Why Use a Digital Multimeter?
StandalonePSU testersare great and we always have one on hand to get quick results.
A good multimeter is useful for some many projects around the house.
Jason Fitzpatrick
But lots of people havedigital multimeterson hand already and don’t have a PSU tester lying around.
At no point will we be opening up the PSU itself.
Doing so without proper precautions, knowledge, and tools can give you a lethal shock.
A good multimeter is useful for some many projects around the house.
Before proceeding, we want to emphasize a few points.
First, testing the output of your PSU using the methods outlined below is very safe.
Touching the wrong thing inside the body of the PSU has the potential to stop your heart.
If your PSU is malfunctioning, the safest thing to do is simply replace it.
Power Down The PSU
If your PSU has a switch, turn it off.
If it is powered on automatically when connected to an outlet, unplug it.
Jason Fitzpatrick
you’ve got the option to also use scrap piece of 18AWG or 16AWG wire.
There’s alsosimple ATX 24-pin PSU jumper bridge tools.
You should hear and see the fan spin up on the PSU.
At this point, you gotta turn on your multimeter and set the reading to DCV.
Put the black multimer probe on any of the grounded pins.
Repeat this process for all the pins, confirming that the voltage readout is within the acceptable range.
If the values aren’t within range, it’s time to replace the PSU.
Here’s that ATX power connection pinout again, for reference.
You should check them for the same 5% range.
In the interest of protecting your hardware, we’re not even going to suggest wiggle room parameters here.
