EZ Power Supply Tester<base href="http://www.atruereview.com/" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://www.atruereview.com/images/favicon.ico" /> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> <link href="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/css/template_css.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/css/style10.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/slimbox/slimbox.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/css/rokmoomenu.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />  <link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://www.atruereview.com/images/favicon.ico" /> <style type="text/css"> td.left div.moduletable, td.right div.moduletable, td.left div.moduletable-hilite1, td.right div.moduletable-hilite1, td.left div.moduletable-hilite2, td.right div.moduletable-hilite2, td.left div.moduletable-hilite3, td.right div.moduletable-hilite3, td.left div.moduletable-hilite4, td.right div.moduletable-hilite4, td.left div.moduletable-hilite5, td.right div.moduletable-hilite5, td.left div.moduletable-hilite6, td.right div.moduletable-hilite6, td.left div.moduletable-hilite7, td.right div.moduletable-hilite7, td.left div.moduletable-hilite8, td.right div.moduletable-hilite8 { width: 175px; } div.wrapper { margin: 0 auto; width: 868px;} </style> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/js/mootools.r462.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/js/roktools.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/js/mootools.bgiframe.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/js/rokmoomenu.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> window.addEvent('domready', function() { new rokmoomenu($E('ul.nav'), { bgiframe: false, delay: 500, animate: { props: ['opacity', 'width', 'height'], opts: { duration:400, fps: 100, transition: Fx.Transitions.sineOut } } }); }); </script> </head> <body id="page_bg" class="f-default"> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.atruereview.com/templates/rt_versatility_iii/js/slimbox.js"></script> <div id="fxContainer"> <div id="fxTarget"> <div id="fxPadding" class="wrapper"> </div> </div>  </div> <div id="template" class="wrapper"> <div id="header"> <a href="http://www.atruereview.com" class="nounder"><img src="http://www.atruereview.com/images/blank.png" style="border:0;" alt="" id="logo" /></a> <div id="banner"> <div class="padding"> <form action="index.php?option=com_search&Itemid=5" method="get"> <div class="searchroflmao"> <input name="searchword" id="mod_search_searchword" maxlength="20" alt="search" class="inputboxroflmao" type="text" size="20" value="search..." onblur="if(this.value=='') this.value='search...';" onfocus="if(this.value=='search...') this.value='';" /> </div> <input type="hidden" name="option" value="com_search" /> <input type="hidden" name="Itemid" value="5" /> </form> </div> </div> </div> <div id="horiz-menu" class="moomenu"> <ul class="nav"> <li><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/">Home</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/search.html">Search</a></li> <li><a href="http://atruereview.com/oldrev.php">Old Reviews</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/atruereview/articles.php">Old Articles</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/contact/contact.html">Contact</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/links/links.html">Links</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/accessories/2.html">Reviews</a></li> </ul> </div> <div id="top"> </div> <div class="clr" id="mainbody"> <table class="mainbody" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr valign="top"> <td class="left"> <div class="moduletable"> <h3> Main Menu </h3> <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr align="left"><td><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/" class="mainlevel" >Home</a></td></tr> <tr align="left"><td><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/search.html" class="mainlevel" >Search</a></td></tr> <tr align="left"><td><a href="http://atruereview.com/oldrev.php" class="mainlevel" >Old Reviews</a></td></tr> <tr align="left"><td><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/atruereview/articles.php" class="mainlevel" >Old Articles</a></td></tr> <tr align="left"><td><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/contact/contact.html" class="mainlevel" >Contact</a></td></tr> <tr align="left"><td><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/links/links.html" class="mainlevel" >Links</a></td></tr> <tr align="left"><td><a href="http://www.atruereview.com/accessories/2.html" class="mainlevel" >Reviews</a></td></tr> </table> </div> <div class="moduletable"> </div> </td> <td class="mainbody"> <table class="sections" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr valign="top"> <td class="section w99"> <div class="moduletable"> </div> </td> </tr> </table> <div class="padding"> <h2 align="center"> <?php include '../banner.php' ?> </h2> <h2 align="center">EZ Power Supply Tester</h2> <p align="left">Provided by: <a href="http://www.casebuy.com.tw/">Casebuy</a><br> Retail: $11.99<br> Review Date: December 27th, 2004</p> <p align="left">Is your computer locking up or are you devices failing? You could have a bad power supply. How can you test a bad power supply? A multimeter is a handy tool, but if you don't understand electronic circuits, learning to use one will take a bit of time. You could plug the PSU into your board and look at voltages. Although, if the PSU is bad then this is not a good option for the board can be damaged or the system may not even start. Plus, this only tells you what the board is reading, not other power connections like your floppy or HD. To enable the average computer to test their supplies, Casebuy has created the EZ Power Supply Tester.</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/powersupply_tester/01.jpg"><img src="atruereview/powersupply_tester/01th.jpg" alt="EZ Power Supply Tester" border="0" width="161" height="250"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p align="left"><strong>Packaging:</strong></p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/powersupply_tester/05.jpg"><img src="atruereview/powersupply_tester/05th.jpg" alt="EZ Power Supply Tester" border="0" width="250" height="176"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p align="left">The EZ Power Supply Tester comes in a plain brown cardboard box with no insulating packing peanuts. It doesn't really need them though. Inside the box is the EZ Power Supply Tester sealed in a retail blister package. This is a stapled package so it is easy to get into. Instructions are included on the back of the package.</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/powersupply_tester/08.jpg"><img src="atruereview/powersupply_tester/08th.jpg" alt="EZ Power Supply Tester" border="0" width="158" height="250"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p><strong>Description:</strong></p> <p>Casebuy's EZ Power Supply tester has an aluminum silver casing. It is very compact. On the top are two columns of LEDs. </a> <a href="powersupply_tester/">Next to each LED is a label for the voltage line it represents. In the middle of the LEDs are instructions for use.</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/powersupply_tester/02.jpg"><img src="atruereview/powersupply_tester/02th.jpg" alt="EZ Power Supply Tester" border="0" width="250" height="178"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p>On the right are the LEDs for the 20pin ATX power supply connector. These match up with the connector on the right side of the tester. </p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/powersupply_tester/04.jpg"><img src="atruereview/powersupply_tester/04th.jpg" alt="EZ Power Supply Tester" border="0" width="250" height="163"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p>On the left are two LEDs for 12V and 5V lines. This side contains a 4 pin Molex socket, 4 pin power for the floppy, and the board's auxiliary power socket.</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/powersupply_tester/03.jpg"><img src="atruereview/powersupply_tester/03th.jpg" alt="EZ Power Supply Tester" border="0" width="250" height="170"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Usage:</strong></p> <p>Listed on <a href="http://www.casebuy.com.tw/acc/acc.htm">Casebuy's web site</a> are the following Instructions for the EZ power supply tester. As you can tell, Casebuy is big on instructions. Nice to see a company put a lot of effort in making sure you know how to use the product.</p> <p>I would highly recommend testing the power supply without any devices hooked to it. If you have a bad power supply, you don't want to ruin the peripherals in your case. I tested a Raidmax power supply that I knew was good. I plugged in the supply, then flipped the on/off switch to on. Finally, I plugged the 20pin connector to the right side of the EZ Power Supply tester.</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/powersupply_tester/06.jpg"><img src="atruereview/powersupply_tester/06th.jpg" alt="USB Vacuum Cleaner" border="0" width="250" height="164"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p>All the lights lit up and a beep was heard. This is a good sign for it means PSU is working correctly. No beep would be heard if their was a problem. I then decided to test the HDD, floppy and Intel P4 line. One by one, I plugged them in on the left side of the device. Only one can be tested at a time. Each time the lights lit up.</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/powersupply_tester/07.jpg"><img src="atruereview/powersupply_tester/07th.jpg" alt="USB Vacuum Cleaner" border="0" width="250" height="207"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p>For fun, I cut one of the four +5Vdc leads on an old PSU I had (230W). Guess what, the EZ Power Supply Tester showed this line as being active. I think the tester should test each individual line in the 20 pin connector. I realize these are tied to the same 5V line on out of the PSU, but you never know if you have a bad connector or wire. I had to actually cut all four to get the LED not to display, then the device had a constant beep.</p> <p align="center"><a href="atruereview/powersupply_tester/09.jpg"><img src="atruereview/powersupply_tester/09th.jpg" alt="USB Vacuum Cleaner" border="0" width="200" height="250"></a><br> <font size="-1">Click on image for larger picture</font> </p> <p>Casebuy's EZ Power Supply Tester only tests if power is present on each line. For voltages, you will have to use a multimeter or a motherboard.</p> <p>Never leave the power supply tester plugged in an unattended. According to Casebuy, the power supply tester will build up serious heat after a while. I used it plugged in for about 20 minutes and it was a little warm, nothing I was too alarmed about. </p> <p><strong>Conclusion:</strong></p> <p> Over and under voltages can slowly or quickly destroy your devices. If the tester could test within a 5% tolerance, I would tell everyone to go out and buy this device. With that said, the tester can check to see if a power supply is providing power on a line, not a wire. This is a very quick and great first step in detecting a bad PSU. Doing this detection with a multimeter would take 20 times longer because each line individual wire would have to be tested.</p> <p><strong>Pros:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Inexpensive</li> <li>Very easy to use</li> <li>Quick detection of major PSU errors</li> </ul> <p><strong>Cons:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Does not test voltages</li> <li>Does not test each connector in the ATX 20 pin</li> </ul> <p><strong>Ratings:</strong></p> <p>Fair</p> <p>(Ratings Possible: Terrible, Very Bad, Bad, Fair, Good, Very Good, Excellent)</p> </td> <td background="../Images/sidebackrt.jpg"width="25" height="739"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="25" background="../Images/botlftcor.jpg" height="23"></td> <td background="../Images/botback.jpg" height="23" width="490"></td> <td width="25" background="../Images/botrtcor.jpg" height="23"></td> <tr> </p> </div> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div id="footer" class="clr"> <div class="rk-1"> <div class="rk-2"> <div id="the-footer">  </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </body> </html>