Is there any problem on pluging/unplugging simple devices to my power source that only require power (no data cable) while the computer is on?
For example :
- Fans.
- LED lights.
- Water pumps intended for computing.
As can be seen, these devices have no data interaction with the computer or motherboard.
I assume that a hard disk must not be plugged/unplugged while the computer is running, but a hard disk has a second connection cable for data. That is not the case for devices like the above referred in the examples.
Is this operation supposed to be safe?
NOTE 1:
This question is not asking about devices like:
- Hard disk drives (IDE, SATA, SCSI... etc).
- DVD/CD internal drives.
- USB devices.
The devices this question refers are only power-requesting ones, not "intelligent" and complex devices capable to maintain an effective communication with the software: they will not be detected by the operating system.
WHY SHOULD YOU NEED THIS FOR?
Basically, just to avoid the need for additional power sources to turn on/off things like:
- Fans cooling the computer case or the external radiators that many people (like me) likes to manage in a manual way (turn it on/off whenever I want).
- LED lights that you want to turn on only some times to check the inner computer (i.e: if you use liquid cooling it is good to check there was no spilling).
- Water pumps: when you have more than one (I have 3 on my main computer) pumping the same circuit, you manage the speed of the water with the simple method of turning them on or off (I always have 1 pump running, and sometimes I turn on the others).
- Peltier plates: they are 12 Volts devices, but they take too much consumption (15 Amps is not unusual), so you sometimes will want to turn it off.
NOTE 2: We are talking about plugging/unplugging devices to the power supply, not to the motherboard (or Fans to the graphics card... etc).