the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

[kc8adu]

is the case also a total pile of shit to match?

[everell]

Originally Posted by SIDMX

This is a classic LC with the "chip-of-the-year," yeah I know, there are enough LCs here but I feel the need to post it because this one came pre-installed in a NEW computer case (TrueBasix brand) so it SHOULD BE A NEW P/S right? ...maybe a crappy one, but NEW nonetheless, well...Not this time!
It's not just old, it's used, awfully repaired, not even cleaned, corroded, and ALL caps have date codes from 2004.

Does this thing actually work? Perhaps the seller removed a good power supply from the new case and replaced it with this one because he knew no one would want it!

[SIDMX]

Originally Posted by goodpsusearch

This is their 2003 design! How did it end up being sold as a 2012/2013 product?

Lack of ethics? Whoever TrueBasix's supplier is they know that TB can't verify each box (but I do), I wonder how many of these are out there actually powering a system.

Originally Posted by kc8adu

is the case also a total pile of shit to match?

Not really, it's a cheapo uATX case but the quality is nowhere as bad as the P/S, these cases usually came with very low end KeyMouse units inside very similar to this one but this is the first one that I've seen with an LC.

Originally Posted by everell

Does this thing actually work? Perhaps the seller removed a good power supply from the new case and replaced it with this one because he knew no one would want it!

The box was sealed so my guess is the supplier is screwing TrueBasix from time to time, It "works" with no load and all voltages where good, but that's as far as I tested.

[momaka]

Originally Posted by Pentium4

Oh boy, what a shame with this one. It had potential! ... but my main gripe is probably easy to guess...the output filtering! Where is it?

Yes, shame indeed. Those extruded and cut heatsinks are rather good. Probably could do 300W continuous no problem. The rectifiers are good too. Would easily power a modern low or mid-end PCl, because the 12V rail has potential (wait, that's a pun! ).

That said, you could still easily make it a usable PSU again. Since there is only a single cap for the 12V and 5V rails, looks like you have a lot of space there. Maybe change those caps with 12.5 mm ones? That gives you the option to put a 3300 uF 16V cap on the 12V rail and a 3300 uF or 4700 uF on the 5V rail. The 3.3V, of course, should be more than happy with two 2200 uF caps (and if the PSU won't be powering a power-hungry motherboard, you could probably go as low as two 1500 uF caps).

As behemoth suggested, though, I too wouldn't recommend you put big filter caps on the 12V rail where the fan connectors are. With the long traces going to those connectors, you may introduce undesirable noise in other nearby traces, and that may or may not cause problem.

Originally Posted by Pentium4

First time I have ever seen a 5VSB filter not have a coil!

Those coils on the 5VSB probably don't make a overly-huge difference in suppressing output ripple anyways. But I'm sure it helps with the ripple current on the caps, though.
Looks like you could install one. The jumper in position L4 (or is it J9?... or J10?) right next to the output caps could be replaced with a coil.

Originally Posted by Pentium4

... or H.Q. (which does not stand for High Quality )

More likely, it stands for Horrible Quality

Originally Posted by Pentium4

Looking at the solder side, it looks pretty darn good.

Wow, that is clean work!

[Behemot]

Well, you can put 3300uF 16V caps in D10 there as well, the Samxon RS, soon also NCC KZN…in D12,5 I think you can get as high as 3900 or 4700 uF in 16 V.

[Pentium4]

Originally Posted by momaka

More likely, it stands for Horrible Quality

As behemoth suggested, though, I too wouldn't recommend you put big filter caps on the 12V rail where the fan connectors are. With the long traces going to those connectors, you may introduce undesirable noise in other nearby traces, and that may or may not cause problem.

Makes sense. I was mostly curious. I wonder if something like a 220µF 16V Rubycon ZLH would improve the ripple at all? It's a small cap but can still handle 540mA

Those coils on the 5VSB probably don't make a overly-huge difference in suppressing output ripple anyways. But I'm sure it helps with the ripple current on the caps, though.

Still! Just shows how cheap they are.

Originally Posted by Behemot

Well, you can put 3300uF 16V caps in D10 there as well, the Samxon RS, soon also NCC KZN…in D12,5 I think you can get as high as 3900 or 4700 uF in 16 V.

I have Panasonic FR 4700µF 16V D12.5mm but that might be too low for the PSU? ESR for that cap is 0.012Ω

[Behemot]

Just try. As there is no Pi filter, who knows, it can probably handle a lot…

[Pentium4]

Fan seized in this thing, which was causing the computer to shut down. Man, this thing is pretty bad. Looks like it is made by ATNG? Those Y caps and X cap are safety approved. At least I'll get a few useful parts out of it The BR is 4A, NTC rated at 5A, 330µF Micon primary caps (They actually read 330µF too!) 13007 transistors, 33 transformer, 20A for 5V, 12A for 12V, 20A for 3.3V. Pretty lousy, no PI coil on 12V or 5V, Mostly GoldLink caps, some Micon in there too. Looking at the soldering side, how embarrassing. Maybe this thing was RMA'd and hand fixed? All those sloppy joints (one with a lifted pad) are on the 5VSB transformer. Not going to bother fixing this one, just going to take some parts and throw it away.

[ben7]

Originally Posted by Pentium4

Fan seized in this thing, which was causing the computer to shut down. Man, this thing is pretty bad. Looks like it is made by ATNG? Those Y caps and X cap are safety approved. At least I'll get a few useful parts out of it The BR is 4A, NTC rated at 5A, 330µF Micon primary caps (They actually read 330µF too!) 13007 transistors, 33 transformer, 20A for 5V, 12A for 12V, 20A for 3.3V. Pretty lousy, no PI coil on 12V or 5V, Mostly GoldLink caps, some Micon in there too. Looking at the soldering side, how embarrassing. Maybe this thing was RMA'd and hand fixed? All those sloppy joints (one with a lifted pad) are on the 5VSB transformer. Not going to bother fixing this one, just going to take some parts and throw it away.

HMMM, Wait, don't throw it away yet!

The other day I found a fake EMI filter inductor in my inductor box, and yours looks just like the one I found. It was quite lightweight, and when I unwound it, and took the plastic shells apart, there was no ferrite inside!!!!

[Behemot]

Definitelly not ATNG, some generic chinese crap, I've seen similar ones. ATNG uses different heatsinks for a start.

[Pentium4]

Maybe it's Long Yi Electronics.

The other day I found a fake EMI filter inductor in my inductor box, and yours looks just like the one I found. It was quite lightweight, and when I unwound it, and took the plastic shells apart, there was no ferrite inside!!!!

Thanks for the heads up! I wasn't going to reuse it, I have plenty of ferrite coils lying around. Care to post a picture though?

[ben7]

Originally Posted by Pentium4

Thanks for the heads up! I wasn't going to reuse it, I have plenty of ferrite coils lying around. Care to post a picture though?

Nothing really to see, since I didn't take a picture before I unwound it...

I was sorting things and did a double-take, I realized that choke was suspiciously lightweight... inspected it, then I unwound it...
FYI, the choke needs the ferrite to work as intended, it is a common mode choke.

[Pentium4]

Here's another junker. It's pretty terrible, but not the worst I've ever seen. If you add up all the rails' wattage on the label, it comes out to 275W Of course there's almost no input filtering to speak of, with the usual missing components and unapproved Y caps. The caps are 330µF branded "HTC" transistors are 13007. Transformer looks like 33, it's pretty small but it's silkscreened for an even smaller transformer!!! One of the few positives, it doesn't use a 2 transistor 5VSB. Looks like it uses that single toroid for all the rails, for mega group regulation. It seems that the 5V rail and 3.3V rail share the 30A shottky and the 40A FET just steps the 5V down for the 3.3V. 12V uses a 16A ultra fast. Soldering looks good, minus on some of the silicon. The only other pro for this thing is the fan. Can't find jack shit about it though. It's hooked straight to 12V, but it's actually very silent and moves a lot of air. Plenty oil in the bearing too, and it's actually oil, not grease.

[SIDMX]

Yeah crappy indeed, specially the lack of output coils and/or place to install them, but, interesting in some ways like the 5VSB switcher, it has a weird numbering on it, resembling a Unisonic part but the "WY" logo is not from Unisonic, probably a knockoff, P/S controller chip it's the Silan's version of SG6105 but IIRC Silan already have one version, the SD6109 .
Samwei caps? never seen or heard that brand, seems like all caps are SGF series.
Main transformer doesn't look that bad, I mean, we all have seen smaller ones, if it weren't for the lack of output coils I could trust it to power a very low power system like those onboard atom/celeron/APU after a proper recap.

edit- I've posted all Samwei DS in the cap depot thread.

[Pentium4]

Wow you know what, I'm so used to seeing ChengX in that green/gold sleeve that I didn't even notice that they're SAMWEI Never seen them before either.

And here's a size comparison, that transformer is a lot smaller than the earlier pictures resemble.

[SIDMX]

Yeah at first sight I took them for ChengX too .
Ah!... that winding is tiny! it is using like half the space available in that core, still could be enough for Atom boards, but it is definitely crappier than I thought.
At least is not a real joke like this one that I found in an LC.

[Pentium4]

WHAT! That was a main transformer?! That's pitiful At least with these cheap heatsinks, I will be able to break them down into a few bridge rectifier heatsinks Also...I wonder if you could cut out just the 5VSB section with the 8 pin IC, and make an "everell style" 5VSB mod?

[SIDMX]

Originally Posted by Pentium4

...I wonder if you could cut out just the 5VSB section with the 8 pin IC, and make an "everell style" 5VSB mod?

Cutting the circuit shouldn't be a problem, but you'll need to ID that switcher and get the DS to understand what (if any) changes are needed to successfully "implant" it into another P/S, also note that the feedback for SB is done using one of the two built-in shunt regulators (TL431) in the SC6105 chip.

[momaka]

Originally Posted by Pentium4

And here's a size comparison, that transformer is a lot smaller than the earlier pictures resemble.

that's not a size "35" transformer! Heck, I'll say not even 33. Looks like a "28"-er. Probably good enough for 150W continuous. 200W would be kind of pushing it.

Althoug that Jin Yuan has no space for PI coils on the secondary side, it looks like there is a lot of space next to the caps and the tracks for the rails on the solder side are wide enough, so they could technically be cut up and have a PI coil added.
But meh... why bother with that. Just use the parts to fix up a better PSU .

Originally Posted by SIDMX

At least is not a real joke like this one that I found in an LC.

As the guy from Two Stupid Dogs would say
-Aw, isn't that cute? But it's wrong!

Originally Posted by Pentium4

At least with these cheap heatsinks, I will be able to break them down into a few bridge rectifier heatsinks

I never thought of this. Genius!

Originally Posted by Pentium4

Also...I wonder if you could cut out just the 5VSB section with the 8 pin IC, and make an "everell style" 5VSB mod?

Yes, should be possible.
The easiest way would be to take the 5VSB transformer from this PSU as well, so that way you can transfer the entire 5VSB primary side on the new PSU. As for the feedback - almost all 5VSB circuits I've seen use a 431 shunt. Usually the compensation is a simple RC network and very similar between PSUs, so you may not have to change it all, unless the 5VSB has a hard time "keeping up" or overshooting with a load.

[everell]

Originally Posted by momaka

:Yes, should be possible.
The easiest way would be to take the 5VSB transformer from this PSU as well, so that way you can transfer the entire 5VSB primary side on the new PSU. As for the feedback - almost all 5VSB circuits I've seen use a 431 shunt. Usually the compensation is a simple RC network and very similar between PSUs, so you may not have to change it all, unless the 5VSB has a hard time "keeping up" or overshooting with a load.

Yes, I have done it several times. Much more fun to experiment, and sometimes watch it blow up, than to simply fix someone else's computer!