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

[Pentium4]

Is there a limit to how many PSU's you can post? I can't believe this thing still works. It powered an Athlon 64 X2, GeForce GT440 system for who knows how long. And all that dust was acquired from a slow spinning thermally controlled fan. How did those BH caps not die?! And look at the secondary, it looks clean. I didn't dust this thing, I took pictures as is. BR is 4A, switchers are D304X rated at 12A, 30A on 5V, 20A on 12V, 20A on 3.3V. It does have a slot for a second 12V rectifier. I'm thinking about fixing it up. Although, it does have all 20AWG wiring...Haven't checked the solder side yet.

[Pentium4]

Probably good enough for 150W continuous. 200W would be kind of pushing it.

Probably. I really do think though that these cheap junkers with full boar running fans do better than expected. It's amazing how much of a difference good airflow makes.

I never thought of this. Genius!

Every project has to have some ghetto-ness to it

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.

Cool. And it's fairly easy to find a decent PSU with a 6105 controller.

[goodpsusearch]

Originally Posted by 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.

Cute

Btw, the reason they use ICs for 5vsb instead of the 2 transistor circuit is that they score better standby efficiency and I think there is some regulation that requires it in EU.

[Behemot]

Latest version is under 0,5 W with no load, as I understand it.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Sentey BXP600

[Pentium4]

They're using Leadman now too?

[SuperDuty]

Here's the worst PSU I've had in my hands, an Ishaya 330U rated at 480W...hum yeah let's see that :

First thing you'll notice, the size of the case :


The amps are completely ridiculous.


Inside, no protection, no PFC of course, just a typical very cheap PSU design


I'm surprised they bothered adding two Y caps and a thermistor. The fuse is still good.


That is fried, all the caps are bulged, aside from the two primary caps and the small ones. Yes there are jumpers where there should be coils, and caps as well. The caps are a mix of Canicon, Fuhjjyu and Jun Fu, top notch quality. The soldering is atrocious.


A couple of 13007 as usual :


Oh and that thing weighs approximately 300g I'd say. It was in a cheap case, powering a very basic 2005 computer : Sempron 2600+ socket 754, AsRock K8NF4G-SATA2, a 250Gb HDD, and a couple of optical drives.

[PeteS in CA]

Looking at the heatsinks, I was thinking 300W-350W. But the O/P transformer, the MJE13007-clone switch transistors, and those I/P rectifiers position it more in the 200W-250W range.

Is it a trick of the lighting, or is that O/P inductor as toasty as those vented O/P caps?

[Behemot]

Yeah he wrote it is fried, I expect that goes for the black inductor

[SuperDuty]

Yes, it does look burnt, but it's not leaving any residue or burnt plastic smell so I'm not entirely sure. They're generally red/orange so I guess it is. The PCB is darker all around the coil.

[Behemot]

It's black as coal and the same goes for the board beneath it, complete toast.

[PeteS in CA]

The chances that the magnetic properties of that core have been seriously degraded is pretty much a certainty, IMO.

[Heihachi_73]

iCute ATX-320W/P4, date code 0324.

The power supply was pulled from matching "iCute" brand case powering a Pentium 4 system, which had a perspex side to show off whatever was worth showing off - the board was completely stock aside from a 2007-dated Geforce 7300GS.

Caps are a mixture of Fuhjyyu and CapXon.

Primaries: Fuhjyyu LP 470µF 200V
Y caps: TM 472M 2KV (standard brown film caps, not blue caps)
3.3V rail: Fuhjyyu TNR 2200µF 6.3V (bulged)
5V rail: CapXon KM 1000µF 10V (another matching KM between the two coils)
12V rail: Fuhjyyu TNR 1000µF 16V

Primary mosfets:
Q1: Fairchild E13007F2 242
Q2: Fairchild E13007F2 242
Q8: C5353 3.C (closest to fan)

Secondary mosfets:
D31: ST U1U319 MOROCCO STPS16 45 CT (closest to fan)
D32: ST U9Y311 MOROCCO STPS20 45 CT
D33: ST U50315 MOROCCO STPR10 20 CT

Transformers:
TEPN-EI33250 0321 HI-POT
10E190007-0N 0322 HI-POT
10L160009-0N 0320 HI-POT
11E250036-0N 0321 HI-POT (choke, listed here anyway)

Bridge rectifier (shock horror, it has one): SEP KBP06 - the board is actually marked for 4 diodes

Fan: Ruilian Science RDM8025SA (still working)

[TELVM]

^ Outstanding "P4 support" with a 10A rectifier on +12V. "Overclock your Preshott to the sky and beyond!"

[cutegrandpalover]

how long did it last?

[PeteS in CA]

Originally Posted by Heihachi_73

iCute ATX-320W/P4, date code 0324.

The power supply was pulled from matching "iCute" brand case powering a Pentium 4 system, which had a perspex side to show off whatever was worth showing off - the board was completely stock aside from a 2007-dated Geforce 7300GS.

Caps are a mixture of Fuhjyyu and CapXon.

Primaries: Fuhjyyu LP 470µF 200V
Y caps: TM 472M 2KV (standard brown film caps, not blue caps)
3.3V rail: Fuhjyyu TNR 2200µF 6.3V (bulged)
5V rail: CapXon KM 1000µF 10V (another matching KM between the two coils)
12V rail: Fuhjyyu TNR 1000µF 16V

Primary mosfets:
Q1: Fairchild E13007F2 242
Q2: Fairchild E13007F2 242
Q8: C5353 3.C (closest to fan)

Secondary mosfets:
D31: ST U1U319 MOROCCO STPS16 45 CT (closest to fan)
D32: ST U9Y311 MOROCCO STPS20 45 CT
D33: ST U50315 MOROCCO STPR10 20 CT

Transformers:
TEPN-EI33250 0321 HI-POT
10E190007-0N 0322 HI-POT
10L160009-0N 0320 HI-POT
11E250036-0N 0321 HI-POT (choke, listed here anyway)

Bridge rectifier (shock horror, it has one): SEP KBP06 - the board is actually marked for 4 diodes

Fan: Ruilian Science RDM8025SA (still working)

Given that it apparently lasted for some 11 years, and seems to have just the one swollen/vented O/P cap (unless I missed something) some one seems to have sized that system to the P/S pretty well. And unless those fans were powerful enough for the P/S to hover, that thing might be good for ~200W. Those heatsinks, transformers, and switch transistors (Fairchild! A good brand.) are wimpy! One surprise, though, is an apparently genuine TI TL494 (TI created the TL494).

[Pentium4]

Interesting, I have the "ATX-400W/P4" made a year later, and yours is built better!

[kc8adu]

Ipuke?

Originally Posted by heihachi_73

icute atx-320w/p4, date code 0324.

The power supply was pulled from matching "icute" brand case powering a pentium 4 system, which had a perspex side to show off whatever was worth showing off - the board was completely stock aside from a 2007-dated geforce 7300gs.

Caps are a mixture of fuhjyyu and capxon.

Primaries: Fuhjyyu lp 470µf 200v
y caps: Tm 472m 2kv (standard brown film caps, not blue caps)
3.3v rail: Fuhjyyu tnr 2200µf 6.3v (bulged)
5v rail: Capxon km 1000µf 10v (another matching km between the two coils)
12v rail: Fuhjyyu tnr 1000µf 16v

primary mosfets:
Q1: Fairchild e13007f2 242
q2: Fairchild e13007f2 242
q8: C5353 3.c (closest to fan)

secondary mosfets:
D31: St u1u319 morocco stps16 45 ct (closest to fan)
d32: St u9y311 morocco stps20 45 ct
d33: St u50315 morocco stpr10 20 ct

transformers:
Tepn-ei33250 0321 hi-pot
10e190007-0n 0322 hi-pot
10l160009-0n 0320 hi-pot
11e250036-0n 0321 hi-pot (choke, listed here anyway)

bridge rectifier (shock horror, it has one): Sep kbp06 - the board is actually marked for 4 diodes

fan: Ruilian science rdm8025sa (still working)

[Per Hansson]

Here is a nice one, the PSU itself is good, it's a Seasonic SS-250FS with Active PFC made in 2006.
It was inside the really cramped PC for a bending machine, and the PSU fan had seized up some time ago, thus baking all capacitors...

What someone has done to it is less than stellar though, I numbered the picture from least to most stupid:

1: Green "Power supply on" cable soldered to ground. (I.e. To mimic an AT PSU).
2: 5VSB cable unused and therefore cut off.
3: 3.3v cables unused and therefore cut off.
4: 5w "minimum load" resistor for 3.3v due to point 3.
5: 3.3v "sense" wired to "minimum load" resistor in point 4
6: "Minimum load" resistors leg has a blade connector crimped to it, which is screwed to a PCB screw, an extra negative cable has also been connected here.
7: I think this is a ground wire in the "3.3v sense" circuit that has been connected to another ground wire.

Next picture shows what has been done to the ATX connector, it has been cut off and replaced with this other connector.

Now what surprises me is not this, the majority of machine manufacturers love to make proprietary designs, so the components need to be bought from them.
But in this case they took a standard ATX PSU and spent probably more than an hour to modify it, and for what?
They could have just bought an "industrial" PSU and called it quits...

My solution?
I bought a brand new AT PSU, an FSP SPI-300G.
Cut off the connectors and wired them up to the proprietary one, then hid the 230VAC switch inside the computer, switched on.

Bonus stupidity point: the computer itself requires 3.3v and thus has a DC/DC converter internally to produce that!

[Dan81]

I've seen worser baking of capacitors,and here's one example

A few days ago,I just got a half-decent Deer/L&C unit,a Premier LC-C400ATX. It sadly didn't work,so I had to get another PSU (because I was stupid enough to destroy my Sun Pro unit in the process) and I got some no-name unit with the UL number E231151. No results in the UL database,but I opened it and confirmed it's a Codegen from the heatsinks it uses. The fan had long ago seized,the PSU had quite heavy discoloration and badcaps of course!

Gave it a recap on both primary and secondary sides (YongXing VZ(M) primaries and ChengX bulgers on the secondary ) using Seacon for the primaries and good Saturn (YC) caps for the secondary, and moved the board into the Premier casing. Got everything back together,installed it into my Pentium 4 and pushed the power button. Started up without a problem. Then I thought of recapping it with 16v 1500uf KY caps. It seems though,that something doesn't work as it should,as it sometimes turns on but sometimes it doesn't in the way that I press the power button but there's no sound. Just the power led comes on and it stays like that until I turn it off. It does the same now with the 1000uf 10v caps. (it didn't when I installed them the first time)

Any ideas what it might be? I actually want to save this PSU even if it's a Codegen. I have 3 junk PCBs that I can take parts from.