How does the xbox deal with electrical problems?

[alfredo2]

I fixed my water damaged xbox today with a lot of help and pointers from some of the guys here.

Basically my xbox was water damaged a few years ago, after a long time drying out I turned it on and it would only stay on for about 20 minutes before shutting itself off.

I never really planned on fixing it as I have many replacements but today I noticed that the fan was dead and I replaced it, now it seems to be working fine. 

What led me to do this was another issue, I had forgotten about the damage earlier this week and booted the console up to grab some files, anyway the console shut itself down a few times while I was going about some other things around the house.

I don't know much about electricity, basically just hot, neutral and ground, that's about it.

So I was thinking about how I had this damaged xbox plugged into a power strip with several other consoles and whether this damaged xbox could damage other consoles sharing its powerstrip if used.

Now I have been told by the higher ups here that it is not a problem, but I would like to know why. Basically how does a (specifically 1.6) xbox deal with electrical problems, whether it is a short, water damage, any electrical issues. What prevents it from damaging other consoles that share a power strip or power plug?

I know the xbox does not have a grounding prong so what prevents any excess charge traveling to other systems? My xbox had a dead fan which I would assume shorted out from water damage, how does that factor? (specifically a 1.6 xbox)

Many thanks guys for all your help and I hope I am not being a pain.

[SS_Dave]

The Xbox is called a double insulated item here and the is no ground/earth to the Xbox, Although here the neutral pin of the AC outlet is also connected to ground at the substation not the means much when the plug in the back of the console can be fitted either way. Most homes made in the last 15 to 20 years will/should have a RDC (residual current device) in the main fuse box that would trip if the Xbox was wet when connected and that would protect you.

Like this.

The chance of the Xbox causing damage to any other device on the same power strip is basically zero unless the AV leads are all connect to a screen and even then it would be a extremely small chance as the RCD would kick in 1st.

 

 

Even in standby there is dangerous voltages present in the Xbox

Here I have the black lead of the meter in the earth/ground pin of the AC outlet and the red on one of the screws and it reads approx. 1/2 on the mains(220 volt) , This is with the Xbox in standby.

All Xbox PSU's have a fuse on the mains input that will blow in the event of a major failure.

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

 

[Bowlsnapper]

Good info, dave.

I have personally always been bothered by the fact that the xbox never had a ground. Always seemed like a stunning oversight. And i've had ground loops in my audio with my component to hdmi converter and it drives me nuts!

[alfredo2]

12 hours ago, SS_Dave said:

The Xbox is called a double insulated item here and the is no ground/earth to the Xbox, Although here the neutral pin of the AC outlet is also connected to ground at the substation not the means much when the plug in the back of the console can be fitted either way. Most homes made in the last 15 to 20 years will/should have a RDC (residual current device) in the main fuse box that would trip if the Xbox was wet when connected and that would protect you.

Like this.

The chance of the Xbox causing damage to any other device on the same power strip is basically zero unless the AV leads are all connect to a screen and even then it would be a extremely small chance as the RCD would kick in 1st.

 

 

Even in standby there is dangerous voltages present in the Xbox

Here I have the black lead of the meter in the earth/ground pin of the AC outlet and the red on one of the screws and it reads approx. 1/2 on the mains(220 volt) , This is with the Xbox in standby.

All Xbox PSU's have a fuse on the mains input that will blow in the event of a major failure.

 

Cheers

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

 

Thanks for your help once again Dave, I really appreciate it.

So just a few more questions.

1. So when there is a fault where does all the extra electricity go? I have heard many conflicting things about how electricity works, like it will return to source, or it will go to ground or take the path of least resistance or even mostly go to ground but some power will take other available paths.

2. I have heard that if it is strong enough it could push back against neutral or hot and go where it shouldn't, how probable is that?

3. When the xbox fuse blows, does it actually die and the console won't work? How much extra power would it take to blow and where does this extra power go?

4. Lastly how does an AV fault effect other consoles, I only ask because I have moved from a much older house, how probable is this fault and where does this extra power go?

Many thanks again!