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

[RJARRRPCGP]

"WAM BOMD" LOL!

I guess the PSU gets bombed when turning it on!

[lti]

Just Wireless 04111

I have posted about this charger before, but I know slightly more now. Also, I figured out how to take usable pictures with my horrible camera since then.

It uses the two-transistor oscillator circuit with 13003 and C945 transistors. The secondary rectifier is a 1N5819, and the filter cap is 470µF 16V That seems acceptable for a simple 2.5W power supply.

However, the primary and secondary ground are connected directly together. The output ground wire is connected directly to the negative lead of the primary filter cap. Only the bridge rectifier separates the output from the 120VAC input. That doesn't seem okay to me.

Whether that is safe or not, this is a piece of junk. There is no feedback, and the output voltage drops significantly as the load increases. Yes, I actually plugged it in. The output with no load is 5.95V. The output drops to 4.7V with a 300mA load and 3.6V with a 500mA load. When the load is removed, the voltage increases to 6.1V. The output cable drops 0.3V with the 500mA load.

The current sensing circuit used to light the yellow charging indicator LED just measures the voltage drop across a 1N400x diode that is connected in series with the output. This adds an extra voltage drop and an extra source of heat. This diode runs hotter than anything else in this piece of crap, and it seems to drop 0.8V instead of 0.6V like a normal diode should.

[Pentium4]

The fan failed on it, and so it overheated. It smells absolutely terrible, and so does the case even after replacing the PSU and dusting it. Surprisingly, all the hardware is okay. The Panny caps on the mobo could handle all the extra ripple surprised the hard drive is okay though. These things have high ripple brand new, let alone with failed caps! Also, this is the first time I've seen a "2005AZ" chip

[c_hegge]

Looks pretty similar to this - http://hardwareinsights.com/wp/simba...supply-review/

I imagine the Day-1 performance would be similar too

[Agent24]

Originally Posted by Pentium4

Also, this is the first time I've seen a "2005AZ" chip

Probably the 'lead-free' version - Or pretending to be...? A lot of manufactures seem to use a Z suffix code for lead free.

[stj]

"Or pretending to be...?" ??

why pretend, lead costs more than tin.
and tin costs more than nothing - there is a chinese source selling TI chips with bare pins.
they are getting them after resin-stage and before the tinning - probably via the fire-exit!

[goodpsusearch]

Hantol HPSU500

Yet, another terrible power supply. This time there is no fake PPFC because there is no PFC at all! The output torroid coil is used for 5V, 3V and 12V.

I didn't take the photos.

[c_hegge]

lighten up your @ life

I think that's supposed to be an indication of what's gonna happen to it

[a23d56]

No pics, just my 2 cents.

When ordering a few computer items from cwc-group, and I noticed they had a 450w power supply for $15. Yeah I know. But I needed an extra for testing, and I was already paying shipping for the other items, so I thought why not. I hooked it up to a test board, shorted the power pins on the motherboard, and about two seconds later, POP! Ugh. I never tried fixing a power supply before, but with some experience recapping motherboards, I thought why not open it up and look. I know about the dangers of the two big caps, so I let it sit for a day. I checked those two with my multimeter and both read 0v. I also dragged a screwdriver shaft all over the solder side of the board to check for sparks. All quiet.

Sure enough, I found one cap tilted, vented at the bottom. Must have been the POP I heard. It was a 16v 470uf. I had two in stock, so I heated up the iron and replaced it. Started over with test board ... two seconds ... no explosions ... two more seconds ... got video. Wheee! It's been running about 20 minutes now and I'm using it to post this message.

The QC date code on the power supply was 2006, it sat in inventory for 8 years. I guess the exploded cap had trouble reforming?

Before finding this web site and learning to replace caps, I never would have attempted anything like this. So thanks for all the info. But please, unless you are trained and/or know what you're doing, don't experiment with this idea! The big caps can be dangerous, even deadly.

[goontron]

Originally Posted by a23d56

No pics, just my 2 cents.

When ordering a few computer items from cwc-group, and I noticed they had a 450w power supply for $15. Yeah I know. But I needed an extra for testing, and I was already paying shipping for the other items, so I thought why not. I hooked it up to a test board, shorted the power pins on the motherboard, and about two seconds later, POP! Ugh. I never tried fixing a power supply before, but with some experience recapping motherboards, I thought why not open it up and look. I know about the dangers of the two big caps, so I let it sit for a day. I checked those two with my multimeter and both read 0v. I also dragged a screwdriver shaft all over the solder side of the board to check for sparks. All quiet.

Sure enough, I found one cap tilted, vented at the bottom. Must have been the POP I heard. It was a 16v 470uf. I had two in stock, so I heated up the iron and replaced it. Started over with test board ... two seconds ... no explosions ... two more seconds ... got video. Wheee! It's been running about 20 minutes now and I'm using it to post this message.

The QC date code on the power supply was 2006, it sat in inventory for 8 years. I guess the exploded cap had trouble reforming?

Before finding this web site and learning to replace caps, I never would have attempted anything like this. So thanks for all the info. But please, unless you are trained and/or know what you're doing, don't experiment with this idea! The big caps can be dangerous, even deadly.

all of us here know that. there is even a warning about it when you signup for the site.(looks like someone need a lesson on EULA's)

[a23d56]

Originally Posted by goontron

all of us here know that. there is even a warning about it when you signup for the site.(looks like someone need a lesson on EULA's)

Not everyone reads every word of a EULA. But there's always somebody who wants to speak for everybody. Even when they don't have two cents.

[goodpsusearch]

Originally Posted by a23d56

No pics, just my 2 cents.

When ordering a few computer items from cwc-group, and I noticed they had a 450w power supply for $15. Yeah I know. But I needed an extra for testing, and I was already paying shipping for the other items, so I thought why not. I hooked it up to a test board, shorted the power pins on the motherboard, and about two seconds later, POP! Ugh. I never tried fixing a power supply before, but with some experience recapping motherboards, I thought why not open it up and look. I know about the dangers of the two big caps, so I let it sit for a day. I checked those two with my multimeter and both read 0v. I also dragged a screwdriver shaft all over the solder side of the board to check for sparks. All quiet.

Sure enough, I found one cap tilted, vented at the bottom. Must have been the POP I heard. It was a 16v 470uf. I had two in stock, so I heated up the iron and replaced it. Started over with test board ... two seconds ... no explosions ... two more seconds ... got video. Wheee! It's been running about 20 minutes now and I'm using it to post this message.

The QC date code on the power supply was 2006, it sat in inventory for 8 years. I guess the exploded cap had trouble reforming?

Before finding this web site and learning to replace caps, I never would have attempted anything like this. So thanks for all the info. But please, unless you are trained and/or know what you're doing, don't experiment with this idea! The big caps can be dangerous, even deadly.

This post is useless without pics

[goontron]

Originally Posted by a23d56

Not everyone reads every word of a EULA. But there's always somebody who wants to speak for everybody. Even when they don't have two cents.

you wana bet?

[RJARRRPCGP]

Originally Posted by ben7

Got 2 PSUs to teardown ... here is the first one.

~~~

Oh deer!

"VPower" branded DEER

Original owner said it smelled like it was burning ... I think it was burning! Surprised there are no bad caps, however I think the PSU was only being used for about a week or so...

Have fun looking at the pics!

P.S. notice the Rulycon capacitor
P.S.2. The case is almost as thin as tinfoil, it takes almost no effort to bend it!...

That Deer, probably 2003 or 2002. It's related to a VPower I had in July, 2003, when it was ironically the best PSU I had, despite having the dreaded 4-diode treatment, LOL.

IIRC, the model was DR-300ATX or similar. Even when it was in better shape than the first Deer I had, I chucked it!
I got the VPower on July 1, 2003, because it came with a case and I was losing trust in my PowMax LP-6100C, even when I just got it on July 5, 2002.
Despite they appear to be a lot better than recent PowMax PSUs.

I'm now glad that I got an Antec True 430, despite having Fuhjyyu caps, later in 2003, in October.

[kc8adu]

had an emacs itx unit i got new 5 years ago pop a cap.
it was run about 15 minutes for a test and stored.
last week someone brought in a thoroughly roasted one.i new these had lousy caps so i figured i would recap it before modding it to run the tool grinder it was headed for.
dammed if it didnt have a badly popped cap!
now this did not happen while i ran the original test!
i would have heard it.
it either popped during the assembly line test or while it was sitting!

[PeteS in CA]

Originally Posted by kc8adu

had an emacs itx unit i got new 5 years ago pop a cap.
it was run about 15 minutes for a test and stored.
last week someone brought in a thoroughly roasted one.i new these had lousy caps so i figured i would recap it before modding it to run the tool grinder it was headed for.
dammed if it didnt have a badly popped cap!
now this did not happen while i ran the original test!
i would have heard it.
it either popped during the assembly line test or while it was sitting!

Those two smaller transformers have what looks like date codes of "0017" and "0042". If so, that thing's more than 13 years old (or at least the transformers are).

[Pentium4]

Oh boy, what a shame with this one. It had potential! Almost no input filter, those Y caps actually have safety markings on them though (I'm as surprised as you are!) 4A bridge, 560µF "ZHIFA" input caps, uses TO-247 13009's, and the heatsink is actually very strong. Transformer is okay size, but my main gripe is probably easy to guess...the output filtering! Where is it? one 1000µF cap for 12V, one 2200µF cap for 5V, a 2200µF + 1000µF on the 3.3V, and only two 1000µF caps for the 5VSB. First time I have ever seen a 5VSB filter not have a coil! All the caps for filtering are either ChengX or H.Q. (which does not stand for High Quality ) The 5V is rectified by a 30A schottky, 12V uses a 20A ultra fast, and 3.3V uses a 30A schottky. Looking at the solder side, it looks pretty darn good.

Silly question: If I were to put a 16V cap in that second fan connector slot, would it filter noise since the fans are wired straight to 12v?

[Behemot]

Yeah seems you are right but I would not put bigger cap than a 1000uF one in there, the paths are quite thin and with great capacity you will have quite big amount of power flowing here and there as the cap will charge and discharge.

I would add second ultrafast to the +12 V rail, it has position for two, than it should get better efficiency and some reasonable voltage under heavy load on this rail.

[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.

[goodpsusearch]

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