16-year-old killed by unplugged PSU while fixing family PC - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Winner;37980002]Isn't there almost always an LED to indicate when the charge is gone?[/QUOTE] The one on the motherboard is indicative of motherboard capacitor charge, not PSU, as far as I'm aware

[QUOTE=Maloof?;37980047]The one on the motherboard is indicative of motherboard capacitor charge, not PSU, as far as I'm aware[/QUOTE] On my board it's indicative that the motherboard is receiving power. If I unplug mine while it's running or try to turn it on while there's no AC power the LEDs will slowly fade and shut off entirely. Trying to manually discharge the PSU caps after doing so shows they are, in fact, discharged. Boards differ of course, but mine is one of the ones that does indicate there's something coming out of the power supply.

i opened up one of these before me and my friend found a old ass computer and were like "lets open up this psu here" and then dust balls everywhere

I literally take apart and put together computers everyday at work. It takes like 5 seconds for the capacitors to discharge. We also dismantle CRT tvs and monitors, LCD screens, projection tvs, servers, etc etc. I got a free 590gtx though so it's cool. [editline]9th October 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=TestECull;37980064]On my board it's indicative that the motherboard is receiving power. If I unplug mine while it's running or try to turn it on while there's no AC power the LEDs will slowly fade and shut off entirely. Trying to manually discharge the PSU caps after doing so shows they are, in fact, discharged. Boards differ of course, but mine is one of the ones that does indicate there's something coming out of the power supply.[/QUOTE] That's another way to discharge it. Push the power button with it unplugged and it'll suck all the juice out.

[QUOTE] Authorities said the boy was proficient with computers... [/QUOTE] Apparently not.

Some interesting facts. 10 milliamps can produce a painful shock. The closer you reach 100 milliamps the closer you run the risk of completely ceasing to breath and going into [url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004467/]ventricular fibrillation[/url]. 100 milliamps and above is incredibly lethal. Same as before but your heart will definitely go into VF (ventricular fibrillation). You will die within minutes unless you receive immediate medical attention. 200 milliamps and above your muscular contractions will be so severe that your heart will forcibly clamp, thus, saving you from VF. You will be unconscious, have severe burns and will definitely stop breathing. In this stage you will actually have a much higher chance of survival if you receive immediate medical attention and get resuscitated. In perspect this means the kid touched a capacitor that likely discharged more than 20 amps through his body.

I once opened a PSU when I was 10. I was dicking about in there with a pair of scissors (with rubberized grips luckily) and when I mashed the scissors down into a few capacitors, one of the ends of the scissors literally exploded and broke into five or six different pieces. Needless to say, I haven't opened one up since.

In science at high school we would get big capacitors (thumb-sized or larger), connect them to a power supply (an electronics one not a computer one) and pump up the power until it exploded smelled like fish

[QUOTE=soccerskyman;37980144]Apparently not.[/QUOTE] I have built and taken apart tons of computers as a hobby and I just found out about this. Thankfully I've never been too curious about PSUs

[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;37979185]aren't you supposed to unplug it then press the power button to get rid of the charge[/QUOTE] That sounds like it could possibly fry the Motherboard. I wouldn't know for I haven't tried

[QUOTE=TheTalon;37980665]That sounds like it could possibly fry the Motherboard. I wouldn't know for I haven't tried[/QUOTE] It wouldn't; often a 'press-and-hold' with the power on gives you standby or hibernation

[QUOTE=Fulsam;37979196]PSU filter capacitors still hold enough charge to kill you even when things are unplugged. Sometimes they can have even MORE than what comes out of your outlet. If you're probing something like this and can't be arsed to discharge the caps (Shorting the terminals with some insulated wire, or a resistor) you should at LEAST have one hand in your back pocket. It's the current across the heart that kills ya. Capacitors are these things: [thumb]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5j9uQwode_A/TlEWI8BrEZI/AAAAAAAAAeI/sKfzsQ1DBDI/s1600/capa1.jpg[/thumb][/QUOTE] Ya Call that a capacitor? This is a capacitor: [video=youtube;gj1pkyCL75E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj1pkyCL75E[/video] from what ive done at home with electronics (my rooms full of the stuff, i disassemble TVs, microwaves ect all the time) you just have to take decent precautions and you are fine, best thing you can do is just not touch the undersides or exposed wires of PCBs until you have shorted out capacitors and... ofc unplugged it, I'm personally surprised he died taking apart a PSU, I'm guessing he must have had a sensitive heart, or he took the capacitor across the chest, somehow, its rather difficult to kill yourself with a unplugged PSU because you have to touch both terminals, however that is fairly easy to do if you go and pick it up from the bottom of the PCB... I think there is some design issues with these products, all capacitors over 25v or so should have bleeder resistors on to drain any power out of the caps when they are unplugged, it makes servicing a-lot safer to do, I have had a few nasty shocks myself, thankfully nothing across the heart because i take safety seriously >:I To add to this, i would say you should never touch microwave ovens most of all, the transformers kick out about 2100v at 500mA that can go upto 1000mA or over because they are not current limited, they are almost cirtain death, the capacitors store the same voltage, and the magnatron can create very dangerous microwaves that can blind you very quick and easly, along with servere burns, and the magnatron itself contains a pink ceramic, Beryllium Oxide, that is extreamly dangerous and can give you: [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berylliosis[/url]

[QUOTE=EvilMattress;37979028]It has a gigantic electric bolt on the left side[/QUOTE] I don't think it'd cost a lot more to add 'Risk of fatal electric shock if opened'

[QUOTE=latin_geek;37978991][IMG]http://www.toucanisland.com/images/no-user-parts-b.gif[/IMG] these are on every PSU i've seen, good job kid[/QUOTE] I want a bunch of those stickers. I feel like that is just begging to be stuck other places. Like my pants. ...errr wait.

[QUOTE=FFStudios;37978910]He fucking took the case off the PSU. That's the number one thing you do not do. Not only is it common sense to not open something that has the power to emit such an electrical force, but it says it right on the goddamn part.[/QUOTE] I mean I've done this in the past but with parts that have had the time to cool down and lose the charge on the capacitors, you know?

I didn't know the PSU carried a charge when unplugged. Good thing to know.

This is why dexter always wore purple rubber gloves

Opening a PSU is retarded, especially if you don't know what you are doing. There are 5 whole worlds between sticking some RAM in and servicing electrical devices. [QUOTE=Trogdon;37981011]This is why dexter always wore purple rubber gloves[/QUOTE] Those medical gloves are usually made of Nitrile in America.

What scares me is that this couldve been me. No i dont know the person but i did touch a live power supply, by accident, and it knocked me out for a few minutes. Needless to say, im never going to be doing that again.

umm wtf that must be broken psu they should sue the company, how do u get electrocuted when its not plugged in?? faulty hardware.

[QUOTE=MIPS;37978895]He touched the primaries. Idiot. I've worked on the power supplies in high-end supercomputers. The 150A on the +5v rail will seriously fuck.you.up.[/QUOTE] as opposed to just killing you

[QUOTE=Onii-Chan;37981154]umm wtf that must be broken psu they should sue the company, how do u get electrocuted when its not plugged in?? faulty hardware.[/QUOTE] It can carry charge after it has been unplugged.

[QUOTE=Onii-Chan;37981154]umm wtf that must be broken psu they should sue the company, how do u get electrocuted when its not plugged in?? faulty hardware.[/QUOTE] It has a massive capacitor(s) in it. Think of them like a battery that can release all its energy really, really fast, and they get charged when its plugged in.

[QUOTE=Paradox621;37978876]What possesses someone to strip down a PSU? If you're at the point that you have to salvage individual parts from other power supplies, might be time to invest in a new one.[/QUOTE] I salvage parts from them occasionally, there's some useful stuff in them. You gotta discharge everything before you even think of prodding around though

[QUOTE=Ownederd;37979282]this is equally scary: [img]http://bitwisecomputerrepair.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/exploded-cd-e1298690084324.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] what the fuck is that?

Isn't it usually advisable that before any tinkering you drain the charge by holding down the power button of your unplugged PC for about 30 secs? Or is that just some bullshit story someone told me.

[QUOTE=V12US;37981276]Isn't it usually advisable that before any tinkering you drain the charge by holding down the power button of your unplugged PC for about 30 secs? Or is that just some bullshit story someone told me.[/QUOTE] That should work. It doesn't even need to be that long, since the capacitors should drain really quickly with no power to them.

I drain the charge and wear rubber gloves because I'm a huge pussy when I work inside PSUs.

That's really sad but just because you can assemble a computer doesn't mean you have any business at all being inside a powersupply.

Poor guy... I bet he had the curiosity of a tinkerer, maybe even superior to mine and he dies doing what he most likely loved to do. Probably having no idea either.