PAT (testing)

[danechip]

Evening all.

I'm moving into a place that insists testing of ALL electricals.

I have a PC i use, haven't had the side on it for a few years now (so make it hot swappable with ols drives for recovery)

Yes you can put your hand in the casing, but the PSU is still contained.

Thanks all.

Dan.

 

[Jackrae]

So what happens if the PSU casing goes live and the earth connection has failed.

 

[danechip]

Then you would get a shock touching *ANY* part of the metallic casing.

Does the 12VDC output count as a hazard?

 

[JohnW2]

I have a PC i use, haven't had the side on it for a few years now (so make it hot swappable with ols drives for recovery)

A man after my own heart I have umpteen PCs here, and none of them have had their sides on for years, for similar reasons. [I actually tell a lie. One does have its side on, but that one has both SATA and IDE drive caddies accessible on the front panel!]

Kind Regards, John

 

[seasickstevie]

Similar reason why many of the floorboards in our house don't have nails in them.

 

[JohnW2]

Similar reason why many of the floorboards in our house don't have nails in them.

Goodness, I didn't know that there were so many people around like me

Kind Regards, John

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I have umpteen PCs here, and none of them have had their sides on for years, for similar reasons.

I recently spent a not inconsiderable, and highly frustrating, time dealing with a PC which I powered up with the side off causing the chassis intrusion "alarm" to go off, and which I then found, having fixed that, won't boot with the side off anyway, unless you lie it down, as it has a 2nd CPU & memory daughter unit, and needs the side panel in place to stop it drooping enough to create a dodgy connection.

 

[danechip]

But would/should it pass a PAT?

 

[JohnW2]

But would/should it pass a PAT?

I'm struggling to see why it shouldn't. The bare PSU alone, sitting on a bench, with all its metal case and all the outgoing ELV leads fully 'exposed' ought to pass (assuming it wasn't faulty!), shouldn't it? If so, I don't see why putting it in a semi-open PC case should make any difference. However, my experience of PA Testing is zero, so I can't speak with any authority - only 'electrical common sense'!

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

I recently spent a not inconsiderable, and highly frustrating, time dealing with a PC which I powered up with the side off causing the chassis intrusion "alarm" to go off, and which I then found, having fixed that, won't boot with the side off anyway, unless you lie it down, as it has a 2nd CPU & memory daughter unit, and needs the side panel in place to stop it drooping enough to create a dodgy connection.

You have my sympathies. WTF is a "chassis intrusion alarm"??

Kind Regards, John

 

[danechip]

I micro switch that makes connection with the side case to alarm admins if it has been tampered with.

 

[JohnW2]

I micro switch that makes connection with the side case to alarm admins if it has been tampered with.

I see! I would have thought that they ought to be far more worried about 'software tampering' than 'hardware tampering', and no microswitch is going to help with that!

Kind Regards, John

 

[Jackrae]

Musn't upset the IT admin squad.

In one company I worked with/for, the IT manager paid me a visit and said I had too many e-mails (roughly 2000) stored in the system and wanted to know what I was going to do about it. There and then in front of his eyes I deleted every one. He was even more upset then !!

Remember when the advent of computers carried the boast of the paperless office ?

 

[JohnW2]

Remember when the advent of computers carried the boast of the paperless office ?

Indeed! However, I have to say that, speaking personally, it has, at last, actually happened for me in the past few years. I have several rooms, and a loft, stuffed full of boxes and files of (probably 30+ years of) 'papers' (I would imagine probably totalling millions of sheets), but I have added very little to that pile in the last decade, and very little at all in the past 5 years. I used to get through at least a ream or two, often more, of printer paper every week, but one ream now lasts me months. There also used to be a constant stream of couriers at my door, bringing and taking massive paper documents - and I haven't seen one of those for a number of years.

... so it can happen

Kind Regards, John

 

[Taylortwocities]