PassMark PM123 User manual

Inline PSU Tester –User’s Guide Page 1
Inline PSU Tester
Users Guide
Model PM123 Rev 1
Document Edition: 1.3
Date: 1 November 2019
Web site: www.passmark.com

Inline PSU Tester –User’s Guide Page 2
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Warnings –Important –Please read..............................................................................4
Background....................................................................................................................5
ATX and ATX12V standards ....................................................................................5
Major changes in ATX/ATX12V revisions...............................................................5
PSU Cables ................................................................................................................6
DC Regulation range..................................................................................................8
Output Ripple/Noise ..................................................................................................8
Timings......................................................................................................................8
Ramp up.....................................................................................................................9
Power sequencing ....................................................................................................10
Efficiency.................................................................................................................10
Device Operation.........................................................................................................11
Configurations..........................................................................................................11
LCD Display............................................................................................................12
Keypad.....................................................................................................................13
Input and output connectors.....................................................................................14
Cables.......................................................................................................................15
How to Test a power supply unit.............................................................................16
Monitoring Software....................................................................................................17
Main Window ..........................................................................................................17
Configuration Window ............................................................................................19
Driver Installation........................................................................................................20
Windows Installation (Win7 & Win10)...................................................................20
Technical Specification................................................................................................21
Software Compatibility................................................................................................22
Troubleshooting...........................................................................................................22
Some real-world faulty power supply tests..................................................................23
Antec EA-550 GREEN............................................................................................23
Antec NeoECO 520C...............................................................................................24
Seasonic SSR-360GP Active PFC F3......................................................................26
Seasonic SSR-650RM Active PFC F3.....................................................................27
OCZ600MXSP.........................................................................................................29
Disclaimer....................................................................................................................29

Inline PSU Tester –User’s Guide Page 3
Introduction
The PSU Tester can be used to diagnose and troubleshoot your desktop power supply.
With the PSU Tester, you can:
•Check power supply voltages are within the approved limits.
•Record the minimum and maximum of voltage and current for each voltage rail.
•Measure the exact power drawn from each voltage rail.
•Measure the total power drawn from the power supply.
•Test for ripple on main voltage rails (1).
•Measure and check Power-on Time (T1), Rise Time (T2), PWR_OK delay (T3)
and Power-down warning (T6) and check them against the specification.
•Measure the minimum slew rate on main voltage rails (1) during power up.
•Check that the turn-on slope of main voltage rails (1) is positive during power up
(smooth power up).
•Check power sequencing is correct
1. Main voltage rails are +12V1DC, +12V2DC (12V CPU), +5VDC and +3.3VDC

Inline PSU Tester –User’s Guide Page 4
Warnings –Important –Please read.
Do not skip this step. Safety should be your primary concern during a power
supply test with a PSU tester.
•Remove anything conductive from your hands (e.g. metal rings, watches, or
bracelets) before testing a PSU or working inside your computer.
•Only use the original cables that comes with the tester. The PCIe cable that
comes with the tester, is not a standard cable and is custom-made for the
tester. Using other cables could lead to short circuit between the voltage rails.
•Make sure all the cables are fully inserted. A loose connection introduces
more electrical resistance which can lead to melting of the wires under high
load (or even a fire).
•In the case of a dramatic failure of the device under test, you may see smoke
coming from the power supply or inside the case or smell a burning. In this
case unplug the power supply from the wall. Do not touch the PSU or the PSU
Tester in such circumstances.
•Always have someone monitor the testing in case the device under test
suddenly fails. Do not start a test and walk away.
•If the PSU Tester is inline (connected to both power supply and motherboard),
do not power up using the keypad on the tester. Instead, use the PC power
button. This is just a precaution against poor engineered power supplies that
do not meet ATX standards and can prevent a short on the PS_ON line.
•In standalone mode the tester will dissipate 4Watts of power (in order to place
a test load on the PSU). This can result in the base of the tester becoming
warm to touch after a short period of time. The tester will automatically
terminate testing after 1 minute to avoid overheating.

Inline PSU Tester –User’s Guide Page 5
Background
A power supply unit (or PSU) converts mains AC to low-voltage regulated DC power
for the internal components of a computer. The PSU normally supplies +3.3 V, +5 V,
and +12 V and -12V to a PC. Older systems (before Pentium 4 and Athlon XP
platforms) were designed to draw most power from 5 V and 3.3 V rails, while the
newer machines draw most of their power from the 12 V rail. The −12 V supply is
primarily used to provide the negative supply voltage for RS-232 ports and is also
used by one pin on conventional PCI slots to provide a reference voltage for some
models of sound cards.
ATX and ATX12V standards
ATX (Advanced Technology eXtended) is a motherboard and power supply
configuration specification developed by Intel in 1995. The specification defines the
key mechanical dimensions, mounting point, I/O panel, power and connector
interfaces between a computer case, a motherboard and a power supply. There is also
another specification called ATX12V which only describes the PSU.
Major changes in ATX/ATX12V revisions
ATX Version
Introduction date
Main changes from previous version
ATX
1995
-Created 20 pin main power cable
-Included 4 pin peripheral power cable
-Included floppy power cable
ATX12V 1.0
2000
-Added 4 pin 12V power cable. Older
computers put most of their load on 3.3
and 5 volts. As time passed, computers
drew more and more of their load from
12V.
-Added 6 pin auxiliary power cable. It was
added to provide extra wattage to
motherboards for 3.3 and 5 volts.
-Increased 12V output power
ATX12V 1.3
2003
-Added SATA power cable
-Made -5V rail optional
-Increased 12V output power
ATX12V 2.0
2003
-Changed to 24 pin main power cable. The
24-pin main power connector was added
in ATX12V 2.0 to provide extra power
needed by PCI Express slots. The older 20
pin main power cable only has one 12V
line.
-Removed 6 pin auxiliary power cable
-Added 20A current limit to rails
-Increased 12V output power
-Reduced 3.3V and 5V output power
Table 1
As of now, the latest version is ATX12V v2.4, published in April 2013.

Inline PSU Tester –User’s Guide Page 6
PSU Cables
Typically, power supplies have the following connectors:
-Motherboard power cable: This is the cable that goes to the motherboard to
provide it with power. The connector has either 20 or 24 pins. The older 20
pin main power cable only has one 12V line. The new 24 pin connector added
one line apiece for ground, 3.3, 5, and 12V. Many power supplies come with a
20+4 pin cable which is compatible with both 20 and 24 pin motherboards.
Figure 1: 24-pin connector
Color
Signal
Pin
Pin
Signal
Color
Orange
+3.3 V
1
13
+3.3 V
Orange
+3.3 V sense
Brown
Orange
+3.3 V
2
14
−12 V
Blue
Black
Ground
3
15
Ground
Black
Red
+5 V
4
16
Power on
Green
Black
Ground
5
17
Ground
Black
Red
+5 V
6
18
Ground
Black
Black
Ground
7
19
Ground
Black
Grey
Power good
8
20
Reserved
None
Purple
+5 V standby
9
21
+5 V
Red
Yellow
+12 V
10
22
+5 V
Red
Yellow
+12 V
11
23
+5 V
Red
Orange
+3.3 V
12
24
Ground
Black
Table 2: 24-pin motherboard power connector pinout
-CPU power cable: This is the cable that goes to the motherboard to provide
power to CPU. The connector has either 4 or 8 pins. The older 4 pin CPU
power cable only has two 12V line. The new 4+4 pin connector added two
more 12V lines. Many power supplies come with a 4+4 cable which is
compatible with both 4 and 8 pin motherboards.

Inline PSU Tester –User’s Guide Page 7
Figure 2: 8-pin CPU power connector
Color
Signal
Pin
Pin
Signal
Color
Black
Ground
1
5
+12 V
Yellow
Black
Ground
2
6
+12 V
Yellow
Black
Ground
3
7
+12 V
Yellow
Black
Ground
4
8
+12 V
Yellow
Table 3: 8-pin CPU power connector pinout
-PCI Express power cable: This is the cable that goes to the PCI Express cards
(e.g. graphic cards). Some graphic cards have 6 pin PCI Express power
connectors and others have 8 pin connectors. Many power supplies come with
a 6+2 PCI Express power cable which is compatible with both kinds of
graphic cards. The 6+2 PCI Express power cable is made up of two pieces: a
6-pin piece, and a 2-pin piece.
Figure 3: 8-pin PCI Express connector
Color
Signal
Pin
Pin
Signal
Color
Yellow
+12 V
1
5
Ground
Black
Yellow
+12 V
2
6
Ground
Black
Yellow
+12 V
3
7
Ground
Black
Black
Ground
4
8
Ground
Black
Table 4: 8-pin PCI Express connector pinout
-SATA power cable: This is the cable that goes to the hard drives.

Inline PSU Tester –User’s Guide Page 8
Figure 4: 15-pin SATA connector
Pin
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Signal
+3.3 V
Ground
+5 V
Ground
+12 V
Table 5: 15-pin SATA connector pinout
DC Regulation range
The DC output voltages shall remain within the regulation ranges shown in Table 1.
PSU Output line
Range
Min.
Nom.
Max.
Unit
+12V1DC
±5%
+11.40
+12.00
+12.60
Volts
+12V2DC (12V CPU)
±5%
+11.40
+12.00
+12.60
Volts
+5V
±5%
+4.75
+5.00
+5.25
Volts
+3.3VDC
±5%
+3.14
+3.30
+3.47
Volts
-12VDC
±10%
-10.80
-12.00
-13.20
Volts
+5VSB
±5%
+4.75
+5.00
+5.25
Volts
Table 6
Output Ripple/Noise
The output ripple/noise requirements listed in Table 2.
Output
Max. Ripple & Noise (mVpp)
+12V1DC
120
+12V2DC (12V CPU)
120
+5VDC
50
+3.3VDC
50
-12VDC
120
+5VSB
50
Table 7
mVpp = Millivolts peak to peak
Timings
Below you can see the timing diagram for the power good signal as available on the
ATX12V specification. “VAC” is the input alternating voltage, i.e., the voltage from
the wall. PS_ON# is the “power on” signal (i.e., you pushed the “standby” button
from the computer case). “O/P’s” stand for “operating points.” And PWR_OK is the
power good signal.

Inline PSU Tester –User’s Guide Page 9
Figure 5
Power-on Time (T1): The power-on time is defined as the time from when PS_ON# is
pulled low to when the +12VDC, +5VDC, and +3.3VDC outputs are within the
regulation ranges. The power-on time shall be less than 500 ms (T1 < 500 ms).
Rise Time (T2): The output voltages shall rise from ≤10% of nominal to within the
regulation ranges within 0.1 ms to 20 ms (0.1 ms ≤ T2 ≤ 20 ms).
PWR_OK delay (T3): PWR_OK is a “power good” signal. It should be asserted high
by the power supply to indicate that the +12VDC, +5VDC, and +3.3VDC outputs are
above the under-voltage thresholds. The PWR_OK time shall be asserted high within
300ms to 500ms after outputs are above the under-voltage thresholds (300 ms < T3 <
500 ms).
Power-down warning (T6): During power-down, the PWR_OK signal should be
asserted low at least 1ms before the +12VDC, +5VDC, and +3.3VDC outputs reach
their under-voltage thresholds (T6 ≥ 1ms).
Ramp up
There must be a smooth and continuous ramp of each DC output voltage from 10% to
90% of its final set-point within the regulation band. The smooth turn-on requires
that, during the 10% to 90% portion of the rise time, the slope of the turn-on
waveform must be positive. The tester monitors the slope and report it as “Positive
Slope”. Also, for any 5ms segment of the 10% to 90% risetime waveform, a straight
line drawn between the end points of the waveform segment must have a slope ≥
[Vout, nominal / 20] V/ms. The tester measures the minimum slope across all 5ms
segments during power-up and displays it as “T2 Min Slew Rate”.
Output
T2 Min Slew Rate (V/ms)
+12V1
0.6
+5V
0.25
+3.3V
0.165
+12V2 (12V CPU)
0.6
Table 8

Inline PSU Tester –User’s Guide Page 10
Power sequencing
The +12 VDC and +5 VDC output levels must always be equal to or greater than the
+3.3 output during power-up and normal operation. The time between the +12VDC or
+5VDC output reaching its minimum in-regulation level and +3.3VDC reaching its
minimum in-regulation level must be ≤ 20 ms. The PSU Tester checks the timing
sequencing and report it as “T SEQ”.
Efficiency
80 Plus (trademarked 80 PLUS) is a voluntary certification program intended to
promote efficient energy use in computer power supply units (PSUs). It certifies
products that have more than 80% energy efficiency at 20%, 50% and 100% of rated
load, and a power factor of 0.9 or greater at 100% load. Such PSUs waste 20% or less
electric energy as heat at the specified load levels, reducing electricity use and bills
compared to less efficient PSUs.
80 Plus test type[4]
115 V internal non-
redundant
230 V internal redundant
230 V EU internal non-
redundant
Percentage of rated
load
10%
20%
50%
100%
10%
20%
50%
100%
10%
20%
50%
100%
80 Plus
80%
80%
80%
82%
85%
82%
80 Plus Bronze
82%
85%
82%
81%
85%
81%
85%
88%
85%
80 Plus Silver
85%
88%
85%
85%
89%
85%
87%
90%
87%
80 Plus Gold
87%
90%
87%
88%
92%
88%
90%
92%
89%
80 Plus Platinum
90%
92%
89%
90%
94%
91%
92%
94%
90%
80 Plus Titanium
90%
92%
94%
90%
90%
94%
96%
91%
90%
94%
96%
94%
Table 9: Efficiency level certifications