Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

[Per Hansson]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

That's some good 350W power supply, but the pictures were a bit big.

Sorry bout that... I resized them a wee bit... Used the wrong size...

Yea, it's an impressive PSU... Also impressive that the PCE-TUR caps are fine... It's been in use for over 3 years, was bought 02-12-12...

[Newbie2]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

We have seen I think two failures of PCE-TUR caps, it's weird that their failure rate is very low (or low) but PCE-TUR is on the bad caps list.

[Rainbow]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

Looks like they're "good" bad caps

[dood]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

wow... I'd never seen a "Vogue" power supply before... there's nothing in there! Also, I didn't realise they were still making AT supplies in 2000... or that anyone would still use one! I don't think I ever had an AT supply fail on me...

[Rainbow]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

I've repaired some AT PSUs - shorted transistors and diodes. Never seen bulged caps in them.

[Mustang]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

An overview of the build quality pictorial. There's PSU's that range from very old to a few of the latest models. It would seem to make sense if these pics were separated so if someone were to browse this forum trying to make an educated decision on buying a new PSU, they'd have the info readily available. Or perhaps a list of recommendations based on this pictorial?

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

Sounds like a plan - we could also post an approximate date along with each PSU to give an idea when it was made. Not sure about the Enermax I just posted, but it's gotta be older than 10 years. The FSP530-60GNA is roughly two years old, the CWT 250W is around 8 years old, and the FSP600-80GLC is a brand new model.

[willawake]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

i was thinking we should show the range of few good manufacturers. we already have a good covering of what seasonic is doing on Per's thread so we should have one on fortron and fortron built units (considering that global availability is good). it would be best to show only units that would still be available. it would be great if someone could figure out the fortron model numbering if there is any logic to it.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

There's a few things to remember about Fortron part numbers, but not really anything to tell how new they are from them. The part numbers starting with AX and ATX are usually lower quality units from them (more likely to contain Fuhjyyu anyway), while the FSP models are usually higher quality. Taking my FSP530-60GNA as an example, I believe the G is supposed to indicate 80mm fans while the N signifies the noise killer thermal fan controller. No idea what the A is there for, or what the 60 means. There is a FSP530-60GN with much higher 12v capacity - maybe that's what the A is for.

It seems like they change it slightly for new lines. The Blue Storms end in THA or THN depending whether or not they have a 80mm fan or 120mm fan respectively. Except the AX500-A, which is a line unto itself. The Green Powers are GLN (120mm) or GLC (80mm), and the Zen fanless line ends in 60GNF for both models. Then there's the Russia only OPS line. It's all a bit confusing.

[dood]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

I was thinking about taking the pics from the pictorial thread and making them into a website, organized by brand, with just the top-down views on it, for a quick reference. That's kind of what I had envisioned for that thread, but then I got all picture-happy

[Newbie2]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

Vogue (rebadged Deer) 230W AT unit, manufactured July 2000. Viva primary caps; the rest Rulycon (my first real sighting of this brand!) and one CapXon.

I don't know why a company would make AT power supplies in the year 2000, when ATX was the standard.

That is the crappiest AT power supply I have ever seen. I thought the Astec SA145-3430 145W AT power supply (I don't have it anymore) was the crappiest AT power supply.

[Rainbow]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

L&C LC-B450 E 450W Power Supply

OMG, that's crap. I'd call it 200W max.

[larrymoencurly]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

IThat is the crappiest AT power supply I have ever seen. I thought the Astec SA145-3430 145W AT power supply (I don't have it anymore) was the crappiest AT power supply.

Isn't Astec supposed to make the good stuff? I once had an ancient XT Astec that was built like a tank compared to everything else, including a LiteOn.

[Chris1992]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

Yeah, Astec's PSUs I thought are good. I have a Mac Performa 6320CD with Astec PSU. Only thing is, I don't have a Mac monitor nor mouse nor kbd to test it.

[Chris1992]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

How can I tell if a PSU has passive or active PFC? Willawake's Fortron Blue Storm 350w has passive but I don't see anything in there really different to my 350w Hipro PFC-less PSU.

[dood]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

I think, in the picture that Willawake has in his post, it's the thing in the upper-right corner of the PSU, by the main caps... I think. If you compare his PSU to the Sparkle (Fortron) PSU that I posted earlier (the new one), you'll see that mine has a big open hole where that thing is supposed to go on overseas models.

[PeteS in CA]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

Bingo, dood. And that inductor probably makes that corner of the P/S rather heavy, since the core is probably steel laminations.

[dood]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

Something interesting that I've been noticing... on the cheaper, crappier supplies, you find the "warranty void if removed" stickers covering screws and seams and such... but on the more expensive or just higher-quality units, you usually don't. Iiiiinteresting...

[japlytic]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

In the L&C LC-B450E 450W supply, the 330uF 200V primary capacitors are inadequate for a supply of this size. They should be at least 680uF.

820uF 200V primary capacitors in the Delta DPS300-BB 300W supply seem plentiful; an old Compaq Deskpro 386s 140W supply uses two 680uF 250V units in the primary.

[PeteS in CA]

Re: Power supply build quality pictorial DISCUSSION

How can I tell if a PSU has passive or active PFC?

Passive PFC uses a large, heavy 50/60 Hz inductor. As mentioned above, the core will be stacked steel laminations, either E-core or U-core.

Active PFC will usually use a 400V or 450V I/P lytic. There will be an inductor, usually with a toroid core. I'm tempted to say there will be 3 devices on the primary-side heatsink, but this can vary, depending on whether the main inverter is a single-switch forward converter or a two-switch forward; also, the standby switch (or regulator) may be on that heatsink. So that can be misleading.