Should a power supply be able to survive a momentary short?

[davexnet]

I accidentally shorted the power supply by reconnecting the power cable to the floppy disk drive
one pin out of alignment. I had heard of this before, but it didn't stop me from screwing it up.

I pressed the "on" button, nothing happened, had it back off in 2 or 3 seconds - had that sinking feeling
I knew what I had done.
Re-fitted the cable and tried again. The PC came on, and came up as normal, but shortly
after, I could hear some popping sounds coming from the back of the PC.

Powered it back down, moved it out for a better look, and the power plug to the PS
was exceedingly hot. Pulled it off, and it had actually melted around the "live" pin.

The power supply is now toast. I had always thought the PS should have some circuitry
to protect it from shorts - apparently this one doesn't.

It was a budget PS from Fry's, perhaps I should have known better !

[rbivi11572]

I haven't done that in a few years, but it didn't kill the ps. Actually being the idiot that I am I have done that many times, since sometimes it is hard to see the correct connection. But in all the times that I have done that it never killed the ps.

[Nelson37]

Yes, you should have known better.

Yes, I have done that, and no, I don't recall the PS being fried. I don't buy the $15 specials, but I've probably worked on some. Haven't shorted enough times to make a comparison, though.

Back in the old days when you had to wire the power switch, I reversed that puppy a couple times. Popped breakers but never the power supply.

[davexnet]

It cost $30 with a $10 rebate. Just over a year old - I thought I would contact Fry's/The manufacturer
to see what they had to say, but I don't think its worth it. Just be thankful it didn't damage
the PC itself. I had a spare Antec PS laying around, so back in business.

[TBoneit]

Normally it won't fry the power supply if the power supply is off when you cause the short. In that case the power supply generally will not turn on as it senses the overload.