Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

[Jooo]

Hi

I'm wondering if I should fix this low-end psu or not.
Anyone know the real wattage of this? The full name is ACE LC-8500BTX (500W).

If the real wattage is something like <300W, not worth fixing in my opinion, but if this can do even 400W I will probably fix + recap it.

I could not find any reviews of this model.

[mariushm]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

It will probably do 350-400w at a lousy efficiency (~ 65-70%), but little of that on 12v - probably tops at about 100 watts on 12v, which is used now the most (cpu and pci express video cards)

[rogfanther]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

Please, post pictures of the inside of it

[Jooo]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

Ok I'll post tomorrow.

Well I replaced the one bulging capacitor it had. With... a Fuhjyuu salvaged from dead Antec Smartpower

I also noticed that the sticker is lying: it says two 12v (15+16a) lines, infact this has only one.

[rogfanther]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

Is this it ?
http://www.hwupgrade.it/forum/showthread.php?t=2341526

[Jooo]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

Looks kinda like the second one, but my psu has atleast more capacitors on secondary. 120mm fan and same green capacitors though.
My psu has no voltage select switch, and I dont remember that PCB over power connector.

[Jooo]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

Ok here comes the photos.

[rogfanther]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

This psu has already appeared here, under another name. Reasonably good for 350W, from what I remember. Should not be able of much more.

That burn marks near the transformer worry me. Seems it has been used with a machine that demands more than power it can handle. I have one like yours in the junk pile, waiting for some time to fix the 5VSB as a learning experience, but I would only use it with some lower wattage computer.

[mariushm]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

Yeah... no way is that psu with 2 x 12v rails ... and 16a on that is a bit exagerated.

Like I said, expect about 10-12A on 12v, which should be enough for a current processor and a video card with a single pci express connector.

That dark pcb is worrying though.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

~250W max

It's missing an input filter coil.

Output capacitors are 2x1000uF, too low for 500W unit :P

Main transformer is not real ERL35.

I can't decide if it is worth a recap.

[Jooo]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

That's what I thought.
Well I will not fully recap it. I think that Fuhjuyy will do just fine.

As you can see in the pictures, there are some empty holes for cables. I added a pci-e power connector salvaged from another dead psu.

I'm probably going to use this as a psu for testing dead computers.


I found this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbWzAjL0rWc

It looks like exactly same PSU. Except that this one is oversized a little more. 5000W psu with no PCI-e connectors

[mcdaydavies]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

You recapped it with a fuhjyyu?? wow, from bad to worse...

[Jooo]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

Did you read the whole topic?

Well I replaced the one bulging capacitor it had. With... a Fuhjyuu salvaged from dead Antec Smartpower

It doesn't make sense to use capacitors which are worth more than the psu.
And it can't be worse than those green capacitors with no brand at all.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

~250W max

That was what I was thinking! Looks like 500-divided-by-2!

A half-assed 500! (Did the PSU just moon me?)

[Rulycat]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

Did you read the whole topic?


It doesn't make sense to use capacitors which are worth more than the psu.
And it can't be worse than those green capacitors with no brand at all.

They look like YC to me. Solytech seem to like them.

[rogfanther]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

I´ve seen about 5 of theses around here. One burned the 5vsb, one was weak for the computer. The others had green bulged caps only because the fan stopped and that regulation toroid cooked itself and the caps ( probably they were used in more power hungry machines, also ) .

Maybe better than putting crap Fujyus in it would be changing the fan and maybe some rectifier. That part of the board did get that burnt color for a reason.

[momaka]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

~250W max

That's probably about right.
Given the small heat sinks, I would say no more than 200W peak (and that's only if you actually spread the load across the 5V and 12V rails evenly). 150W if you want it not to overheat and work somewhat longer. Anything above that will likely have too much ripple and noise to be usable in a PC.

I too can't decide if it's worth the recap either. You will probably need to do a lot of other improvements as well to make it better. Overall I'm leaning towards not to recap it and just use it as a test PSU for non PC use (i.e. test fans, small bulbs, and other electronics that won't load it too much).

[c_hegge]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

It doesn't make sense to use capacitors which are worth more than the psu.

Agreed. The fuhjyyu is too good for this PSU. He should have used a GSC or Sacon

And it can't be worse than those green capacitors with no brand at all.

They are Yang Chun. Not great, but miles better than fuhjyyu, and way too good for this PSU

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

~250W max

It's missing an input filter coil.

Output capacitors are 2x1000uF, too low for 500W unit :P

Main transformer is not real ERL35.

I can't decide if it is worth a recap.

I add to those:

2x470uF primary caps = 300W max

[370forlife]

Re: Real wattage of LC-8500BTX

Definitely a Solytech unit, they seem to slap the XX-8500BTX model number on any unit and sell it as a 500W. I had this exact Solytech unit but it was branded as a Rosewill 350W. With complete output filters, input filters, larger primary caps (680uf or even 820uf if you are feeling frisky,) and some beefier secondary schottky's I would trust it for 300W. Not for long with that transformer, though.