Nec_V20 Posted April 3, 2013 Share Posted April 3, 2013 We had a power surge in the building and basically what happened was that my computer went off and refused to start up again. The computer would not start up again, but I pulled out the electrical cord from the AX850 and left it for about ten minutes and when I reconnected, turned on the power of the PSU and then computer and everything came up. About 20 minutes later my two neighbours came down, their computers also went off, however neither of their computers came back on again. So I got my bits and pieces together and with the first neighbour I swapped out the power supply unit with a reasonable spare that I have and his computer came back up again. I then attached the other spare PSU that I have (a cheapo one) to the other neighbour's computer but unfortunately it did not come back to life. I luckily had a spare board onto which his CPU fitted and that did power up. So not only did the surge take out his PSU (which didn't work with the replacement board) but also his motherboard. All the other things like hard drives worked OK so he was lucky that the surge didn't take out even more. Now I bought my power supply unit because of its excellent energy ratings. It does not waste electricity and that makes a big difference to me as I have my PC on 24/7. I had read the bit about it being surge protected but didn't pay all that much heed at the time. I then spent about an hour looking for the best price for replacement parts for their computers. One of my neighbours was sensible and willing to pay out a bit extra for a good PSU (the one whose MB also blew) and he has ordered a modular TX750 like the one I have ordered for my second computer which I am building however the other neighbour wanted another cheap one and I kid you not his words were, "What are the odds?". Just wanted to add a non cheesed off comment for a change of pace :D: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speed Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Good to hear that quality equipment is the way to go and money well spent. The surge capabilities of these PSUs, while good, cannot take the place of a dedicated active surge suppressor or, better, a UPS which delivers clean power within strict voltage limits; boosting and trimming where needed to deliver to the PSU nominal power. Are any of the above behind suppression systems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nec_V20 Posted April 4, 2013 Author Share Posted April 4, 2013 :o: You got me :o: We had a blackout here and I transferred my APC UPS to my comms equipment to keep my internet connection going to supply access to my battery powered Netbook. I had not transferred it back again. Yes I know I should have gotten a second one and I have been meaning to do it, I just haven't gotten around to it. The computer is behind two surge protectors but still it got through to the PSU which luckily caught it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speed Posted April 4, 2013 Share Posted April 4, 2013 Ah. Not a good idea to plug surge suppressors into each other. Doesn't do what you'd think. Also not good to have them plugged into extension cords. Screws up their trapping. Plug extension cords into the output side if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nec_V20 Posted April 5, 2013 Author Share Posted April 5, 2013 I have a sever shortage of electrical outlets in my flat. So I have a Surge protector plugged into the power outlet that then my computer is plugged into a multiplug outlet which is also surge protected. From that I usually have my APC UPS plugged in and then my computer plugged into that. When the power went off some time ago I had to make the decision to either have my comms battery powered for a few hours or leave the computer connected. Due to the geometry of my place I could not have both. So I had transferred the UPS to where the comms are located. The good news is that I have now ordered a second UPS - lesson learned as one might say. The bottom line for me however was that the 850 caught whatever surge there was, did its job of protecting my computer and also managed to protect itself. I was reading a few posts here with regard to Corsair PSUs getting slagged off and hammered and decided it might be a nice change of pace to have something posted here that was not just doom and gloom. My takeaway from the experience in the house where I live is that I had an AX850 PSU and it and my computer survived. My neighbours did not have a Corsair PSU and in one case only the PSU fried and in another both the PSU and Mobo fried (and he was lucky to get away with only that and even luckier that I had a spare board commensurate with his CPU). Before getting the AX850, when I lived in Germany I only had one PSU die on me (after using it for about six years or so) in all the 17 years I had been running my computers. I moved to the UK in 1998 and I had seven PSUs die in the intervening time before I bought the AX850 just over two years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speed Posted April 6, 2013 Share Posted April 6, 2013 I have a sever shortage of electrical outlets in my flat. So I have a Surge protector plugged into the power outlet that then my computer is plugged into a multiplug outlet which is also surge protected. Change that out for a plain ol' multiplug. From that I usually have my APC UPS plugged in and then my computer plugged into that. NO! The UPS needs to go directly into the wall socket to be effective. Says so right in their instructions. What you actually have is: Surge suppressor > surge suppressor > surge suppressor. The latter two are doing nothing if the first does its job and it is taking all of the cleaning load for all of the equipment; making its job tougher. If it partially does its job, the second may not trap because the spike let through was inside the tolerance, so it lets it through. The UPS is what saved your machine, along with the AX850. Put the plain ol' multiplug adapter in the wall socket and plug the surge suppressors and the UPS into it. Then plug all of your equipment into any of their sockets. Let each take their share of the power cleaning chore. Usually, I only split for suppressors; plugging the UPS directly into the wall socket and the most valuable equipment and/or ones that need to stay running into it. I was reading a few posts here with regard to Corsair PSUs getting slagged off and hammered and decided it might be a nice change of pace to have something posted here that was not just doom and gloom. My takeaway from the experience in the house where I live is that I had an AX850 PSU and it and my computer survived. My neighbours did not have a Corsair PSU and in one case only the PSU fried and in another both the PSU and Mobo fried (and he was lucky to get away with only that and even luckier that I had a spare board commensurate with his CPU). Before getting the AX850, when I lived in Germany I only had one PSU die on me (after using it for about six years or so) in all the 17 years I had been running my computers. I moved to the UK in 1998 and I had seven PSUs die in the intervening time before I bought the AX850 just over two years ago. Yes, being a support-centric forum, the predominance of posts are complaints and problems. Good to see a success story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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