Protection Features Evaluation

Every PSU should be equipped with a protection set which will protect the PSU and the whole system. You can learn more about PSU protections if you read through the corresponding section of our "A Detailed Look Into PSUs" article.

In a snap, the most important protections for PSUs are the following:

• Over Current Protection (OCP)
• Over Power Protection (OPP)
• Over Temperature Protection (OTP)
• Over/Under Voltage Protection (OVP/UVP)
• Short Circuit Protection (SCP)
• No-load Operation (NLO)
• Surge and Inrush Protection (SIP)

We should note here that OCP isn't usually offered in single +12V rail PSUs, especially high capacity ones. In such units, OPP takes over. OTP is very important, and we won't mess with OVP/UVP until we find a way to safely evaluate it.

OCP is set high on the minor rails, and OPP should be set to less than 130% since the PSU doesn't feature OTP, which means such high power output could damage the unit under increased ambient temperatures. Short circuit protection is present on all rails, as expected, and the power OK signal is accurate despite the PSU's short hold-up time.