new/ used psu suggestions

[ratdude747]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

nope. all american. he is as russian as corn. he has a sense of humor like that... once you know him for a while, you can see him doing such a thing...

[PCBONEZ]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

Was he Russian ancestry and a little bit too proud of it?
If so he might have worked for me at one time.
.

[ratdude747]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

my physics teacher last year spent some time in the navy (before he grew too tall and they discharged him). he got to spend time in orlando, FL for education...

little story he told the class about is time in orlando (he told us one every monday): he was in military physics class, and the teacher was using a bunch of lame examples to illustrate newton's 3rd law... ((i am pushing on the wall but the wall is pushing back on me). So my teacher (his name is Dave) raises his hand and the teacher asks what his question is, and Dave replies "is that like how 'I am stuck to band aid brand and band aid is stuck on me?" The teacher's only response was "DAVID! OUT!" He was punished by having to serve a torpedo watch duty on a saturday night... and keep in mind that Orlando is landlocked. sucked to be him that night.

[everell]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

Didn't get your month in Hawaii!!!!!

No wonder you have become the "grumpy" old fart. I would be pretty grumpy over that one too!

[PCBONEZ]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

During my first shore duty I was selected to be the supervisor of a corrosion control operation which included powder coating, acetylene aluminum spray coating, spray painting, and sand blasting shops in a brand new 52 million dollar industrial facility.
I had to learn how all the shops worked and score highest on this test to get the job.
Then about a month before the formal training for that, they decided I learned fast enough to make me the supervisor over the whole facility instead of just the corrosion control area and I didn't need any schooling to do it.
DAMN! - One of the schools meant a paid month in Hawaii!
.

[everell]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

"Blue Chrome" [or any other colored chrome except silver or black] is usually achieved by a thin powder coat layer over chrome plating.

Power coating is a painting process where powered colored epoxy base paint is sprayed on and then baked in an oven.

.

I didn't know that. Very informative. Thanks pcbones.

[everell]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

ole blue sure does look purdy in your computer. You need to get a window type case so you can show it off. Glad to see ole blue is going to get the attention it needs. Sorry about the nicotine, but I am not the smoker who caused that problem.

Keep those ideas flowing and keep posting those pictures. Very interesting.

There are a couple of computer shops in this area that I visit regularly. One gives me their bad power supplies. The other charges $1 for each. Since I was just learning to fix power supplies - the cost of $1 each is quite cheap compared to a college class. What I really needed was BAD power supplies with which to learn on. My first one...a Bestec ATX-250 12E. What a way to learn! And I am still learning. The guy who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks didn't know what he was talking about.

[c_hegge]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

Not bad. When I replace fans with a tacho wire in PSUs I work with, I often get lazy and just cut it off.

That cooler looks Identical to mine (a CM Hyper TX3). I just replaced my zip tie cooler with it.

[ratdude747]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

everell, since you love modding the bestec 250-12e units, I figure i would give the blue unit a mos of it's own:

well, as it turns out, the fans int he blue unit were on thier way out. the inside one had the sticker peeling... and they were smooth but had a slight bit of resistance to turn (by hand)

in addition, I noted that the fan chip attached the the secondary heatsink only had a quick connect for the outside fan, the inside fan was directly soldered. i happened to have a pigtail and connector in the spare bin, so i soldered in a second connector to make removing the board for a later recap a bit easier.

next, we have the bad fans. as you can see, more evidence of Marlboro man:



clear fans are ugly when they are covered in nicotine... and the paper they are sitting on is white, for comparison.

the replacement fans had a tachometer wire on them... so did i chop it off? no. did i let it hang? no.

since these fans are temp controlled, i decided that i would add a couple fan header output lines. they ahve a ground and a tachometer wire output for each fan, so if i end up using the psu on a mobo with tachometer reading capabilities (the current board only shows cpu temp), i can monitor what the fans are up to:



the wire button is for aerodynamically routing the p4 connector to avoid interfering with the cpu and rear fans.

the white fan lead is the rear, the yellow is the front.

event hough my case is not windowed, i had to note how good the PSU looks above my cpu cooler:



any comments?

[ratdude747]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

whatever.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

"Blue Chrome" [or any other colored chrome except silver or black] is usually achieved by a thin powder coat layer over chrome plating.

Power coating is a painting process where powered colored epoxy base paint is sprayed on and then baked in an oven.

.

[ratdude747]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

again, thanks.

the blue unit looks good in my main rig... the fan placement is a better fit for the airflow profile i was aiming for... the black one is a better unit though... once the black one gets a recap, it will go in, but for now, the blue should do fine*

*= my main rig still needs more ram, a hard drive, new SATA opticals, a pwm rear fan (see a thread I am starting soon in the Gen. com. discussion), and a new card reader.

note- under minimal load fromthe main rig, no power up from the blue unit. w/o a hard drive, i can't quite load any power-hungry games to see if i can get it to spin the fans.

this is just a question, but everell, how did you obtain these power supplies?

[everell]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

Glad you are enjoying those power supplies. I am sure you will get greater pleasure from the bright shiny blue psu than I, teenagers enjoy such things.

I can remember when I was a teenager in high school. I was looking for a ARC-5 receiver with which to get started in ham radio. I was having difficulty locating one. I had stopped by a hobby shop one afternoon after school and mentioned to the sales clerk that I was looking for an old military surplus ARC-5 receiver. He was an older man, and to my surprise said just a minute, and disappeared in the back for a few minutes. He came back with an ARC-5 in hand. Wow!........how much?????

Nothing, he said. Just put it to good use. Such events make a good and lasting impression on teenagers. Even helps improve respect for the older generation. So when you get older and become a grumpy old fart like pcbones, perhaps a teenager will cross your path and you will have an opportunity to give him one of those shiny things you just couldn't throw away.....and let it become a treasure for the teen.

[ratdude747]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

the blue one is chromed not painted. i saw a copper layer under the blue where it was scratched. not to mention it has a shiny mirrored chrome-like finish. the cables also stand out so putting in a non-windowed case would be kinda "lame". i read somewhere that they look really cool under black light.

i might see if i can make the wires on it look right with some cleaning... they stink of nicotine.


the black one: I got all but 4 caps replaced... the 4 i did not have were:

2x 3300uf 16v
1x 4700uf 16v
1x 10uf 450v

getting my 4700uf 10v caps to fit was fun... they were out of a failed recap (burnt trace) and i had to solder some jumper wire out of a dead psu to the leads to make them fit. not to worry, the same trick had been used on the 10uf 450v cap.

again, thanks everell!!!!!!!!!!!!

one of the 3300uf caps had physical damage...

since i doubt TC has the last one on the list, i will have to go to digikey...

edit- topcat has them in 400V, close enough.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

I said pretty not gaudy.
That would be okay on a bumper though.

[everell]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

I didn't realize that the shiny silver stuff on this case was paint!

[PCBONEZ]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

....... since it seems better suited for a windowed case...

OMG you are so funny...

They invented this stuff a while ago that makes most metals pretty.
They call it spay paint.
.

[ratdude747]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

the black unit was much cleaner... it has the biggest fan i have seen other than a coolermaster fan the with of a case. 135mm... dang. i will see how many caps i can replace with it... the blue unit will sit for a while, since it seems better suited for a windowed case... i will eventually recap it as well and find a use for it.

thanks a bunch everell... you rock!

[ratdude747]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

its here!

dang... they are heavy... not gutless.

the blue's original owner must have smoked... it has the "smell". no biggie, but noted.

i am opening the blue one now...

edit- the blue units heatsinks are anodized aluminum... it also has a lot of furballs in it, pet hair city. yellow glue as well... it will need a cleaning.

on to the black...

[PCBONEZ]

Re: new/ used psu suggestions

You are.