Heating is a major issue with electrical and electronic devices. Computer hardware is also prone to heating issues due to the intense workload. If you have old tech, then it may not be able to process the upgraded software tasks and may lead to severe heating of the hardware.
The power source in a PC is the Power Supply Unit (PSU). The PSU provides the necessary voltage from the mains to each hardware. When a component requires more processing power, it starts to utilize all of its resources and needs more juice. This is provided by the PSU and there is a limit to its capacity too. When there is too much load, the PSU can also start to overheat.
This is where the necessity to monitor the temperature of the PSU arises. But is it possible? How to do it? Let us find out in this article.
How to Monitor Power Supply Temperature?
PSUs are not equipped with an inbuilt temperature monitor. So, you cannot check the temperature of the PSU directly using any software. There are certain power supplies used in servers that are equipped with inbuilt monitors but they are very expensive. But it is not impossible to find out the temperature of the PSU. Here are some methods you can use to monitor the temperature of the power supply.
Monitor the Exhaust Air Temperature
All power supply units have at least one exhaust fan to remove the heat. We can use this to our advantage to find out the working of PSU.
There are two ways to check the exhaust air temperature:
- Manual Monitoring Using Hands
- Thermometer Monitoring
Manual Monitoring
You can find the exhaust of the PSU at the back of your PC case. So, with the help of your hand, feel the heat of the exhaust air from the unit. If it is very hot, then your PSU is overheating.
This is one of the easiest ways to find out the inner conditions of the PSU. It is harmless and doesn’t require any additional tools to monitor.
You should also be careful not to take it too close to the PC. The air temperature will not be very hot to harm the body. But it is better to be at a safe distance to check the temperature.
Thermometer Monitoring
With hands, you can only get an assumption of the working temperature. But with a thermometer, you can get data and you can use it to monitor the PSU.
Although you cannot get accurate readings with the infrared thermometer used for humans, you can get a closer result with this technique.
This is a better way to understand the PSU’s condition and you can optimize your hardware accordingly.
You can also use a humidity gauge which is slightly costly and bulky to assess the accurate temperature reading of your PSU. It is difficult to set up but you can get more accurate temperature monitoring.
This temperature reading can also be continuously monitored with a help of a software application linked to the gauge.
Thermocouple Monitoring
This is another accurate way to find out the working temperature of the PSU in real-time. A thermocouple is a device that can convert the temperature into electrical signals and using an algorithm, it will convert the output voltage into temperature readings to display it. So, you will need a digital thermocouple with two probes which can help you to find out the temperature of the unit with respect to the outside temperature.
Steps to install a thermocouple
- Turn off the PC and remove all the power cables.
- Remove the PSU from the case and take it to a clean workstation.
- Now take the thermocouple and insert one of the probes into the exhaust vent. Make sure that you are not touching any wires or metal inside the PSU.
- As for the other probe, place it on top of the PSU casing and stick it using tape.
- Place the digital monitor outside the PC case so that you can easily check the temperature.
- Start the PC and let the PSU run for a few minutes.
- Now start the digital monitor and check the temperature. Take periodic readings and note them down.
- If the temperatures exceed 70 degrees Celsius, then there is an issue imminent with your hardware or the PSU itself.
These are the ways in which you can find the temperature of the power supply and monitor it. Check out the recommended guides and try whichever is appropriate for you.
Read: Does the Power Supply Affect Performance?
Why do we need to monitor the power supply temperature?
It is not a condition to monitor the PSU temperature all the time. But sometimes it is necessary to monitor the unit so that you can diagnose the actual issue with your PC. Here are the top reasons to monitor the PSU temperature.
- Overheating of PSU indicates a major issue with your PC hardware. Critical components like CPU, GPU, etc. can draw excess power from the supply unit and cause the device to overheat. So, if you can sense the temperature, you can easily find out the problem.
- Sometimes your hardware may work just fine but the PSU may have issues regulating the voltage and start overheating. This might lead to other complications like hardware failure. Therefore, if you can see any abnormal increase in the temperature, you can immediately look into the issue.
- If the PSU cannot work properly with the motherboard, it can also result in overheating issues. When you can keep a check on the temperature, you can easily find the root cause of the problem.
So, now we have understood the importance of temperature monitoring of the PSU and you can now resolve any error with the hardware or software immediately.
Read: 3 Best Methods to discharge a computer PSU
Conclusion
PSU is an important part of a PC. Heating can happen in the unit due to several reasons, but there isn’t any inbuilt monitoring system for a PSU. So, we need to improvise our system with additional tech to find out the temperature. Check out the recommended options and keep a check on the temperature of the PSU all the time.