Ever wondered how your power supply turns on? Ever wanted to turn one on without the use of a computer?

If you use a water cooling kit, or just need to quickly test a fan, this tiny bit of information can save you the hassle of turning on your PC.

All you have to do is connect the green wire (normally thinner than the rest of the cables) to ANY black wire. This can be done easily with a short piece of wire.

If the power supply doesn’t immediately turn on (within 2 seconds) remove the wire, you may have connected it to the wrong wires. Nearly every power supply won’t allow a short to damage the unit, but it’s not a wise plan.  

Once on, the power supply isn’t loaded so the voltages won’t be as stable as if they were used in a full PC, however it’ll be sufficient for most uses. It’s not a good idea to leave a power supply on in this fashion for a long period of time too.