Thermaltake TR2 Bronze 600w low 12v voltage

[AresROC]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NW6W2C8

I have a Thermaltake TR2 80+ Bronze that's been doing strange things. It would cause the computer to shot down randomly, and measures low voltage on the 12 volt rail. From 11.5 to 11volt.

I put it on the bench with a harddrive as load, and it outputs fine with low load:
5v - 5.17v
12v - 12.17v

It has all Japanese caps, but only 1 large cap for the Input supply. No obvious signs of overheating burns or bulge. Anyone know where I should start to troubleshoot? I guess I don't want to just start by replacing capacitors...

[victorcas]

Re: Thermaltake TR2 Bronze 600w low 12v voltage

Have you thought it might have something to do with the temperature?
This won't solve the problem, but it may provide some clues. You could try heating it with a hair dryer to see if the voltage changes or if it starts doing strange things.

Perhaps it may also have to do with some nearly desoldered part. Many times, due to vibration, inductors can get slack with a bad connection. You could try re-soldering the larger components. One way to check if this is a possible cause may be to tap the power supply while testing it.

You should also use a load larger than a hard disk and more sensitive to voltage changes. It may be that, due to a small power failure, the hard disk does not shut down but a PC does.

[AresROC]

Re: Thermaltake TR2 Bronze 600w low 12v voltage

Heat may have been what caused the damage in the first place. It was running very warm for a while and now it can't handle 75% load or more stable. 50% load is okay. I suspect damages to the voltage regulation components and will start testing there. Looking at the back of the board no physical damages so far.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Thermaltake TR2 Bronze 600w low 12v voltage

Please check the input cap capacitance and esr.

We have seen several units of this CWT platform fail due to input cap getting abused from the APFC voltage booster circuit and getting gradually dried up.

If you find that the primary cap is indeed bad or going bad you should stop immediately using/testing unit on AC mains, as there is a risk of blowing up APFC mosfet and more components.