Question PC case is giving me low voltage shocks ?

[Jacob Hardware Enthusiast]

My PC has been giving me current shocks for like 10 days. (Rainy season going on too) It is a low voltage shock, kindof like a 3 volt. Comes from the case, the HDMI. I opened it up for cleaning today and I think I found the culprit. The 3 RGB fans on my PC are connected by a small ANT Esports thing that has ports for 10 fans, and it is connected to the PSU with a wire.

But the RGB lights on the front of the case and one fan that came with the case, both came with the case, are connected by those round type connectors, old type, those which were used in the Hardrives in older times. So I feel some current when I touch those connectors, Even if the PC is off. There is a little voltage going on there.

And to add to that, the fan isn't working. It is only connected to the power but doesn't run anymore. I did not realise it until now, because this fan is placed infront of the case and is not visible unless you really want to. It worked before though.

So this PC has been around for like 3 years, I made it myself. Case is ANT esports ICE model, closed from front and having RGB lights at the front. PSU is high quality Cooler Master 450 watt 90+ certified bronze rating.

CPU: Core i5-3470
GPU: GT 1030
RAM: 12GB

 

[Aeacus]

PSU is high quality Cooler Master 450 watt 90+ certified bronze rating.

Exact model (or part number) of the PSU is? Also, how old it is and was it bought new or used/refurbished?

Btw, there is no such thing as 90+. If it is listed as 90+ on there (which i doubt, knowing Cooler Master), then what you have, is a scam and crap quality unit.

What i have is high quality. Namely, a Seasonic PRIME 650 80+ Titanium (part number: SSR-650TD).
What you have - is not.

 

[bill001g]

Generally you can not feel very low voltages unless there is a lot of current. You can take a 9 volt battery and put your finger across both terminals and feel nothing. Maybe if your finger was wet.

If you do not have one buy a very cheap voltage/ohm meter. You do not really care about accuracy for this application you just care if any voltage exists where there should be none.

Although it could be a wire going to a fan I can't see how the fan itself could be the issue they are all plastic.

This almost seems like a grounding issue on the power supply or maybe the outlet it is plugged into. Lets say you did something crazy and directly connected a fan wire to the case. The power in theory at least should flow though the metal case to case of the power supply since it is all metal screws and metal contacts. The power supply should then dump the power into the ground.

This might damage something on the motherboard or power supply but that is the reason the ground exists on power outlet to protect the people and sacrifice equipment.

What I would start with is some simple resistance/conductivity tests. With the machine off and unplugged test some basic stuff. Find a area on the case that is not painted and test that there is a connection to the outside of the power supply and then test that the power supply case also is connected to the ground pin on the power plug.

The only way you would feel power when you touch something is the voltage is for some reason thinking that going into your body is a better path to ground than some other path inside the machine.

Also generally you have to be touching 2 things. One of say your hands would need to be on some better path to ground. In the case of a bad ground wire in the outlet it could be a table or the floor.
I would take the voltage meter and try to see where you detect voltages between. Obviously you do not want to test to anything inside the computer unless you know what you are doing.

 

[DaleH]

My PC has been giving me current shocks for like 10 days. (Rainy season going on too) It is a low voltage shock, kindof like a 3 volt. Comes from the case, the HDMI. I opened it up for cleaning today and I think I found the culprit. The 3 RGB fans on my PC are connected by a small ANT Esports thing that has ports for 10 fans, and it is connected to the PSU with a wire.

But the RGB lights on the front of the case and one fan that came with the case, both came with the case, are connected by those round type connectors, old type, those which were used in the Hardrives in older times. So I feel some current when I touch those connectors, Even if the PC is off. There is a little voltage going on there.

And to add to that, the fan isn't working. It is only connected to the power but doesn't run anymore. I did not realise it until now, because this fan is placed infront of the case and is not visible unless you really want to. It worked before though.

So this PC has been around for like 3 years, I made it myself. Case is ANT esports ICE model, closed from front and having RGB lights at the front. PSU is high quality Cooler Master 450 watt 90+ certified bronze rating.

CPU: Core i5-3470
GPU: GT 1030
RAM: 12GB

I would suspect static electricity if it were not the rainy season. Static is more of a problem when it's dry.

 

[punkncat]

My personal thoughts would be areas concerning the power supply on the hardware, and how old and of what type your electrical outlets are configured.

First thing that comes to mind is bad ground.

Technically a phone line carries current as well, and increases about double on ring if you are equipped with POTS lines. The aspect of that I can't figure would be how it could possibly dump to the case and you still have a working phone service in the house.

 

[Jacob Hardware Enthusiast]

Seems the problem was temporary, some problem in the house wiring. And sorry, the PSU is 80+ rated not 90+. Didn't see it before typing. The model is

Cooler Master MWE 450 Bronze V2 Power Supply - Non-Modular | 80 Plus Bronze Certified​

And hey I've used chinese PSUs once when I had core 2 duos and they never shocked bruh. This PSU is like very high quality compared to what I used before XD

 

[helper800]

Seems the problem was temporary, some problem in the house wiring. And sorry, the PSU is 80+ rated not 90+. Didn't see it before typing. The model is

Cooler Master MWE 450 Bronze V2 Power Supply - Non-Modular | 80 Plus Bronze Certified​

And hey I've used chinese PSUs once when I had core 2 duos and they never shocked bruh. This PSU is like very high quality compared to what I used before XD

Almost all PSUs are chinese if you count Taiwan as being Chinese. The best units available are typically made by Chinese factories, and are either sold directly through their own brand or are sold through other brand names because all the manufacturers are OEMs. That particular PSU you are using is not the worst but still far from a quality unit. Its fine for what you are doing, in my opinion.

 

[Aeacus]

And hey I've used chinese PSUs once when I had core 2 duos and they never shocked bruh.

And may people drive drunk without causing an accident. But it still doesn't make driving drunk safe, let alone something to be done on daily basis.

Same with PSUs, just because you've got lucky thus far, doesn't mean your luck continues. Eventually, it will run out and you'll learn the hard way why not to use low quality PSU in the first place. Since the lower the PSU's build quality - the higher the chance that when PSU goes "pop" and releases magic smoke, it also fries everything it is connected to (aka your whole PC).

Rather than being smart about it and use good/great quality PSU to avoid unnecessary headache, some people need to learn the hard way. Like i said, your call.

This PSU is like very high quality compared to what I used before XD

Slightly better doesn't make it "very high quality".

Not all PSUs are created equal. Overall, PSUs can be classified into 5 tiers (for simplicity sake):
Crap quality - usually no-name PSUs. Probably the one you're referring to as "Chinese PSU".
Low quality - e.g Corsair VS. Still not to be used.
Mediocre quality - e.g Corsair CX, Seasonic Core. Only good for office PCs without dedicated GPU and which never sees any high loads.
Good quality - e.g Corsair RMx, Seasonic Focus. Good option for any gaming rig. Also cheaper than great quality, but still good enough.
Great quality - essentially best what money can buy. e.g Corsair AXi, Seasonic PRIME, Super Flower Leadex Titanium.

Your CM MWE V2 unit is low quality. Well, more like between mediocre and low quality. Probably decent for your low wattage build. But i, personally, would not use it.
It would be cheaper to buy good quality unit off the bat, e.g Seasonic Focus at 100 bucks,
egg: https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-focus-plus-650-gold-ssr-650fx-650w/p/N82E16817151186

Rather than ~50 bucks for CM MWE V2 and then replace entire PC once PSU blows and fries everything, whereby it would be easy 500 bucks to replace the entire PC + buy a new PSU as well.

Seems the problem was temporary, some problem in the house wiring.

Well, there was 2 options:
* PSU somehow fed the power into PC metal casing (meaning no grounding what-so-ever).
* ground circuit in the house was energized (most likely bad wiring with no point to actual ground itself).

Better to call out electrician to check the entire wiring of a house. Since energized ground is really bad. It can kill all hardware plugged into the system or even outright electrocute people when coming into contact with energized ground (like the zaps you got from PC case).