powering up older machines - is it safe?

[schwepes at moog.netaxs.com]

I've had the issue twice.  The first time was a Heathkit stereo where
a bad capacitor killed the transformer and the second one was an Acer
286 that had a mouse problem, biological kind.
bs


On Wed, 4 Jun 2008, Tony Duell wrote:

> > I can understand worrying about something that's not been used for
> > a few years, but if you check everything that's not been used for
> > just a few months, when do you have time to actually _do_ anything?
>
> Well, if I am using a machine every day, I don't check it every time
> (there's no point, the PSU could fail in the time between checking it and
> reconnectin it to the logic :-)). But if I get a machine out that I've
> not used recently, then, yes, I do check it.
>
> It doesn't take me long. I've probably done it before, so I know what to
> unplug, where to connect the dummy load (if needed) and the meter, and so
> on. In come cases, I've built up test units, in which case it takes even
> less time.
>
> And 10 minutes, or so, spent checking the PSU is easily a lot less than
> the time it would take me to sort out the damage caused by a
> malfunctioning PSU.
>
> -tony
>
>