Enlight HPC-300-202

[goodpsusearch]

This is the little brother of the Chieftec HPC-360-202 of the other thread I have created. I thought, since I fixed the other, why not fix that too?

I have posted again about that power supply here.

There are some interesting things about it.

The passive PFC is connected to psu with 4 wires, not 2! It is connected right after the bridge rectifier and is in series with both the + and the -.

Another thing I've never seen before is the output filter of the 5vsb. Instead of the usual configuration, capacitor-coil-capacitor, it is capacitor-coil-capacitor-coil, as seen on the link:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...9&d=1353028791

The 5vsb caps are 470uF 25V Teapo SX and 100uF 25V Teapo SH. I am replacing both with 2x1000uF 16V Rubycon YXF. That's the usual capacity of modern 5vsb circuits.

The soldering is very good.

There is only 1 bulging cap and it is G-Luxon 2200uF 6.3V on 5V output.

The filtering of the 12V output is done with 1 coil and 2 caps, 1x1000uF 16V Teapo SH and 1x 10uF 50V Teapo SEK, same odd configuration as Chieftec HPC-360-202.

The fan brand is "Magic". No comment on that.. There is a "sense" wire from the fan that can be connected to the motherboard and be used for fan monitoring.

All the wires are AWG18, except the ATX12V that uses 20AWG.

Unfortunately, the label lies about the 12V rating. It says 13A, but the rectifier is rated for just 10A (YG902C2). I am planning to replace it with MBR20100CT (20A). I am also in the process of replacing the 1000uF 16V general purpose capacitor with 3300uF 16V entry low esr. After that, I hope the power supply could be used with 12V systems.

What do you think?

[Wester547]

Re: Enlight HPC-300-202

Magic Protechnic have produced good fans in my experience. I've never had one fail on me, sleeve or dual ball bearing.

The 10A rectifier being used as futile means to achieve the 13A rating on the label is interesting - I've seen other Enlight/Sirtec 300W PSUs with the same configuration, except on the label it said "peak load: 300W" - perhaps the 13A rating is the +12V rail's peak rating and not so much continuous? Even though for the Chieftec HPC-300-202, it says "Max Load: 300W" on the label... of course, you could also argue that even though the +12V rail only has a 10A rectifier that perhaps with good cooling and bridge topology you could get closer to 12A (maybe 12.5A at maximum, rounding it up) on the +12V rail (since this is a half bridge PSU)? Actually, this label is of the same model but it says peak load too. Go figure - Chieftec twisted High Power's rating.

That particular PSU may be old enough to be really for +5V/+3.3V based systems and not +12V based systems. I bet the +5V and +3.3V rails have 30A TO-3P rectifiers, which is no surprise. Since it's bridge topology and the label rates the +12V rail at 13A, however, I personally think 20A is an overkill and that a 15A or 16A part would do just fine, but of course there's no harm in putting a 20A part there for the sake of efficiency.

[mariushm]

Re: Enlight HPC-300-202

The power supply actually looks nice.

Shame about those capacitors dying. Don't forget to replace that Y cap in the 8th picture.

Don't go too low with the ESR. I'd stay with Panasonic FC, Nichicon HE, HD, Rubycon ZL etc

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Enlight HPC-300-202

I did a partial recap, put 3300uF on 12V and 2x1000uF on 5vsb.

I replaced YG902C2 with an MBR20100CT. Due to very little free space among the heatsink and the transformer I had to remove the heatsink. Unfortunately many traces were lifted, but I managed to restore them when I soldered back the heatsink. I don't know how you do it, maybe I need some tips


I tested it with a (12V based) computer and its performance was mediocre. 5vsb fluctuates a bit: 5.13-5.14-5.13-5.14-5.13-5.15-5.13 etc..

3.3V is stable, 5V is almost stable and 12V is stable when PC is in light use, but when running Memtest it's oscillating just like the Chieftec. The maximum range of oscillation is approximately 100mV (11.98-12.07).

Are these results acceptable?

Btw I found a review: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article59-page1.html

[momaka]

Re: Enlight HPC-300-202

Looks very similar to my Task PSU. Probably no good for a 12V system either.

3.3V is stable, 5V is almost stable and 12V is stable when PC is in light use, but when running Memtest it's oscillating just like the Chieftec. The maximum range of oscillation is approximately 100mV (11.98-12.07).

Are these results acceptable?

If the PSU is not hissing or whining under load, then it's probably okay. Only an oscilloscope will tell you if that's true, though.
Personally, I wouldn't use it in a 12V system (and if I did, then only with a hard drive I don't care about).

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Enlight HPC-300-202

Looks very similar to my Task PSU. Probably no good for a 12V system either.


If the PSU is not hissing or whining under load, then it's probably okay. Only an oscilloscope will tell you if that's true, though.
Personally, I wouldn't use it in a 12V system (and if I did, then only with a hard drive I don't care about).

I am testing it right now with an Albatron PX865PE Pro, Pentium 4 2.6 HT, 512MB DDR400, Radeon HD2400 pro, DVD-ROM, DVD-RW, no hard drive.. I am not impressed. Fortunately, there is no whine, or squealing coming from the psu.


Btw, how much does a cheap digital oscilloscope cost?

[mariushm]

Re: Enlight HPC-300-202

You can get used analogue ones and maybe even digital ones from eBay for 50-100$

New good ones start from about 200-300$.

You're in Greece which kind of sucks, cause you'd get very cheap ones if you were in US. Shipping costs a ton.

For example, a cheap analogue one would be this 20Mhz one : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Goldstar-OS-...item58985b32b5

For $30 it's a steal. Probes would be an additional $10-20.

20Mhz is enough for power supplies and fixing stuff but if you plan to use one for more diverse things, 50Mhz or more would be recommended.

Well, you could try ebay.co.uk or ebay.de or ebay.ie but you'd still pay a bit for shipping between EU countries.

Let's see... this looks good :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Iwatsu-ss-...item3ccc875b7d

The new ones are digital, with storage options, so they're more user friendly (and noob friendly) but they're also expensive.

For example, I have this one:

http://www.batronix.com/shop/oscillo...l-DS1052E.html

Batronix is about the cheapest when it comes to European sellers, I bought one for them, it was probably about 320 euro in total.

From outside, there's Dealextreme (dx.com) selling good scopes starting from 300$:

http://dx.com/p/utd2052cl-7-0-lcd-50...loscope-115121
http://dx.com/p/rigol-ds1052e-5-6-tf...lloscope-30573

[momaka]

Re: Enlight HPC-300-202

For example, a cheap analogue one would be this 20Mhz one : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Goldstar-OS-...item58985b32b5

For $30 it's a steal. Probes would be an additional $10-20.

HOLY SHIT! Last time I looked on ebay (just a few months back) I couldn't find anything good for less than $50. I guess I really suck at searching.

I think I might consider buying the one above - unless goodpsusearch wants to buy it (let me know so we don't try to outbid each other ). I already got probes too (well, 1 of them).

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Enlight HPC-300-202

Very informative post, thank you! Deal extreme provides free shipping to Greece.

I have watched a review video for Rigol digital oscilloscopes and they didn't seem to be bad at all. The build quality was good enough.

Maybe it is time to check the ripple of the power supplies I fix

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Enlight HPC-300-202

HOLY SHIT! Last time I looked on ebay (just a few months back) I couldn't find anything good for less than $50. I guess I really suck at searching.

I think I might consider buying the one above - unless goodpsusearch wants to buy it (let me know so we don't try to outbid each other ). I already got probes too (well, 1 of them).

No point in buying things from USA. An oscilloscope is heavier than a rock, shipping is going to cost more than the scope itself and I am going to have trouble with the customs of Greece... But I like those Rigol scopes a lot

If we lived closer I'd send you a Jou Jye 400W power supply! Here in Greece we may have no money due to the economical crisis but we have many power supplies with bad caps worth recapping

[mariushm]

Re: Enlight HPC-300-202

I doubt he would bid on it, it costs 116$ to ship it to Romania, so it would probably cost about the same to ship to Greece.

There's also this one momaka : http://www.ebay.com/itm/BK-Precision...item20cb23ec94

If you make him an offer for about $80-85, he'd probably accept it, and you won't waste time with auctions.


Now that I think about it, I have a Hitachi 60 Mhz scope... someone put an ad saying that it's free for whoever wants it so I offered to pay 100$ to ship it from US to me. Since I bought the Rigol I hardly ever use it, as the Rigol is easier to use.

But it would cost me about 30$ at least to mail it to Greece and I'd like to get at least a part of that 100$ back, so at 100-130$, i'm not sure it's worth the hassle.

[goodpsusearch]

Re: Enlight HPC-300-202

The Hitachi scope is digital or analog? What is the difference between them?

How old is it?

[mariushm]

Re: Enlight HPC-300-202

It's analogue, 2 channel, 60 Mhz. Hitachi V665.. I don't know how old it is, but probably from the '90s.

Digital scopes are better in the sense that they can "record" a waveform and you can go back and view it, save picture to usb stick or send it to computer, the Rigol for example can work directly with Labview and other programs.

You can also make measurements directly on screen on digital scopes, and they can calculate and show you peak to peak voltage,Vmin, Vmax, all kind of useful stuff about the waveform on screen, have more trigger methods ..

Analogue are more plain and simple, you have to play with the knobs and somewhat determine visually from the grid which voltage you have and so on.