Another dead power supply

[phiscock-g851W1bGYuGnS0EtXVNi6w at public.gmane.org]

>
> But, thing is, even I wouldn't know what to look for inside of these
> thing.  How can I tell them apart at the store?
>     - is heavier the better?
>     - shiny label with various certifications?

You can't really tell by looking at a power supply. (Brief diversion into
'You Can't Tell a Book By Looking at the Cover', by Bo Diddley..)

The certifications (CSA, UL) are simply there to establish that the thing
is not a hazard to your health. They have nothing to do with whether it
will function correctly. So as long as contains flaming debris and is
unlikely to electrocute you, the certification people are happy.

If you can read schematics that would tell you something about the
overvoltage protection, but schematics aren't generally available.

Overvoltage protection isn't going to show up in any way until the
previous stage goes bezerk, so there is no real way to determine how
effective it is. Think of it like an air bag in a car - you assume the
thing is there, and you hope it works correctly when it's needed.

So I think you have to stick with name brands and rely on their
specifications.

Peter




> Can you test them non-destructively?  I'm thinking, we can turn this
> into TLUG project.  We all bring our (spare) power supplies to get
> tested, and we'll publish our results on website.
>
> --
> William Park <opengeometry-FFYn/CNdgSA at public.gmane.org>, Toronto, Canada
> ThinFlash: Linux thin-client on USB key (flash) drive
> 	   http://home.eol.ca/~parkw/thinflash.html
> BashDiff: Super Bash shell
> 	  http://freshmeat.net/projects/bashdiff/
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> The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
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-- 
Peter Hiscocks
Professor Emeritus,
Electrical and Computer Engineering,
Ryerson University
416-465-3007
www.ee.ryerson.ca/~phiscock

--
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TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml