TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

[ratdude747]

Found this PSU at a Goodwill for $4:



This PSU is WEIRD. In some ways it seems junk, in some ways it seems built for royalty.

Like for instance, it's clearly a non-12v design be marked as a P4 PSU, yet they actually listed both a peak and continous wattage... and the model numer isn't the peak number!

Another sticker:



Hmm, Ok...

The back adds more mystery:



The switch and 3 LEDs (I could only make two of them come on) are actually to select different fan speed profiles... When none are on, it's slowest, middle makes the S led light up green, and high speed lights the T LED red. The LEDs are solid when the PSU on and blinking when it's off (more on why later).

And the fan... it's a legit Ball bearing fan... no sleeve bearing horseshit, as I once took apart a globe BB fan and it indeed had two BBs.

The top adds another fan, same model only 92mm, to the mix:



It has an older set of plugs, mostly moxlex/berg, but with a single SATA:



The wires are nice and thick too... none of that super thin shit.

The ATX does indeed have -5V present:



And they even silkscreened the ATX sleeve:



An overview of the guts:



Look at those massive load resistors and fan controller... more on the latter in a bit.

The Primary:



Looks good, minus the noname primary caps. The even put an isolation cover on one of the screws:



That's it for this post... in the next one, pics of the secondary and some other goodies.

[Wester547]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

Those aren't noname primary capacitors. "LP" is a series of capacitors from CapXon. That sleeve looks exactly like all the other CapXon LP capacitors I've seen, except it looks a bit more blue than black. Not to say CapXon capacitors are much better than noname brands... unless those are fake CapXons (but to fake CapXon out of all the brands...). 350W seems about right for it depending on what the bipolar switchers are (it seems to be a half bridge unit). They're in TO-3P so they might be good for 350W.

[ratdude747]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

Those aren't noname primary capacitors. "LP" is a series of capacitors from CapXon. That sleeve looks exactly like all the other CapXon LP capacitors I've seen, except it looks a bit more blue than black. Not to say CapXon capacitors are much better than noname brands... unless those are fake CapXons (but to fake CapXon out of all the brands...). 350W seems about right for it depending on what the bipolar switchers are (it seems to be a half bridge unit). They're in TO-3P so they might be good for 350W.

I see.

Here's some pics of the switchers:





While I was shooting those, I noticed something I like:



They actually used a connector for the AC!

Here's a pic of the secondary:



For 350W, it looks a bit skimpy... but maybe it's just me.

The caps are PCE-TUR:



None bloated... but they're probably dried up. If I use this PSU, I'll recap it.

A few shots of the fan controller daughterboard:





The three connectors with the blue caps are clearly fan outputs (in parallel), whole the other two are a mystery... these were bundled with the PSU:



While they were made for a 480W Thermaltake, the ends match the connectors:



May explain why the warranty seal was broken (before I bought it, that is).

Anyway, I put it back together, and did some basic idle tests... and I was greeted with a surprise:



If you look, my PSU tester is OFF. Yup, the fan runs even when the PSU is soft-off... albeit a lot slower than usual (on all 3 fan modes). Maybe because of those massive load resistors... or maybe to protect the 5VSB (don't we wish all PSU's did this?)

I did some no-load tests... the voltages were in spec... too lazy to dig out my old scope... not that it matters since if I do anything with it, it will get a recap.

Comments?

[ratdude747]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

Odd... looks like they reused the model number for another PSU:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/TTGI-350W-TT...item20d24c0a18

Has the same fan controls on the back... but the fan layout is different (this ones isn't even LED). Same Main sticker.... but it has two SATA, not one.

[Pentium4]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

Nice grab RD! That's actually a nice PSU, I was pleasantly surprised. It's got ball bearing fans and a connector for the AC like you mentioned which makes me so happy I think that's an old Super Flower unit.

I'm surprised they used CEC holdings for the caps, I expected total junk like HEC, Fuhjyyu, etc. I think this would have no problem doing 350W. Those switchers look like Fuji Electric, do they say 2SC2625? If so then they're good for 350w especially with the good cooling and nice heatsinks.

What are the model numbers of the secondary rectifiers?

If possible I would replace the 4A bridge with a 6A bridge

[ratdude747]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

The PSU is so packed that I'd have to remove the heatsinks to get numbers off the silicon. It looks pretty beefy, that I can tell.

If it is what became super flower, then that would explain a lot.

Edit- If I use it, I'll swap in a 6A bridge. I think I have some in a junk box.

[Pentium4]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

Yeah I would guess it has a 20A rectifier for the 12V which is plenty.

What is that gold/white thing mounted on the secondary heatsink, I'm wondering if it's there's a thermistor under it for OTP

[everell]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

Looks "cool" to me!

I just finished doing a 5vsb mod on a Bestec 12E using the ncp1216 chip. I used one of the 5vsb transformer windings to run a fan any time the 5vsb is on. The other fan comes on only when the computer is turned on. You might check to see if that is what this psu is doing. One fan running all the time, and the other fan running only when the computer is on.

In my opinion, that psu is a keeper.

[Pentium4]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

I think it's good that the fans run all the time, because it looks to use a 2 transistor circuit for 5VSB, which will be fine once you recap it but they tend to create a lot of heat in standby mode

[ratdude747]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

Yeah I would guess it has a 20A rectifier for the 12V which is plenty.

What is that gold/white thing mounted on the secondary heatsink, I'm wondering if it's there's a thermistor under it for OTP

Massive resistor.

I think you deserve an award... look what I found on the daugherboard:



Yes, it's a super flower...

Also note the markings on the two mystery connectors... I guess those fan controller leads were bundled in error...

Also note that thermistor at the top... that's right above the heastisink... that must be how temp is being measured.

[ratdude747]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

Looks "cool" to me!

I just finished doing a 5vsb mod on a Bestec 12E using the ncp1216 chip. I used one of the 5vsb transformer windings to run a fan any time the 5vsb is on. The other fan comes on only when the computer is turned on. You might check to see if that is what this psu is doing. One fan running all the time, and the other fan running only when the computer is on.

In my opinion, that psu is a keeper.

Nope, both were on. Notice that all 3 fan connectors are in parallel... when one is on, they're all on.

Agreed, I think it is a keeper, now that I see who made it.

[Pentium4]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

Massive resistor.

I think you deserve an award... look what I found on the daugherboard:



Yes, it's a super flower...

Imagine how much this PSU must have cost when it was made in 2003! And still very usable. Is that an Ltec (?) cap there on the fan controller? It might be dried out I've seen lots of old Ltec caps dry out, even 1uF ones and their ESR goes through the roof

[ratdude747]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

More on that Resistor:

[Pentium4]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

Interesting...That is a massive resistor indeed.

If/when you recap it, upload some pictures

[kc8adu]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

dated design but not junk.
throw some good caps in it and use it in a basic machine.

[Elysarian]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

That's not a resistor... It's a heating element! lol

(we do actually use physically similar size ceramic wire-wound resistors @ 240v as heaters in camera housings)

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

More on that Resistor:

That there could be the reason why the fan runs in standby... Where is it connected?

[momaka]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

Nice PSU. Definitely a keeper.

The huge load resistor is probably fine because it's far from the caps and the board, so it's not cooking anything. Looks like it's on the 5V rail. Being a 10 Ohm, it's dissipating 2.5W. A bit on the high side, but probably there to make the 5V rail happy with a heavy 12V load.

[tom66]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

Apart from the crummy caps, looks not too bad. Heck, if they'd spent $5 more on decent caps I would give it 9.5/10. Right now I'd say a solid 6 or 7 out of ten.

[Pentium4]

Re: TTGI 350W: Keeper or Junk?

Interesting how they rated the 5VSB @ 2.3A and not 2 or 2.5