[listen to remix]

Okay... so I just ripped apart two Dell computers and now I'm left with two 250W power supplies. Is there any way I can put them to use? or should I just rip out the 80mm fans and throw the rest away

 

[dracotonisamond]

burn it in a ritualistic fire constructed with old Baby AT motherboards and lint.

if its an older one, it might have the weird proprietary dell wiring job, and could damage anything you plug it into.

250 watts is fairly useless imo. scrap the unit and take the fans.

 

[pioneerisloud]

Pull the capacitors out (the big ones)...if you do disect them. Those can be used as high pass crossovers for speakers

. The fans are also useful.

You COULD use them as a dedicated fan PSU to power your fans. You COULD follow the link in my sig to run a car stereo or something off them. There's TONS of things you COULD use them for.

 

[mrfajita]

Take the fans out, and use it as a test PSU for hard drives, fans, and other (non MB or GPU) stuff

 

[imadude10]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrfajita Take the fans out, and use it as a test PSU for hard drives, fans, and other (non MB or GPU) stuff

+1

I have an old PSU that I use to test fans and such before setting them up in my rig. Would be especially useful if doing watercooling... could use it to leak test the loop outside the system or atleast with your system off and unplugged.

 

[tylerand]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pioneerisloud Pull the capacitors out (the big ones)...if you do disect them. Those can be used as high pass crossovers for speakers . The fans are also useful. You COULD use them as a dedicated fan PSU to power your fans. You COULD follow the link in my sig to run a car stereo or something off them. There's TONS of things you COULD use them for.

I've thought of making myself a small dedicated power supply setup for just my fans before.

 

[listen to remix]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I never would have thought of using it to test hard drives, fans, optical drives etc.

Oh, they're definitely old PSUs. They come from a 4300 and a 4400. They're from 2001. So... what should I never try to power with these?

 

[dracotonisamond]

oh dear. yeah

dont EVER plug them into a motherboard. those are the affected years. one moment while i grab a link.

read this. they ran these power supplies all the way into late 2002.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=339053

Quote:

if you currently own or are considering purchasing a desktop system from Dell you will definitely want to pay attention to this section. There is a potential booby-trap waiting to nail the unsuspecting Dell owner who decides to upgrade either the motherboard or power supply in their system. This hidden trap can cause the destruction of the motherboard, power supply or both! OK, now that I have your attention, read on

 

[KRAZYTRUCKER]

sounds like a .45 caliber moment to me

 

[SmokinWaffle]

Take the fans out for spares.

Also, take the large capacitors out, then recharge them and say 'catch this', and throw it to someone. Funny stuff.

 

[Volvo]

Scrap it. Take the fans and things like switches, voltage selectors, capacitors that aren't busted. You never know when you'll need them.

 

[ryboto]

make a little bird house out of it.

 

[IBuyJunk]

Are you people really that ignorant to pre made computers?? Dell stopped the proprietary power supplies a LONG time ago. Keep the power supplies. While they are low in capacity they usually are pretty good quality.

 

[DuckieHo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dracotonisamond 250 watts is fairly useless imo. scrap the unit and take the fans.

A HTPC uses less than 150w loaded.