how long should I trust an L&C?

[dood]

Just noticed that I have an L&C PSU in a machine I built for someone. I have the machine in because one of the sticks of RAM is dead, and I'm wondering how long these L&C PSU's last? The machine was just built at the beginning of November.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

They don't last very long usually - I always recommend replacing them immediately when this question gets asked. Mine ran for two years (almost a record for that particular 250W model), but spent a good portion of its final few months killing hard drives before I replaced it. Not even worth wasting one's valuable time replacing the caps in these IMO.

L&C also goes by the name Deer - there are some other interesting threads here about their units.

[willawake]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

i would say in the range of 2 years also to see some cap bulging. what was the brand of ram that failed?

better to recommend to upgrade to a different psu. (excuse: the psu might have caused the ram to fail....... ) it will be worse informing them that their pc is nuked later on.

[dood]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

Well... here's the rub- if I decide to replace the PSU, it will be coming out of my own pocket. I built the system 2 months ago, so it's still under warranty by me. I can't force them to change out their PSU just because I should've done it in the first place . So if I do it, it'll be to save myself the possibility of a complete meltdown later on. This person uses their machine heavily for their restaurant business, keeping all their records of the past 20 years in Quickbooks.

Oh, and the ram that failed was a single stick of OCZ Value Series 256mb PC3200 2.5-4-4-8. The machine had two identical sticks in it, and only one failed. As soon as I isolated the faulty stick, the machine was back up and running 100% with no reload needed. It's currently approved for RMA through Newegg...

[willawake]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

ok how long is the warranty?

you should try to find some reasonably priced but decent spec case and psu for business builds. like the ISO psu i posted recently. personally i would avoid cheap case and L&C for recent builds especially new hardware which needs more power.
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1126

keeping all their records of the past 20 years in Quickbooks.

oh gawd i know the feeling. i usually spec only the most reliable for that even if they have to pay more. what is backup strategy? is that on UPS preferably APC.

what psu can you find? see what you can get. i would upgrade the psu and spread the cost over several servicing charges.

shitty about the OCZ.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

Here are my suggestions for a good PSU on the cheap:

5v oriented mainboard (no 12v connector): http://www.directron.com/fsp30060atv.html
12v oriented board: http://www.directron.com/fsp30060thn.html

Not being Fortron's cheaper "ATX" models, these should last a while. They're not perfect, but you probably won't find perfection at these prices

[dood]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

Are Fortron's really good? I thought they were less reliable than some of the bigger names.

[willawake]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

fortrons are good (they build for major brands including OCZ) it is just that when they use fuhjyuu caps then they are not long lasting?
how do we know those dont have fuhjyuu?

personally i use chieftec cases http://www.chieftecusa.com with http://www.highpowersupply.com/ psu for important builds. but it is not gonna be in your budget for only psu.

any more ideas?

[Per Hansson]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

Well, I had one that lived for about 12-18 months... It was a real pain at the end though, comp would not cold start etc etc...

Recapped it today just for fun, 4 Rulycons where leaking so I put TEAPO caps from a dead old Epox 8KHA+ mainboard in their place, it powers on now atleast (did not before) But when I had one 120mm fan and one 80mm fan plus a 50w 12v TEC connected to it the 12v line dropped to 10,6v... Dunno if this is because I'm not loading the 5v and 3,3v lines enough. (that where fine at 3,34 and 5.34v respectivley) But I sure do not want to test it on a real working mainboard...


If it where my customer or friend I had built this for I would have atleast recapped the PSU, I would not like to be you when one of the crap caps in that PSU fails miserably and short out the whole PSU which starts a fire and burns his house down... (Ok, maybe I was being a bit dramatic at the end but you get my point)

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

They're a bit less reliable than units like those from Zippy and high watt PC Power and Cooling, but more reliable than most I've seen. My 530W has been going a year and a half of 24/7 use with no sign of capacitor distress, unlike the Channel Well it replaced. Cost me a fair bit though - $160 Canadian shipped.

There's a chance low end Fortrons have the occasional Fuhjyyu cap in them, which is why I'm not suggesting the "ATX" named models, but their better units like mine seem to use mostly Teapo. In fact, mine's all Teapo. Still not the greatest caps in the world, but methinks they're not the worst either.

Edit - just wanted to point out Topower is the OEM for OCZ, not Fortron

Fortron is also found under their Sparkle and Powertech names, as well as Aopen and Nexus.

Edit 2 - I also wanted to mention I'm personally not yet sure if all the failing Fuhjyyu caps in Antec units are a result of excessively poor quality or poor cooling. Or both. CWT designs always seem to run hot to me.

[Newbie2]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

Normally, I've had good experiences with L&C power supplies

What the, this guy isn't telling the truth! If he did have good experiences with L&C power supplies, later he must of saw all his L&C power supplies blow up randomly.

Source: http://www.atruereview.com/razotech_...uter_case2.php

[japlytic]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

I would never trust them, not even for a few seconds. In a computer store (The Disc Shop) they had a lot of L&C units - what should I do about this??

[Newbie2]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

What happened to that L&C 400W power supply you had?

[japlytic]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

As I said elsewhere, I scrapped it.

[Daijoubu]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

My Deer 250W lasted 6 years before one small cap poped

[Spacedye69]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

I have a couple cheaper FSP with fujjyyuuuii caps. The only dead Fujjyytyuui I have seen have been in Antecs. I will still be recapping them just to be safe!

[starfury1]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

Id replace it regardless, but if its being used in a business Dood id defiantly replace it asap.

I know it to some extend it may leave you out of pocket but if it goes, they arn't going to be too happy with you at all if they lose there data.
(let alone what per said, yeah maybe a bit of the top but its possible I suppose)

The downside is the bad advertising they would give you.

So treat it as money spent building good customer relations and hopefully if they are happy they will give you a good rap to others which my mean more work for you in the long run

Word of mouth is the best advertising I think you can get and really only costs you good service and being friendly to people (ok mostly)

(even marketing companies have finally woken up to this, and will give people goods so long as they plug them....thats a bit of a downside for consumers thought)
Just my thoughts on it....
Cheers all

[dood]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

Well, it's still working after over a year. Guess I'm lucky for now. If I had some extra money, I'd swap them out now. Maybe in a few more months. I'll tell 'em it's a recall by the PSU manufacturer. Wishful thinking, maybe???

[toastygoodness]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

I'm lucky too, I got one from RaidMax (DR-300-ATX) that's actually lasted for more than 3 years. I guess it's because all it's got is a P4 Northwood 2.4Ghz, a POS ECS VIA P4m400 mobo, a Sony CD-RW, a Western Digital 120GB IDE HD, and a Radeon 9200 SE. Actually I'm suprised from all the hardware I have. But the computer isn't doing so well now, probably something's getting screwed up because the voltage fluctuates quite a bit. The Deer is also plugged into a APC UPS, so that's what might be keeping it going.

[Tom41]

Re: how long should I trust an L&C?

I had a Kobian Mercury 400W PSU (a rebranded Deer), that didn't even last one year before a cap vented. The PC it was in started rebooting at random, and the PSU would do a high-pitched squeal while in standby mode (after shutting down).

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...achmentid=4383