Are ATX PSUs susceptible to damage by static?

[PeterZ640]

Interested if any electronics orientated gurus could put my mind at ease? .... Or otherwise 🙁

I might have done something stupid!
As my motherboard had to be RMA'ed; I thought I would take the opportunity to modify my workstation case, ( as its virtually empty) and hence proceeded to drill a couple of holes, and tap a 4mm thread to put some extra SSDs on the rear wall.

BTW The case was completely empty apart from the fans, and the 1200watt power supply, and the front USB / headset/ Audio front header unit.
- Note The PSU was NOT connected to the mains, and the psu power switch was in the OFF position. The PSU's power cables were also not connected to any components - just to the PSU . However the PSU was bolted to the steel ATX case.

So, After I finished drilling ....I thought That, I had better vacumn the case, with a powerful vacumn cleaner, the cylinder kind with a 1.5 meter long hose, and one of those pointed plastic nozzle - crevice tools - to ensure no left over metal fillings were not blown onto the MB or GPU etc. Later.

I must have had a truly dumb moment, as I even thought about static, but assumed its not a critical "beware of static type component" like say RAM, a GPU, or a MB, or a CPU.p is.?

The case was on one of those proper, antistatic mats, that in turn was connected to the mains "earth"
I stupidly thought I might as well Vacumn it out; as its not a super sensitive part, it should be ok.
Before starting vacuming it, I put on the grounded AS wrist strap ( grounded to the AS Mat, and onward to the mains earth, with a special "No Shock" plug)

The crazy thing is that, I even thought about how dust can sometimes cling to the vacumn hose, I assume by electro-static charge?
I think my brain must have truly had a "core dump" - as despite this, I still went ahead and vacummed all over the inside of the case.
But before I started vacuuming, I did wrap a spare length of Soldering Wire twice around the hose, and used one of the AS Matt's crocodile clips that was 'grounded" to the AS matt and hence onward to the mains earth.

Afterwards, I thought Yikes, this PSU has clever fan control amd over voltage / short circuit protection etc. It must have some kind of electronics in it, and it is bolted to the case chassis.

So 2 questions
Q1. Can sophisticated PSUs be damahed by static
Q2. Would my AS matt, the wristband, and the Soldering wire around the hose been enough to dissapate any staric - if it was damgerous to vacumn the case.

Any words appreciated, as to get.a faulty motherboard on your first PC build has made me er pretty nervous.

Apologies if I am overthinking this - but I just dont have the time to have anymore problems, nor the stress.

 

[Rogue Leader]

I've never heard of static damaging a PSU, mainly because its a sealed unit.

If you're really worried, plug it in, jump out the green wire with the adjacent black wire on the 24 pin connector, turn it on. If it turns on (and it will) you're fine.

 

[unksol]

I'm sorry I could not stick with the wall of rambling text. Probably not at all damaged but i don't get the question. It works or it doesn't

 

[geofelt]

Not to worry, indeed you are overthinking.

 

[PeterZ640]

I've never heard of static damaging a PSU, mainly because its a sealed unit.

If you're really worried, plug it in, jump out the green wire with the adjacent black wire on the 24 pin connector, turn it on. If it turns on (and it will) you're fine.

Thanks for the reassurance.
This PSU comes with a testing block you push on the end of the ATX 24 pin power connector, so it turns on.
I assume this is the same thing as jumping the wires you refferred to?
The manual says its to test the unit and allow people to drain the water cooler.
I assume when they say test , it will run through some self checking?
NB all the wires in the std.mcables are black.

 

[PeterZ640]

Not to worry, indeed you are overthinking.

Thanks, sorry for being so Overthinking, the build so far has been stressful. Getting a faulty motherboard that killed a new Xenon CPU - for a novice is not fun. And going through all the testing and proving process to get these replaced was definitely not fun.
A very steep learning process lol
Intel were fantastic, replaced it the next day.

Supermicro support were great, but their RMA process is definitely a complete pain, you are guilty until proven innocent!
Its a shame as the build quality is good, and the technology is superb - 40 PCIe lanes, and 3 x16 Gen 3 slots are ideal.
But their commercial end is akin to buying from a bunch of con men! Apparrently it may take up to 28 days to get a replacement, after proving its faulty! ( and that took 2 weeks ).
My advice to anyone buying Supermicro is test the board immediately, if any faults at all - dont try and work with them to see if it can be fixed by a new BIOS just SEND IT BACK FOR A REFUND INSTANTLY AND BUY AGAIN,

 

[PeterZ640]

I'm sorry I could not stick with the wall of rambling text. Probably not at all damaged but i don't get the question. It works or it doesn't

I guess my underlying question is - if it turns on can one assume all the protection circuits ( over voltage, over current, short circuit etc.) are undamaged.
And of course are the small pcb's inside likely to be damaged by static caused by vacuming the inside of the case.

Apologies for all the detail, they were provided to advise any commentor of all the facts.

 

[Rogue Leader]

I've never heard of static damaging a PSU, mainly because its a sealed unit.

If you're really worried, plug it in, jump out the green wire with the adjacent black wire on the 24 pin connector, turn it on. If it turns on (and it will) you're fine.

Thanks for the reassurance.
This PSU comes with a testing block you push on the end of the ATX 24 pin power connector, so it turns on.
I assume this is the same thing as jumping the wires you refferred to?
The manual says its to test the unit and allow people to drain the water cooler.
I assume when they say test , it will run through some self checking?
NB all the wires in the std.mcables are black.

Yes thats what the testing block does. If it turns on and not making weird noises/sparks/etc (very obvious indicators of its badness) you're good. Like I said its sealed so it would be nearly impossible for static electricity to cause any of the issues you described.

If what you did would blow up a PSU, I would have blown up a hundred of them.

 

[PeterZ640]

I've never heard of static damaging a PSU, mainly because its a sealed unit.

If you're really worried, plug it in, jump out the green wire with the adjacent black wire on the 24 pin connector, turn it on. If it turns on (and it will) you're fine.

Thanks for the reassurance.
This PSU comes with a testing block you push on the end of the ATX 24 pin power connector, so it turns on.
I assume this is the same thing as jumping the wires you refferred to?
The manual says its to test the unit and allow people to drain the water cooler.
I assume when they say test , it will run through some self checking?
NB all the wires in the std.mcables are black.

Yes thats what the testing block does. If it turns on and not making weird noises/sparks/etc (very obvious indicators of its badness) you're good. Like I said its sealed so it would be nearly impossible for static electricity to cause any of the issues you described.

If what you did would blow up a PSU, I would have blown up a hundred of them.

Thanks so much for the reassurance. As having spent £2,100 to look at an empty shell of a case ( MB RMA'ed ) makes one uber nervous that anything else could go wrong lol

 

[geofelt]

Static testers are only good to prove that a psu is dead.
It does nothing to verify proper operation under load.

The psu installed in the case will be grounded to the case.
I can not imagine that static would be any issue.

What make/model is your psu?
If it is not a cheap quality unit, it will have plenty of protective circuitry.

And... 1200w seems excessively strong.
What will be your graphics configuration?
Here is a psu sizing chart:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

I have no problem overprovisioning a PSU a bit. Say 20%.
It will run cooler, quieter, and more efficiently in the middle third of it's range.
A PSU will only use the wattage demanded of it, regardless of it's max capability.

 

[PeterZ640]

Static testers are only good to prove that a psu is dead.
It does nothing to verify proper operation under load.

The psu installed in the case will be grounded to the case.
I can not imagine that static would be any issue.

What make/model is your psu?
If it is not a cheap quality unit, it will have plenty of protective circuitry.

And... 1200w seems excessively strong.
What will be your graphics configuration?
Here is a psu sizing chart:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

I have no problem overprovisioning a PSU a bit. Say 20%.
It will run cooler, quieter, and more efficiently in the middle third of it's range.
A PSU will only use the wattage demanded of it, regardless of it's max capability.

 

[PeterZ640]

Static testers are only good to prove that a psu is dead.
It does nothing to verify proper operation under load.

The psu installed in the case will be grounded to the case.
I can not imagine that static would be any issue.

What make/model is your psu?
If it is not a cheap quality unit, it will have plenty of protective circuitry.

And... 1200w seems excessively strong.
What will be your graphics configuration?
Here is a psu sizing chart:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

I have no problem overprovisioning a PSU a bit. Say 20%.
It will run cooler, quieter, and more efficiently in the middle third of it's range.
A PSU will only use the wattage demanded of it, regardless of it's max capability.

Its a Superflower Leadex 1200w,
For me its not really a cheap and cheerful unit, about £250.
Yes its very overspecced. As it has an Eco mode where under 69% load the fan doesnt come on somis silent. That was the idea.
I think the actual load is about 680watts peak? Has a 10 year warranty so worth paying a abit more and understressing it!

The fan never seems to come on,mI did put it to the test with Eco mode OFf and the fan ran. But then there are 8 fans in my case. All running circa 320 to 350rpm so virtually silent.