[SOLVED] PC capacitor discharge

[Ureus04]

In The beginning i'd like to say sorry if i posted my question in wrong section of the forum.
Is it a good practice to drain PC's capacitors power (by pressing power button on unpluged machine) before working inside case or cleaning it ?
Is there a possibility of damaging, shortening life of the components ?
Thanks in advance for the response.

 

[kanewolf]

In The beginning i'd like to say sorry if i posted my question in wrong section of the forum.
Is it a good practice to drain PC's capacitors power (by pressing power button on unpluged machine) before working inside case or cleaning it ?
Is there a possibility of damaging, shortening life of the components ?
Thanks in advance for the response.

Many times you can see power LEDs or other signals that a PC power supply has not completely drained. You can always wait 1 min after powering off and unplugging to begin working. That provides time for the power supply capacitors to discharge.

 

[Ureus04]

Many times you can see power LEDs or other signals that a PC power supply has not completely drained.

Well... I was in my older Rig but not in this particular one. My motherboard doesnt have any LEDs except fancy RGB that i turned off at first occasion. Same goes for GPU. After your response im guessing its a bad habbit then?
Im asking mostly because i plan to clean it inside and simply id like to minimalize possible static or any unintentional damage.
Thank you for your reply!

 

[kanewolf]

Well... I was in my older Rig but not in this particular one. My motherboard doesnt have any LEDs except fancy RGB that i turned off at first occasion. Same goes for GPU. After your response im guessing its a bad habbit then?
Im asking mostly because i plan to clean it inside and simply id like to minimalize possible static or any unintentional damage.
Thank you for your reply!

If you aren't removing components, then you have little to worry about. If you are removing components, then the wait a min. rule should be OK. I always recommend removing the wall plug so that you can't accidentally power it on at an inappropriate time.

 

[Ureus04]

I plan to unplug gpu for dusting off and most likely also cpu fan for the same purpose. Nothing beyond that ; )
One more question. Is touching top of the PC chassis while working in enough to ground myself ? Even when its fully painted ?

 

[kanewolf]

I plan to unplug gpu for dusting off and most likely also cpu fan for the same purpose. Nothing beyond that ; )
One more question. Is touching top of the PC chassis while working in enough to ground myself ? Even when its fully painted ?

There are unpainted areas such as the screws in the PCIe slot covers. Even the slot covers themselves are usually not painted on both sides. If you are concerned about static then buy a wrist strap. They are only a few $$$. Then you have no concerns.

 

[dudio]

Your suggestion of discharging by unplugging power and holding the power button will cause no harm, and is likely to discharge stored voltages, so go for it.
As for discharging yourself to ground, you want to do that while the PC is plugged in using its 3 prong plug into a grounded 3 prong outlet.
Do it all in this order:

• shut down the PC.
• while touching the case (you want unpainted since paint can be an insulator.. touch a screw that goes into into thr case), unplug power from the wall or back of psu.
• hold the power button

 

[Ureus04]

I see. Thank you kindly for your replies and provided information ; )