In order to get our computer to work, let's give it some power.
Computers have a power supply that converts electricity from your wall to
something usable.
There are two types of electricity, DC, or direct current, which flows in one
direction and AC, or alternating current, which changes directions constantly.
Our computers use DC voltage, so we have to have a way to convert the AC voltage
from our power company to something we can use.
That's what our power supply does.
It converts the AC we get from the wall into low voltage DC
power that we can use and transmit throughout our computer.
So let's talk about power supplies.
I actually have one right here.
Let me show you how one looks like.
Let me take it out right here.
So most power supply units have a fan, which is right in here.
They also has voltage information just normally listed underneath or
on the side, and cables, like this one, to power your motherboard,
and, A power cable.
Have you ever plugged one of your devices into the wall outlet and
fried your device?
If you haven't, you're really lucky.
After completing this lesson, hopefully you will know how to avoid that situation.
To understand electricity, we must use the example of water pipes.
Our sinks have a faucet that's connected to a pressurized water tank.
When we turn on the faucet, water comes out.
This is sort of like how electricity works.
When we plug an appliance into a wall outlet and
turn it on, a flow of electricity comes out.
If we added more pressure to our water tank, would more water come out of it?
The higher the pressure, the more water there will be.
When it comes to electricity, we refer to the pressure as voltage.
So when I was on vacation, to my surprise, when I plugged in that 120 volt appliance
into a 220 volt outlet, the power came busting through and fried my charger.
If it was the other way around, and a 220 volt appliance
was plugged into a 120 volt outlet, I wouldn't have seen the same outcome.
I'll still be able to get electricity, but slowly.
This would be similar to if a water tank whose only half pressurized,
it will drew water, but slowly.
In some cases though, this can deteriorate the performance of the device and
cause damage in the long term.
As a general rule, be sure to use the proper voltage for your electronics.
We refer to the amount of electricity coming out as current or amperage, and
it's measured in amps.
We can think of amps as pulling electricity,
as opposed to voltage, which pushes electricity.
Amps will pull as much electricity needed, but voltage will just give you everything.
Look on the back of the one of your device charges, you might see something like 1 or
2.1a.
Charging a device with 2.1 amps will actually charge a device faster because
it's able to put current from a 2.1 amp than a 1 amp charger.
Finally, the other important part of the electricity that you will need to know
is the wattage.
Wattage is the amount of volts and amps that a device needs.
If your power supply has too low of a wattage,
you won't be able to power your computer, so make sure you have enough.
This doesn't mean that if you have a large power supply,
you'll overpower your computer.
Power supplies just give you the amount that your system needs.
It's best to error on the side of large power supplies.
You can power most basic desktops with a 500 watt power supply, but
if you're doing something more demanding on your computer,
like playing a high-resolution video game or doing a lot of video production and
rendering, you'll likely need a bigger power supply for your computer.
On the other hand, if all you're doing is just browsing the Web,
the power supply that comes with your computer should be fine.
All kinds of issues are caused by a bad power supply.
Sometimes the computer doesn't even turn on at all.
Since power supplies can fail for lots of reasons like burnouts, power surges,
or even lightning strikes, knowing how to diagnose power issues and replace a failed
power supply is a skill every IT support specialist should have in their toolbox.
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