Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

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  • goodpsusearch
    Badcaps Legend
    • Oct 2009
    • 2850
    • Greece

    #1

    Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

    This power supply was on 24/7 in a store for several years until it started to show symptoms of failure. I opened it to find that nearly every cap inside has failed, including the small 1uF 50V ones!

    You can easily conclude that this psu was never going to do 420watt. Just notice the PBL405 bridge rectifier, good for 4A, at the same time the psu has setting for 115V, this is just unacceptable for a brand like Thermaltake.

    Moreover, I found another version of the psu label on the web that states "Total Output Power: 350W"


    Next thing that caught my eye was that stupid valley fill PFC voltage booster add on board that does nothing but generate extra unwanted heat and cook the 2 unlucky small 400V 2.2uF caps.
    https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1389575653
    I immediately remove/disable that circuit every time I see it.

    The psu uses old half bridge topology featuring UTC TL494L PWM controller and TPS3510P supervisor IC.

    The main switching transistors are E13009 made by Fairchild semiconductor and they come in TO-3P package. This is good enough for 350W continuous, but whether they are going to do 420W without blowing, depends on the design and main transformer size and primary capacitors real capacity. The main transformer is ERL-35 and the primary caps are OST 820uF 200V but their real capacity was 633uF and 655uF, clearly outside the 20% tolerance.

    I have to confess I don't have any objections about the secondary of this power supply. All the voltage lines have pi coils installed, the toroid coils are big enough for 350W, and the caps are reasonably sized:
    3.3V: 2x2200uF 6.3V JunFu HK
    5V: 2x2200uF 10V JunFu HK
    12V: 1x330uF (no, it's not a typo, it's 330uF!) 16V JunFu & 1x3300uF 16V OST RLP
    5vsb: 1x470uF 10V OST RLP & 1x 1000uF 10V OST RLS
    -12V: 1x220uF 16V JunFu HK

    The secondary silicon is impressive too:
    STPS3045CW, 30A @ 3.3V
    2x STPS2045CT, 40A @ 5V
    STTH3002C, 30A @ 12V

    The caps are a mix of OST and JunFu. There are 2 failure modes. Either the caps were found completely dried, or had too high esr and low capacity. There are no survivors, except some small caps next to the 2 ICs.

    Searching the OEM for this thing I found a review in Russian. Here is the corresponding part translated:
    Today we look at the power supply ISO-450PP. This power supply is manufactured by ISO Electronics (Mingbo) Co. LTD, a member of the CWT Group, whose headquarters is in Taiwan, and two factories producing power supplies and power converters - in China.
    If you look at the photos, it is the same unit in a different case with smaller heatsinks and without fan controller.
    http://www.ixbt.com/power/psu/iso-450pp.shtml

    I also found that video but I am unable to find the review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqQyjLbPj90

    What do you think?
    Attached Files
    Last edited by goodpsusearch; 01-12-2014, 08:00 PM.
  • goodpsusearch
    Badcaps Legend
    • Oct 2009
    • 2850
    • Greece

    #2
    Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

    The datasheets...
    Attached Files

    Comment

    • c_hegge
      Badcaps Legend
      • Sep 2009
      • 5219
      • Australia

      #3
      Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

      Looks like the fuse is jumpered too
      I love putting bad caps and flat batteries in fire and watching them explode!!

      No wonder it doesn't work! You installed the jumper wires backwards

      Main PC: Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz, Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP, 8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600, 240GB Intel 335 Series SSD, 750GB WD HDD, Sony Optiarc DVD RW, Palit nVidia GTX660 Ti, CoolerMaster N200 Case, Delta DPS-600MB 600W PSU, Hauppauge TV Tuner, Windows 7 Home Premium

      Office PC: HP ProLiant ML150 G3, 2x Xeon E5335 2GHz, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB Intel 530 SSD, 2x 250GB HDD, 2x 450GB 15K SAS HDD in RAID 1, 1x 2TB HDD, nVidia 8400GS, Delta DPS-650BB 650W PSU, Windows 7 Pro

      Comment

      • goodpsusearch
        Badcaps Legend
        • Oct 2009
        • 2850
        • Greece

        #4
        Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

        Originally posted by c_hegge
        Looks like the fuse is jumpered too
        They had to move the fuse here, because left in its original place, the passive pfc choke would not fit.
        Attached Files
        Last edited by goodpsusearch; 01-12-2014, 07:58 PM.

        Comment

        • Rulycat
          Badcaps Veteran
          • Apr 2010
          • 724
          • United Kingdom

          #5
          Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

          Doesn't surprise me, I always thought Thermaltake were all marketing and little substance, some fo their stuff can be good, but it's a lottery. Would sooner take Antec tbh.

          Comment

          • c_hegge
            Badcaps Legend
            • Sep 2009
            • 5219
            • Australia

            #6
            Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

            Originally posted by goodpsusearch
            They had to move the fuse here, because left in its original place, the passive pfc choke would not fit.
            Ah, I didn't see the fuse there.
            Originally posted by Rulycat
            Doesn't surprise me, I always thought Thermaltake were all marketing and little substance, some fo their stuff can be good, but it's a lottery. Would sooner take Antec tbh.
            At the lower end of the market, I would agree. Their higher end stuff is usually decent, although the one thing that has annoyed me about almost every Thermaltake PSU I've had is noise. Even when cold, the fans seem to run quite fast.
            I love putting bad caps and flat batteries in fire and watching them explode!!

            No wonder it doesn't work! You installed the jumper wires backwards

            Main PC: Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz, Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP, 8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600, 240GB Intel 335 Series SSD, 750GB WD HDD, Sony Optiarc DVD RW, Palit nVidia GTX660 Ti, CoolerMaster N200 Case, Delta DPS-600MB 600W PSU, Hauppauge TV Tuner, Windows 7 Home Premium

            Office PC: HP ProLiant ML150 G3, 2x Xeon E5335 2GHz, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB Intel 530 SSD, 2x 250GB HDD, 2x 450GB 15K SAS HDD in RAID 1, 1x 2TB HDD, nVidia 8400GS, Delta DPS-650BB 650W PSU, Windows 7 Pro

            Comment

            • momaka
              master hoarder
              • May 2008
              • 12170
              • Bulgaria

              #7
              Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

              The PSU is from Channel Well's budget ISO line. The platform itself is decent, even though it's an old half bridge. The above PSU is actually not that bad (minus the missing input filtering). Here is a really cheap version of the same power supply:
              https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7672
              I have a TurboLink PSU, also from the CWT ISO line, and that thing is built even more wimpy. But for a light-duty bench-test PSU, it serves the purpose.

              Just make sure to change the critical 5VSB cap (it does have one).

              Comment

              • goodpsusearch
                Badcaps Legend
                • Oct 2009
                • 2850
                • Greece

                #8
                Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

                I replaced all the caps except the 2 big ones and 4 tiny caps sitting near the PWM controller and the supervisor IC. Those were tested and found ok.

                I used Japanese quality capacitors and Teapo.

                There was a 3.3uF cap that I didn't have in stock, so I replaced it with 4.7uF 50V Chemicon KY.

                5vsb:
                1x470uF 10V OST RLP & 1x 1000uF 10V OST RLS --> 2x1000uF 16V Nichicon HE

                -12V:
                1x220uF 16V JunFu HK --> 1x220uF 16V Rubycon MHE & 1x 220uF 50V Nichicon HE (there was an empty slot on the pcb for a second cap)

                3.3V:
                2x2200uF 6.3V JunFu HK --> 2x2200uF 6.3V Teapo SX

                5V:
                5V: 2x2200uF 10V JunFu HK --> 2x2200uF 6.3V Teapo SX

                12V:
                1x330uF 16V JunFu --> 1x1000uF 16V Teapo SH
                1x3300uF 16V OST RLP --> 1x3300uF 16V Panasonic FR


                I fan-modded the psu. I placed 4.7kohm//9.11kohm = 3.10kohm in parallel with the thermistor, because that psu was cooking itself during operation... Now the fan moves faster without getting too loud. In the picture I took with my phone it looks ghetto enough, but I made sure it doesn't touch any nearby traces...

                One comment about the voltage regulation. It was very good! The output voltages didn't fluctuate significantly and were close to nominal. 3.3V got a little too high, 3.40 was the maximum I got while 5V never exceeded 5.20V. 12V never got bellow 12.05V and the highest value I noticed was 12.15V.

                Now, enjoy some recap pics
                Attached Files
                Last edited by goodpsusearch; 01-23-2014, 09:58 PM.

                Comment

                • TELVM
                  Badcaps Veteran
                  • Oct 2012
                  • 547
                  • Spain

                  #9
                  Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

                  Good work, crappy caps aside that PSU looks decent.

                  Why didn't you discard the PPFC coil while you were at it?

                  Comment

                  • goodpsusearch
                    Badcaps Legend
                    • Oct 2009
                    • 2850
                    • Greece

                    #10
                    Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

                    Why discard it? It doesn't hurt in any way, except maybe by blocking the airflow a bit.

                    Active pfc, on the contrary, sometimes does more bad than good, for example, when it boosts primary caps voltage too much (~400V) resulting in premature failure. Another occasion is when it generates a fair amount of heat and lowers total psu efficiency.

                    Comment

                    • c_hegge
                      Badcaps Legend
                      • Sep 2009
                      • 5219
                      • Australia

                      #11
                      Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

                      Yeah, it's not so bad in those PSUs. I have one PSU (CoolerPower GX850), where the PPFC choke is stuck to the rear grille, right behind the secondary heat sink, and thus it blocks most of the air coming off it. When I loaded it up to 550W, a 12V rectifier burned out, and the secondary heat sink remained way too hot to touch long after the rest of the PSU had cooled right down.
                      Last edited by c_hegge; 01-25-2014, 03:35 PM.
                      I love putting bad caps and flat batteries in fire and watching them explode!!

                      No wonder it doesn't work! You installed the jumper wires backwards

                      Main PC: Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz, Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP, 8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600, 240GB Intel 335 Series SSD, 750GB WD HDD, Sony Optiarc DVD RW, Palit nVidia GTX660 Ti, CoolerMaster N200 Case, Delta DPS-600MB 600W PSU, Hauppauge TV Tuner, Windows 7 Home Premium

                      Office PC: HP ProLiant ML150 G3, 2x Xeon E5335 2GHz, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB Intel 530 SSD, 2x 250GB HDD, 2x 450GB 15K SAS HDD in RAID 1, 1x 2TB HDD, nVidia 8400GS, Delta DPS-650BB 650W PSU, Windows 7 Pro

                      Comment

                      • momaka
                        master hoarder
                        • May 2008
                        • 12170
                        • Bulgaria

                        #12
                        Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

                        Nice, looks quite good! Just needs input filters to be complete.

                        Yeah, like I mentioned, I think this is a good platform. Mine, despite being absolutely wimpy, still has great voltage regulation.

                        I see you changed the critical 5VSB cap. That's good. I'd definitely trust this PSU now.

                        Comment

                        • goodpsusearch
                          Badcaps Legend
                          • Oct 2009
                          • 2850
                          • Greece

                          #13
                          Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

                          Originally posted by momaka
                          Nice, looks quite good! Just needs input filters to be complete.

                          Yeah, like I mentioned, I think this is a good platform. Mine, despite being absolutely wimpy, still has great voltage regulation.

                          I see you changed the critical 5VSB cap. That's good. I'd definitely trust this PSU now.
                          The only thing the input filter lacks is a second common coil, but unfortunately there is no space cause of the ppfc...

                          Comment

                          • goodpsusearch
                            Badcaps Legend
                            • Oct 2009
                            • 2850
                            • Greece

                            #14
                            Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

                            Sometimes shit happens...


                            I had some spare Panasonic 200V 800uF capacitors and thought it would be a good idea to replace the FAKE 820uF(real c: 630uF) OST primary caps. While working at it, I put 2 drops of Singer sewing oil in the fan, but something went wrong.

                            In low rpm the fan retainer ring didn't rotate along with the fan, as a result the fan's speed reduced dramatically and there was sound coming from the friction of the ring with the shaft. In high rpm the fan worked without problem.

                            The retainer ring was plastic. I tried to remove it but it broke.. Now I have reassembled the fan without that ring. It seems to work. The magnet keeps successfully the fan from dropping, but is there anything else I should know?
                            Attached Files

                            Comment

                            • momaka
                              master hoarder
                              • May 2008
                              • 12170
                              • Bulgaria

                              #15
                              Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

                              Originally posted by goodpsusearch
                              The retainer ring was plastic. I tried to remove it but it broke.. Now I have reassembled the fan without that ring. It seems to work. The magnet keeps successfully the fan from dropping, but is there anything else I should know?
                              Should be fine.
                              I've had this happen on several fans where they seized and overheated. This made the plastic ring very fragile due to heat, so I broke it when trying to take apart. The oldest fan that I have that still works fine without it is an old generic CBE 80mm fan out of a Deer PSU. Probably ran it for a good few years like that before retiring the PC it was in.

                              Comment

                              • c_hegge
                                Badcaps Legend
                                • Sep 2009
                                • 5219
                                • Australia

                                #16
                                Re: Thermaltake TR2-420 (350W)

                                It should be OK as long as the fan doesn't run too fast. I think there is a good chance that the impeller would fly off if I ran one of my jet engine delta fans with no retention washer.
                                I love putting bad caps and flat batteries in fire and watching them explode!!

                                No wonder it doesn't work! You installed the jumper wires backwards

                                Main PC: Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz, Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H-MVP, 8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1600, 240GB Intel 335 Series SSD, 750GB WD HDD, Sony Optiarc DVD RW, Palit nVidia GTX660 Ti, CoolerMaster N200 Case, Delta DPS-600MB 600W PSU, Hauppauge TV Tuner, Windows 7 Home Premium

                                Office PC: HP ProLiant ML150 G3, 2x Xeon E5335 2GHz, 4GB DDR2 RAM, 120GB Intel 530 SSD, 2x 250GB HDD, 2x 450GB 15K SAS HDD in RAID 1, 1x 2TB HDD, nVidia 8400GS, Delta DPS-650BB 650W PSU, Windows 7 Pro

                                Comment

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