Seasonic Platinum 1000W Power Supply Review

Test Setup

The load

In order to
be able to effectively and efficiently test any computer power supply unit, we
developed and constructed our own proprietary testing station. Our testing
station consists of a number of power resistors and small capacitors, which in turn
are connected to a RS485 electronic relay array which allow our load to be
controlled through computer software alone.

USB interface and
connection panel

When
accuracy and speed are of critical importance, a simple multimeter or voltage
meter is not sufficient for the task. To ensure the quality of our testing, an
USB laboratory interface is being used to continuously monitor and record the
readings of all voltage lines simultaneously. For ripple measurements, an
oscilloscope is necessary and we chose the USB Instruments Stingray, the most
widely used oscilloscope amongst low voltage PSU engineers and testers.

Measurement
instruments

For
accurate testing and repeatable results, a stable power input is also required.
Thus, we are providing power to our test samples through a 3kVA VARIAC which
allows us to control the input voltage of our test samples and also perform
efficiency tests under both 110V AC and 230V AC input. A Lutron DW-6091 is also
being used, monitoring the input voltage, real and apparent power, power factor
and amperage.

The software

A power supply testing procedure
would not be complete without thermal and acoustics tests. For our acoustics
tests we are using a SL-5868P digital sound level meter, placed 1 meter away
from the unit (DIN standard). Two PT100 sensors and their respective displays
are being used to monitor the ambient temperature and the exhaust temperature
of the unit.

Complete test setup
during trial run