can change a part and actually know something in less time than a test takes. Too many times I've seen ram that wouldn't work in one machine work fine in another; hard drives which passed all the tests and still wouldn't work, and so on. If I'm wrong about this I'll certainly be happily corrected, but that's where I'm at right now.
 
I have a nice PSU tester and I rarely use it anymore. I've had it tell me multiple times that a PSU was good when it was bad and vice versa. If I suspect a bad power supply I will usually just plug in a new one and see what happens. It really only takes a few minutes and then I have my definite answer.

I guess after my tester saying a PSU was good, then spending an hour troubleshooting the problem trying to figure out what in the world it was, only to finally go back and replace the PSU and solve the problem, I decided it was just too easy to replace it and see what happens. Just my 2 cents.
 
Styxbound said:
Purple, since I don't have the decades of experience in this business of a lot of you guys maybe I should keep quiet, but both by what I've read and what I've seen for myself I just don't believe any "test" of anything is worth the trouble. Seems to me that most times you can change a part and actually know something in less time than a test takes. Too many times I've seen ram that wouldn't work in one machine work fine in another; hard drives which passed all the tests and still wouldn't work, and so on. If I'm wrong about this I'll certainly be happily corrected, but that's where I'm at right now.
Click to expand...

Well I am only speaking hypothetically, swapping ram or HD would be vastly quicker then a test... and compatibility is always an issue. I wasn't trying to suggest swapping is bad, just you may not want to haul a PSU in your bag to someone's place. You could carry one in your trunk, and I would expect one there as a replacement actually.

Just voicing what I've found for information. Perhaps he did not know about testing with a load versus the normal ones that measure unloaded voltages. I wouldn't want to see him wasting time when his checker said it's ok but once in the computer sags and causes issues.

I always like a second opinion, and I always like options. It's kind of like a car battery checker, sure you could swap batteries to find out, but they can also test the battery and tell you if it's good. I got mine for $20 so said why not? I also bought a cheap ethernet tester, only tests wiring order and connections but for $10 has already helped me. And it is vastly quicker then trying to redo an end (though you end up doing it anyway.) In the end however you do it is up to you if you get to the same result.
 
Psu

Speaking of PSU's, which ones are good to take to the site?

I bought a $40 one and I am not too happy with it.

Thermaltake TR2-430W
 
When presented with a totally dead machine it's a lot quicker and easier to just unplug one connection and use these $10 gadgets to confirm or deny a totally dead psu than it is to unplug all the power connectors to connect a new one.
 
They are a real help and speed things up a lot. The one I've had has proved to be entirely accurate so far. I think the worse you'd get is a false pass for more subtle problems.

I also find memory tests and HDD tests very useful on a daily basis.
 
Tests

Mobile, if I may ask, just what tests do you use and what do you get out of them you wouldn't get just parts swapping? I'm entirely open to the possibility I may be missing something.
 
Memtest+ for memory tests. This allows a pretty reliable test of memory without having to open up a computer. I find if the RAM is bad it generally flags it up in the first minute. It tests their RAM in their computer and I've never known it to pass bad RAM personally. Whearas I have known some computers not to work with certain RAM even though I know it is good.

MHDD and Seatools for disks. You can see bad sectors, slow sectors and other disk problems. I'm not sure how you can specifically diagnose these issues by swapping disks. Also swapping disks implies swapping the files and filesystem which might have been the cause of the problem rather than the disk HW.

Another advantage is time management - you can boot into UBCD and run these whilst working on something else and have ruled out these issues whilst spending almost no active repair time on them.
 
Tests

Okay, Mobile, you've sold me on taking another look. Thanks for the info. It didn't take long after I came on this site to realize I have a hell of a lot to learn; sometimes you guys really feed my inferiority complex talking about things I can hardly even follow.
 
sharpwitz said:
Speaking of PSU's, which ones are good to take to the site?

I bought a $40 one and I am not too happy with it.

Thermaltake TR2-430W
Click to expand...

The two PSU manufacturers I've had a lot of luck with are BFG and Corsair. You can find a BFG similar to your Thermaltake for about the same price. Corsair will run you a little more, but they're very well-made.
 
MobileTechie said:
Memtest+ for memory tests. This allows a pretty reliable test of memory without having to open up a computer. I find if the RAM is bad it generally flags it up in the first minute. It tests their RAM in their computer and I've never known it to pass bad RAM personally. Whearas I have known some computers not to work with certain RAM even though I know it is good.
Click to expand...

I've had bad ram on my personal desktop machine flag after a significant time has passed, 40 minutes or so. It was due to my motherboard stating one memory voltage yet outputting +.1V which the memory really didn't like over time. I now know to set it 0.1v lower then needed. However if you have the time a full pass is good.
 
Do any of you use a Multi Meter to do check out PSU's? I have a DMM but I have never used. I have a couple basic PSU testers, but I am considering getting one with a digital real time read out.
 
SThompson86 said:
Do any of you use a Multi Meter to do check out PSU's? I have a DMM but I have never used. I have a couple basic PSU testers, but I am considering getting one with a digital real time read out.
Click to expand...

I use a multimeter if its a cookie cutter system with an expensive supply that I want to know for sure is bad.

I love my PS tester, its just an old led tester.
This is it here
PowMax-ATX-power-supply-tester-master-350x350.gif


It sometimes says a power supply is good when its not but if it fails the test then its bad 100% of the time. When mine passes then I use a test supply to verify. about 90% of the time its correct. It also makes you look good to a novice customer to have specialty tools and testers rather then pulling out another power supply and setting it up on a customers carpet.

I need to buy a new one soon because mine only supports 20 pin supplies. The COOLMAX PS-228 looks cool I may pick one up and retire my old tester.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Appletax
[TIP] Thermaltake Dr. Power III PSU Tester
2
Replies
23
Views
2K
britechguy
britechguy
HCHTech
Lenovo TIO Power Supply issues
Replies
0
Views
308
HCHTech
HCHTech
Blue House Computer Help
Anyone used an LVDS tester like this one?
Replies
4
Views
1K
Blue House Computer Help
Blue House Computer Help
britechguy
Does this look like a dead power supply to you? . . .
Replies
18
Views
3K
brandonkick
B
Appletax
[SOLVED] Lenovo Desktop Won't Output To Display / Shuts Down
2
Replies
27
Views
5K
Appletax
Appletax
Back
Top