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Redditor finds heavy block of iron shavings inside cheap PSU, also appears to lack safety protections
(www.tomshardware.com)
this post was submitted on 08 Dec 2023
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Isn't this pretty common in a lot of consumer electronics? Pretty sure power banks and hard drives frequently have weights added to them
Only in cheap chinese shit. Don't buy cheap chinese shit. Heavy stuff is heavy because transformers and huge MOSFETs are pricey.
Why? What's the benefit of adding weights? Surely smaller and lighter is better?
People think weight = quality.
Sometimes it can indicate something is better made, like something made with lots of plastic vs more metal. In a PSU you need lots of metal for the windings, cores, and power stabilization components. It should have some heft to it.
Unscrupulous manufacturers will sometimes throw chunks of metal into an item (like Beats headphones) that do nothing except make a thing weigh more to prey on the sense that weight means better quality.
Feels more premium
In certain devices (batteries and power supplies) there's a minimum weight that can realistically store or convert a specified amount of energy or power.
So if you buy a 1000w PSU and it's too light, you're going to know it is fake. So they add the weight to make it feel right for the power rating. In this case this is a double-whammy of a failure waiting to happen. A PSU with a lower than advertised rating, coupled with a lack of safety circuitry means it's more likely to fail due to the overload applied, and when it fails it's more likely to go out in a big way.
I think they were asking about legitimate benefits of adding weights to consumer electronics.
I could see it making sense in a hard drive to dampen vibrations but that’s a stretch
~~There legitimately aren't any, so no, I doubt they were asking that.~~ Derp, yes they were, context is important kids! Leaving the rest of my original answer, as it's accurate:
In some handhelds, you might see small counterweights added to make them easier to hold for long periods, or to stop them tipping over when in a table, but for internal components (like power supplies) there's never a need to add weights.
That's definitely what they meant, I don't know why you're so certain otherwise. Just because a question doesn't have an answer doesn't mean it wasn't asked.