Blown PSU

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I recently plugged in a psu plug at the wall whilst the psu switch was in the "on" position and the psu went bang. Obviously I've learnt a lesson but I've been doing this for years and never had a problem. Why is the psu more prone to damage this way?
 
Soldato
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Well, it couldn't go bang when it was disconnected, so maybe it was just waiting for that moment to announce it's resignation.
 
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At least when it goes bang like that it's pretty obvious what's gone wrong. Replacing the blown electrolytic capacitor (assuming that is the problem) is simple and may revive a dead PSU. On the other hand, good PSUs don't go bang so maybe it's not worth it :)
 
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PSU's don't tend to fail in service, they're most likely to die when you turn them off and then back on, as as others have stated capacitors can dry out and "insert techy electronics stuff here" causes the PSU to draw excess current at power on.
 
Soldato
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Unless the PSUs with on/off switches built in have some sort of soft-start circuitry, plugging a powered mains lead straight in shouldn’t be any different to plugging an unpowered lead in and turning the PSU or mains socket on.

Time for a decent modular PSU.
 
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Unless the PSUs with on/off switches built in have some sort of soft-start circuitry, plugging a powered mains lead straight in shouldn’t be any different to plugging an unpowered lead in and turning the PSU or mains socket on.

Time for a decent modular PSU.
if it was the be quiet dark power pro 650w that went then it was a decent psu (platinum with 5 yr warranty I believe).

Was the psu old?
 
Soldato
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I had a Seasonic Platinum psu that did the exact same thing. Only difference was, it being plugged into an extension. Turned it on via switch on the back of the psu and it sparked and went bang! Instant psu death! Luckily the psu had a lot of built in safety features that did not result in any other components frying. Managed to get a replacement under warranty with a quick turnaround but after that i switched to EVGA and never looked back or had any issues.
 
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I had a Seasonic Platinum psu that did the exact same thing. Only difference was, it being plugged into an extension. Turned it on via switch on the back of the psu and it sparked and went bang! Instant psu death! Luckily the psu had a lot of built in safety features that did not result in any other components frying. Managed to get a replacement under warranty with a quick turnaround but after that i switched to EVGA and never looked back or had any issues.
My last few PSU's have been EVGA as they have a 7 yr warranty (and made by superflower but yet cheaper and longer warranty!)
 
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