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A colleague told me to always unplug the power before working on a PC, and I found out why the hard way
Last week I was swapping out a power supply in a Dell Optiplex for a client, and I thought I'd be fine leaving it plugged in since the switch was off. My coworker Bob kept telling me to unplug it first, but I figured he was just being overly cautious. Well, I touched the wrong capacitor and got a jolt that made my arm go numb for five minutes. Turns out those capacitors can hold a charge even with the power off. Has anyone else ignored simple safety advice and regretted it?
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the_miles16d ago
Bet you won't do that again lmao. Honestly though those capacitors can pack a real wallop even when the PSU is switched off, I've seen guys get knocked on their ass from old CRT monitors too. But here's the thing - Bob might be right about the theory but in practice most modern PSUs drain their caps pretty quick, especially if you hit the power button after shutting it down. Not saying you should skip safety, just that a lot of this stuff gets blown out of proportion by the old timers who've been doing it since the days of giant vacuum tubes. Still, getting zapped sucks and I bet you'll be team unplug now lol.
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kellys7816d ago
You ever hear about my buddy Dave? He was swapping out a graphics card, left the PC plugged in cause he was in a hurry, and brushed his arm against the back of the power supply where the prongs stick out. Zapped him right in the elbow, dropped him to one knee and he said his whole arm felt like it was asleep for half an hour. He's the type who never listens to safety talk, but that day he finally started unplugging everything before touching anything inside. Guess you gotta learn the hard way sometimes though, right?
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