You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...-Review/1212/1

Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. And did i mention fail? The best of Solytech. The PCB layout is super clean... but that's about where it ends. I'm not spoiling the rest of the surprises. Enjoy the read.

[kaboom]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

Oh 'Deer' me...


Let's play Spot The Violations:

6.3A fuse with 20awg line and voltage doubler switch wires, and 2A line rectifiers

No EMI/RFI filter- STOP CALLING IT A TRANSIENT SUPPRESSOR!!

Shit cans for caps- primary is silkscreened for bigger cans

Board silkscreened for bigger coupled inductor than the one present

'ERL35' looks like an EER28

No pi filters in the outputs

'Diodes on a bracket' bullshit

Free resistors/fuses for the output leads

"6.3 A fuse, which is the case, it is a model between 230 W and 300 W" Nice try, jerk. Who the hell qualified your dumb ass to determine that?

"12V-A & 12V-B" Think ya foolin me, asshole? Look at the back of the board and tell me where all the 12V wires terminate- on the same bus.

As Billy Mays would say, "You shittin' me?"
-Paul

[370forlife]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

"6.3 A fuse, which is the case, it is a model between 230 W and 300 W" Nice try, jerk. Who the hell qualified your dumb ass to determine that?
l

Solytech silkscreens it on the PCB. They say "5A Fuse for 150W-200W, 6.3A Fuse for 230W-300W" etc....

[kaboom]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

I don't care what the silkscreen says. Those cheapies all have the same fuse size vs output wattage ratio. Possibly, one of them had a 4 or 6A rectifier and #18 cu on the line side, way back when they got their first 'prototype' to copy.

Don't forget that those are aluminum wires. That #20al only has the ampacity of #22cu, plus any derating for ambient temps- in this case, the inside of the PS. Insulation type also matters, but it's not gonna be more than 3A.

In any AC line connected device, #18cu and 75 or 90 *C. Not sure if 60* is allowed anymore. This thing has no UL file number, counterfeit or otherwise.

Just rememba, tiny wyyazz makes it cheeper.
-Paul

[TheLaw]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

Dear Lord....

If you were the designer of this, would you feel bad about this when you went to sleep at night? I couldn't live with myself. What are those. 1N401s??? Woww....

[pavithra_uk]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

In here Sri Lanka, Most crappy sellers are selling this kind of PSUs as a hi-end PSUs

A guy from a shop said "Its new technology design - light weight" LOL LOL LOL

they sell these PSUs for 15 ~20 $

[momaka]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

I like how there are huge load resistors right next to the filter capacitors on the secondary. Even if this PSU was used in a low-power Pentium 3 computer, those resistors will likely cook the capacitors in a month, and then you'll wonder why the system doesn't boot.
And the "Diodes on a bracket bullshit" for the 12v rail is just hilarious. 72W on the 12v rail is seriously low. I'm actually quite surprised they were able to pull so much power on the 12v rail in the above review.

A guy from a shop said "Its new technology design - light weight"

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

I'm actually quite surprised they were able to pull so much power on the 12v rail in the above review.

The 3A rating of the diodes isn't an absolute maximum, it's a recommended rating. If you can keep them cool, they put out more. But as you saw, they do fail if overloaded for too long.

[Scenic]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

If you can keep them cool, they put out more. But as you saw, they do fail if overloaded for too long.

i'll let this image speak for itself.. (discoloration)

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

That's nothing compared to what i have on some of my Deer PCBs. But still, discoloration like that on a brand new supply... fail.

[c_hegge]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

Oh Deer. Oh deer. Even the TT BTX400 (which is also a deer) is better than that, although I've load tested two of them so far and both exploded when I attempted to draw 320W.

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q41GjPgm9d8 <- the test video of one of them.

[Rulycat]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

What happened to Solytech being able to make an 80Plus Gold PSU? Haven't they learned anything? Perhaps the lure of Apevia's money is too much.

[b700029]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

I have a no-name AT (not ATX) PSU from the 90s that has an almost identical PCB, down to the heatsinks, except it uses a real bridge rectifier on the primary and doesn't use a diode pair for the 12V. It's rated for 250W.

And "Figure 13: No filtering coils in the secondary"? More like "insufficient", unless those two coils I see there aren't connected to anything.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

They mean no pi filters. To reduce ripple further a second coil-cap filter is placed after the main filter caps. It also has the effect of the thing simply going undervoltage in the event of main filter cap failure, rather than destroying the computer with huge peak voltages. The caps in the pi filter rarely (if ever) fail because they are subjected to very little ripple current. They only fail if they happen to be located next to those pesky minimum load resistors...

[kaboom]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

Look at how the board has holes and silkscreening for TO-247 rectifiers for 5 and 12!

Why not just eliminate the heatsink and use FR102s?!

"Innovative feature unlike any other PSU; you've heard of fanless- enter heatsinkless."

I played with one of these little bastards once. I loaded it with one of those 50W/12V A19 bulbs. The FOP over the spaghetti wires was maybe 1/3 a volt at 4.166A. Never mind the poor voltage regulation, even with something on 5.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

Look at how the board has holes and silkscreening for TO-247 rectifiers for 5 and 12!

That's so they can fit those DO-201 rectifiers for the 12v.

"Innovative feature unlike any other PSU; you've heard of fanless- enter heatsinkless."

I believe FSP did this on their latest 80 plus gold PSU. Aurum 700W was it called? I think so.

[370forlife]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

Seasonic Xseries and FSP Aurum have very small heatsinks, they use the bottom side of the casing as a heatsink.

[Per Hansson]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

Seasonic Xseries and FSP Aurum have very small heatsinks, they use the bottom side of the casing as a heatsink.

The efficiency of ca 90% helps too
Not like this thing which will be happy to not trip the breaker when generating 100w DC

[b700029]

Re: You're going to like this one. Apevia 450W @ Hardware Secrets

http://rwlabs.com/images/articles/fs...um_700_013.JPG
It's almost like those gutless wonders, except it can do 90% efficiency