Got all excited to spend the evening tweaking OS/CPU/RAM for some SB benching fun later this weekend.
Flipped on the SS and it triggered the GFI.
Grumbling to myself about crappy current protection getting in the way of awesomeness, I tried resetting the switch with no juice.
Got heavy extension cord to a new outlet and settled in to troubleshoot.
1) Monitor works fine.
2) GFI triggered every time I plugged in the SS - even to a surge protector powered OFF.
3) Remembered that the yahoo who built my SS wired the switch so that OFF means ON and ON means OFF. I can say whatever I want about the builder. I have no idea who he or she is - I bought it 3rd hand.
4) No good. GFI triggers no matter what.
Take off the casing and find this:
sswiring1.jpg
sswiring2.jpg
A bracket welded to the compressor was pressed up tight against those contacts and shorting the power plug.
I couldn't get the casing back together without that short happening (tried several times) so I externalized the whole plug and it fired up like a champ when I switched it "OFF"
sswiring3.jpg
Temporary fix. But I'm relieved I don't have to figure out where to send this sucker for repairs.
Moral of the story?
Mod your hardware! It teaches you valuable troubleshooting skills you can use in real life.
