Corsair RM550 cables smell horrible...??

PSUs: The source of DC power for all components in the PC & often a big noise source.

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tbessie
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Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:07 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA

Corsair RM550 cables smell horrible...??

Post by tbessie » Sun Feb 23, 2014 11:33 am

Hey folks...

After asking here about PSUs that didn't have any "coil whine", someone recommended the Corsair RM550.

I went to my local computer store and picked one up.

Today I opened up the box, and found that the cables smell very strongly - it's a very chemical/plastic/solvent kind of smell. I've never bought a piece of electronics that smelled so bad; I've definitely had electronics or other plastic items that smelled a little plastic-y, but this is kind of off-the-charts smelly.

Does anyone else have this model? Anyone ever notice this? It's a bit worrying, like they used cheap and/or substandard materials for the cables.

- Tim

Abula
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Re: Corsair RM550 cables smell horrible...??

Post by Abula » Sun Feb 23, 2014 11:55 am

I don't own an RM series to help you, but in case you do find it so bad and cant return it and willing to invest more, Corsair usually sell premium cables, just throwing an alternative out, not sure if those smell also.

tbessie
Posts: 232
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:07 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA

Re: Corsair RM550 cables smell horrible...??

Post by tbessie » Sun Feb 23, 2014 12:05 pm

Abula wrote:I don't own an RM series to help you, but in case you do find it so bad and cant return it and willing to invest more, Corsair usually sell premium cables, just throwing an alternative out, not sure if those smell also.
Thanks for the suggestion - I may look into that. :-)

CA_Steve
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Re: Corsair RM550 cables smell horrible...??

Post by CA_Steve » Sun Feb 23, 2014 3:10 pm

Or, it's just plastics out-gassing. Put the cables in a well ventilated area for a couple days and see if the smell goes away. Costs you nothing other than some time.

tbessie
Posts: 232
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:07 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA

Re: Corsair RM550 cables smell horrible...??

Post by tbessie » Sun Feb 23, 2014 3:28 pm

CA_Steve wrote:Or, it's just plastics out-gassing. Put the cables in a well ventilated area for a couple days and see if the smell goes away. Costs you nothing other than some time.
That's what I was thinking too, so I opened the window and sat them in the sun for part of today. I'll keep them out for awhile.

In any case, my impatience got the better of me, and I ended up ordering a set of those replacement cables (which were more expensive, everything included, than the PSU itself) - yeah, this, even before I checked to see if the PSU was indeed as quiet as it's advertised to be. I guess I could cancel it once I try out the PSU, which I'll do tonight, smelly cables or no.

The replacement cables are nice as they come in many colors; I like the idea of power cables being a different color than all the others (I ordered green). Silly me.

- Tim

tbessie
Posts: 232
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:07 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA

Re: Corsair RM550 cables smell horrible...??

Post by tbessie » Thu Mar 06, 2014 10:41 pm

Just a followup - after a week or two in the case, the cables no longer smelled bad - still plasticky, but not as terrible as they had.

In any case, I had already ordered those premium cables, and put them in. Now let's hope the PSU lasts! :-)

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