Can Speakers blow the Power Unit in a PC?

flashnazia

I would be very grateful for some advice.

The power unit (PSU) in my PC went last month. The pc is still under a year old.

When I said it should be covered under warranty the supplier refused, saying that the PSU failed because of the speakers.

The speakers get the power from the PC power supply (plugs into the power cable before it goes into the tower via a three pin socket/adapter).

When the techie plugged everything back in after fixing the PSU he said the adapter was 'crackling' when he moved the tower, so he pulled it out and decided that was the cause of the PSU blow-out.

I would have thought its a loose connection, as the adapter wasn't plugged in securely.

I'll also add that another techie told me (on phone before the visit) that it probably was the PSU as the PC manufacturer was known to have flimsy PSU's that failed easily.

Would be grateful for thoughts.

fwor

It's possible, but very unlikely. If the speakers are connecting to the mains power on the mains power lead (I think that's what you mean) the PSU should be designed so that interference incoming on the mains should not make it fail.

From personal experience, it's far more likely that the crackling was coincidental, and that the PSU failed of its own accord - in general it is the PC component that fails more frequently than any other.

I'd suggest you ask the techie to ~prove~ that it was your adaptor that caused the failure, rather than just giving that as an opinion (which happens to be rather convenient for him).

fiddiwebb

The speakers get the power from the PC power supply (plugs into the power cable before it goes into the tower via a three pin socket/adapter).

Sorry don't quite understand that part?

Are you saying the power supply for the speakers plugs into the power supply cable for the PC?

What size are these speakers, who supplied the PC and did the speakers come with it?

Richie-from-the-Boro

"" before it goes into the tower ""

flashnazia, a picture would help, people will really struggle to understand this unheard of phenomena unless you mean a bog standard IEC pass through on the PSU.

flashnazia

Thanks for the replies.

Sorry for my cloudy explanation. I've searched high and low for a pic on the net but can't find one! I'm at work and don't have a camera on me.

I'll try to explain it better:

The speakers (Tsunami) have no power plug of their own. They get power from the PC tower. They attach to the tower in two places, the headphone jack and the power socket.

Insead of a plug at the end of speaker power cable there is an adapter. To clarify, the three-pin PC power cord plugs directly into the female end of the speaker adapter. The male end then plugs into the tower. The adapter basically has a male connection on one side and female on other (For those that think I'm being dirty I'm not - this the the way things are described in the plumbing/electrical world!) :rotfl:

The speakers were not supplied with the PC but have been pat tested.

HO87

I've unsuccessfully tried to find a picture of the type of in-line adapter that the OP is talking about. Power is supplied to the speakers by an adapter that has both a male and female plug/socket. The adapter plugs into the 3-pin 240v in socket in the rear of the PSU and the 240v supply cable from the mains plugs into the rear of the adapter thus supplying power to the speakers and, through the adapter, to the PC's PSU. Similar adapters were sometimes supplied with CRT monitors with only a single power socket.

I can't see how this type of cable could cause a PSU to blow?

[Edit] Found one - allbeit a little small.

JasX

HO87 wrote: »

I can't see how this type of cable could cause a PSU to blow?

Nor I, he seems to be taking a very far fetched and particularly convenient theoretical cause that coule be responsible, very very unlikely it is, he certainly has no proof, and very likely has no idea what the failure mode is (has he taken the old one apart?).

basically he's guessing, and on the 0.001% chance the bit that wasn't his caused the fault he's messing you about.

Going forward if returning things under warranty I tend to return ONLY the bits that particular person/company was responsible for to avoid giving them the chance to make excuses... Can't offer much specific advice based on where you are now.

Did you pay him already? did he charge for parts AND labour? do you have the failed PSU which you might well be able to return directly to the manufacturer for a free warranty repalcement? they're very easy to swap out yourself.

flashnazia

Thanks for the replies.

Its as I suspected, a loose connection crackle being blamed for a blow-out.

We haven't paid yet but have been sent an invoice.

Any tips for polite wording on why I dispute the finding?

JasX

flashnazia wrote: »

Any tips for polite wording on why I dispute the finding?

what kind of company are you talking about

-small independent?
-large company?
-online retailer?

did they sell you a custom PC they built themselves as a one off? or was it a pretty standard Dell/HP/other big brand offering?

how much is the invoice and what exactly are they charging you for (eg £XX for PSU, £YY for labour -did you take it to him or did he come out to visit you?)

did you get any explicit gurantee's with the unit or just standard manufacturers warranties?

did the same guy supply the speakers or did you buy them separately/add them yourself?

Hammyman

HO87 wrote: »

I can't see how this type of cable could cause a PSU to blow?

[Edit] Found one - allbeit a little small.

Quite easy. If there's a loose connection, it will cause voltage and current spikes.

Hammyman

flashnazia wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

Its as I suspected, a loose connection crackle being blamed for a blow-out.

We haven't paid yet but have been sent an invoice.

Any tips for polite wording on why I dispute the finding?

Its not the sound being blamed for the blowout but the resulting voltage and current spiking from the intermittent connection.