Caveat emptor is the rallying cry each time somebody finds a nasty shock coming together with a purchase order. But I don’t assume “let the buyer beware” actually applies for those who purchase a product that, along with being duplicitous, may simply burn your own home down. Such was the case with one unfortunate Reddit poster, who opened their new 500-watt energy provide to discover a conspicuous metal field inside. Once opened, the field was discovered to include nothing however a plastic bag of iron filings.

Other posters on the Reddit thread (noticed by Tom’s Hardware) instantly suspected that the field was included so as to add weight to the facility provide, going by the traditional acquired knowledge that if it’s heavy then it must be expensive. But others took a better have a look at the PSU, which lined the unique Chinese model with an English “Equites” label sticker. Another poster famous that the facility provide has no enter safety or output safety, no overcurrent safety, and that its precise output was barely half the five hundred watts on the label.

A scarcity of regulatory or inspection labels seals the deal. As /u/Hattix advises, “Best used with salt, a stake, and a lawyer. Do not use that PSU.”

On the plus aspect the unique poster says that they purchased the facility provide in a bundle with a NAS case, and had no intention of really utilizing it for his or her construct. They have been, in any case, savvy sufficient to open up the facility provide (one thing you shouldn’t do for those who’re a beginner, high-power capacitors can carry a deadly cost!) to examine it for dodgy elements. But let this be a lesson that going low-cost on important elements may simply price you an entire lot extra down the highway.