power supplies

u wont get anything from the no brand or OEM 400 watt or less power supplies.

If you come across some of the name brand 500 watt or higher. Save them.

Also some from custom machines are worth keeping like the 2 i have from dell alienware PC's

I have had some luck selling a couple of them. You need to test them first to verify that they work. However, you can't just plug in a power supply and read voltage from the ends. It will not supply voltage unless it thinks that it is plugged into an operating system. I will try and get a picture up of how I test them. Basically the hunk that plugs into the motherboard needs a jumper between two pins to make it think that it is plugged into a system.

One other thing that I do with them is trade them even up to one of my computer repair guys. He generally likes working models that are 400 watt or so, and don't need to be name brand. I trade him an old burned up or lesser model even up. Just good PR. I do the same with him for some other items as well. It insures that he gets ahold of me when he has a good supply of junk or outdated boards and CPUs.

You can get an inexpensive tester too, I already had one from working on them, still around here somewhere

You'd just plug it to the motherboard power lines and that would turn the PS on, then you could plug the other ends up and test them too. The Dells had a switched wire on theirs though, so You had to watch for that on them. It was good for the majority of basic IBM compatible computer power supplies, but not for most servers or other type units

Originally Posted by parrothead

I have had some luck selling a couple of them. You need to test them first to verify that they work. However, you can't just plug in a power supply and read voltage from the ends. It will not supply voltage unless it thinks that it is plugged into an operating system. I will try and get a picture up of how I test them. Basically the hunk that plugs into the motherboard needs a jumper between two pins to make it think that it is plugged into a system.

One other thing that I do with them is trade them even up to one of my computer repair guys. He generally likes working models that are 400 watt or so, and don't need to be name brand. I trade him an old burned up or lesser model even up. Just good PR. I do the same with him for some other items as well. It insures that he gets ahold of me when he has a good supply of junk or outdated boards and CPUs.

You can test a power supply no expensive tester needed. Just a little bit of knowledge.

First strip a piece of wire on both ends. This wire should be 2 inch's long and be the home romex solid core type because it will stay bent they way you bend it and wont fray after many uses. U can use a paper clip also.

second bend it in a U shape. Then take the large connector in the power supply. This will have the most wires.

Find the green wire and insert the first side of your wire.
Next find any black wire on that connector (ground) and plug in your stripped wire into that.

third. Plug something into the power supply. ( CD ROM, Fan anything to draw some power from it for testing and safety. Some power supplies will burn up with nothing plugged in and turned on )

lastly, plug the power supply into the wall outlet. It will turn on if not it's dead. Make sure it supplies power to the device attached to it. If so it's good.

Sell Sell Sell!