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Archive: https://archive.today/51W9d

From the post:

>When you first get your hands on an old piece of equipment, regardless of whether it’s an old PC or some lab equipment, there is often the temptation to stick a power lead into it and see what the happy electrons make it do. Although often this will work out fine, there are many reasons why this is a terrible idea. As many people have found out by now, you can be met by the wonderful smell of a Rifa capacitor blowing smoke in the power supply, or by fascinatingly dangly damaged power wires, as the [Retro Hack Shack] on YouTube found recently in an old Gateway PC.

Archive: https://archive.today/51W9d From the post: >>When you first get your hands on an old piece of equipment, regardless of whether it’s an old PC or some lab equipment, there is often the temptation to stick a power lead into it and see what the happy electrons make it do. Although often this will work out fine, there are many reasons why this is a terrible idea. As many people have found out by now, you can be met by the wonderful smell of a Rifa capacitor blowing smoke in the power supply, or by fascinatingly dangly damaged power wires, as the [Retro Hack Shack] on YouTube found recently in an old Gateway PC.

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[–] • 1 pt

It might also be a good idea to open up the power supply and look for Class Y Rifa safety capacitors. These caps are notorious for failing due to age and will not hesitate to smoke, explode or catch fire. They are easy to identify by their boxy shape, yellow tinted transparent outer case and and markings. If you see visible cracks in the outer casing, do not power it on and replace it with an appropriate class Y safety cap before proceeding. These things will ruin your day as fast as any tantalum cap will when they go pop.