Dave said:
I doubt if either of them would put a significant load on a PSU. The antec
one appears to be much better, for two reasons. First, you can use it with
a multimeter. Second, it can test 24-pin (and 20-pin) power supply
connectors. -Dave
Both products appear to be plastic boxes. If the products placed
a load on the power supply, the resistor they used to do it, would
get hot. The heat has to go somewhere. The plastic would melt,
or the circuitry inside the plastic box would be fried. Any loading
seems unlikely. Best case, those plastic boxes hold a number of
window comparators. Good for checking whether your 12V, is between
11.4V and 12.6V etc. You can do that check just as easy with a
multimeter, and the multimeter gives real numbers.
To test power supplies, I built my own load box. And yes, the resistors
on that, get mighty hot. My load box has an 80mm fan, to keep all
the resistors cool. The loading is not too great, and is about 100W
total or so. Basically, just enough loading to detect a DOA PSU.
My load box is not intended as a proof of performance. All components
were picked off the shelf, of my one and only "good" electronics store
(not Radio Shack). The price of the project, depends a lot on where
you get your resistors - a surplus place will give you a better
deal.
This is an example of a real load box. This one offers variable loading.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2002/10/21/inadequate_and_deceptive_product_labeling/page4.html
Paul
