My System Fan cable caught fire

[Jay9]

Well.... dunno what to make of this.

Recently got a GTX 660. Decided to bench mark Far Cry 3.

Even framerates, nicely smooth. Let's tense it up. I go into a massive firefight. I look over and see the bridge between my System Fan, GPU, and PSU on fire.

Any idea what the actual hell happened?

 

[rolli59]

Neither do I have never heard of another example.

 

[Jay9]

I'm stuck then. No one seems to know what to do and I can't think of anything else.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

**I had both the System Fan's power input and my GTX 660's power input on a splitter cable**
I reckon thats why the fan cable melted, Gfx card wanted to pull some hefty juice and overloaded the fan cable,
Never have anything on the same cable as gfx cards if you use molex lines for Gfx cards
Moto

 

[Jay9]

Yea, I know. I fixed that issue. My current issue is breaker wanting to randomly trip everytime I boot my PC up.


I just ordered a UPS. I'll see if that helps.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

You've possibly caused some damage to the Psu during the previous events,
Moto

 

[Jay9]

read up. I stated it's not the reason and that the trips were happening before that.

 

[ko888]

Is your circuit breaker functioning correctly?

Have you tried plugging in the PC on a different circuit in the home?

There seems to be a large inrush current happening when the PC powers up. Have you tried breadboard testing of the system?

 

[Jay9]

Breadboard testing? Also, the trips are random. They also only happen after the PC has been powered down for 10 or more minutes.

 

[ko888]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/262730-31-breadboarding

 

[Jay9]

I just wanna understand one thing; Why are the trips so inconsistent? Why does it have to trip multiple times before it finally comes on?

 

[Jay9]

Seems to be a common issue. I searched up for the terms AFCI breaker and Power Supplies and others seem to have it.

It's basically the AFCI breaker being too sensitive to the PC booting up and tripping the connection to my room.

This is also why it didn't trip in other rooms because I tested it in a living room. Turns out AFCI are mainly installed in bedrooms.

I'm replacing this PSU with a Corsair 750W in hopes that it'll be less intensive on starting up along with a UPS to keep the current spike in reason between the outlet and the PSU itself. This is really the only thing I can think of.

 

[rolli59]

If the breaker is tripping maybe the breaker is to sensitive. Test it with a vacuum cleaner it will pull more on startup than your PC.

 

[Jay9]

I've used a vacuum multiple times, never tripped. I guess I'll only really know after this PSU gets here. I also read the PFC is supposed to prevent things such as this. Maybe it's a bad PFC switch in this Seasonic?

 

[ko888]

That's why I asked if you tested it on a different circuit within your home. The inrush current during start up of the PC is what trips your AFCI.

You can also put in a separate circuit with a normal breaker just for your PC. It's an expensive solution though.

 

[Jay9]

That's why I asked if you tested it on a different circuit within your home. The inrush current during start up of the PC is what trips your AFCI.

You can also put in a separate circuit with a normal breaker just for your PC. It's an expensive solution though.

I took the suggestion of a new PSU and a UPS. Would you think this to suffice?

 

[ko888]

That's why I asked if you tested it on a different circuit within your home. The inrush current during start up of the PC is what trips your AFCI.

You can also put in a separate circuit with a normal breaker just for your PC. It's an expensive solution though.

I took the suggestion of a new PSU and a UPS. Would you think this to suffice?

It's not guaranteed that it'll solve your problem.

Make sure you buy a UPS that is compatible with your PSU's APFC circuit or you'll just be introducing another problem.

 

[Jay9]

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

UPS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=42-102-070

 

[ko888]

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

UPS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=42-102-070

That combo should work.

Some PSUs APFC circuit won't work properly (i.e. unstable or fail to switch over to battery backup mode) with UPS' that output a stepped approximation to a sine wave so a pure sine wave UPS must be used.

 

[Jay9]

Thanks. For future reference, how can I tell?

 

[ko888]

Thanks. For future reference, how can I tell?

You can't tell unless you've personally tested the combination or you've found a PSU review that has tested the specific PSU with a UPS that outputs a stepped approximation to a sine wave. Even power supply manufacturers don't provide UPS compatibility information.

X-bit labs is one review site that performs such a UPS Compatibility Test when they review a PSU.

 

[Jay9]

I'm curious as to how you thought these two would work, then.

 

[ko888]

I'm curious as to how you thought these two would work, then.

Because I'm currently running a Corsair HX750 on an APC 1300VA UPS that outputs a stepped approximation to a sine wave.