Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

[Scenic]

i could get an Antec NeoHE 430 including all cables (has cable management) for 17EUR (12EUR + 5EUR shipping ... about 22USD)

seller says that he has trouble booting the PC this unit was in..

bad caps? worth buying/recapping?
and who's the OEM of this thing...?!

some pics..








those pics are from the 500W version...


edit: side-pic of the 430W version (looks the same)

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

Antec Neo (not ‘HE' and maybe early “HE”) -> built by CWT -> FUHJYUU caps.

Antec Neo HE -> Seasonic built -> OST caps.
(Early 'HE' builds may have still been CWT->Fuhjyyu. I dunno for sure.)

.

[KeriJane]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

Hello.

I would say go ahead and buy it.

If it was made by CWT, it probably has those really awful Fuhjyyu caps that are easily replaced, though many are of non-standard size.
Once recapped, it'll probably be fine.

If it was made by Seasonic, it probably has the OST caps which aren't as bad. It's still an easy recap, and from looking at some of the Seasonics I have had around here, there is often proper space for standard sized caps even if a custom size was used at the factory.
This also would have a high probability of success.

OH! I remember! Certain Seasonc PSUs and the Antec Neo430 that was shipped in certain Antec cases had an unfortunate tendency to NOT BOOT at zero load or at very low load. This would only occur with specific motherboards that had a power up strategy that didn't load the PSU quickly enough. The worst offender was boards based on the NF4 chipset. I got a few Neo430s really cheap that way!

Personally, I've never seen a Seasonic or even a Seasonic Antec with the cheap OST caps fail. And I've been using Seasonic in systems around here for a while now. (since the Super Silencer series)

Have Fun!
oh, and watch out for those molten solder blobs!
Keri

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

I agree.
I didn't mean to suggest they aren't worth recapping.
Just letting you know what to expect.

[Scenic]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

okay i just bought it

i hope it's really just the caps causing problems in there..

we'll see..

if i get it fixed, i'm gonna put this into my main rig as a 2nd PSU...
my old Delta that's in there now is running quite hot, so not much "juice" left for my next upgrade.. lol

i bet this puppy here is the root cause for my good ol' delta to almost struggle against giving up hehe

(heavily overclocked) Leadtek 8800GTS



uses up to 155W.. (at default clock speeds)


edit: oh god damn... it's 3:30 AM .... AGAIN... argh :O

[andlcs]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

Yes it's a Seasonic build (to make sure check UL number or see if it reads VRL in the yellow transformer). It problably has OST capacitors, but in the pictures you posted I think there are few Teapos as well.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

All the Neo HE models were Seasonic. The only CWT model was the original Neopower 480W and the "blue" version, even though at the time one could go to CWT's UL database page and find a half dozen models of different wattages. I never saw them for sale under CWT's own name, but they were also known as the CWT EX series.

The no boot issue with these was caused by too sensitive protection circuitry IIRC - recapping it wouldn't fix that, if indeed there's a problem with that on this one. A lot of other Seasonic units had that trouble back then.

[Scenic]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

Thx for the info

with those "problems with booting" i meant that his computer froze all the time, not that is doesn't start up at all..

[Krankshaft]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

I bought an Antec that was sold as working.

The Fukyuu caps caused the mobo to turn on then off at 2 second intervals .

Not to mention a horrible squeal from the standby transformer it was almost like a little scream for help .

A recap fixed it.

[Scenic]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

okay ... i got the PSU today... seems the problem was sitting in front of the monitor

put it into my test rig and tried loading it with a 2,8GHz P4 HT (Prescott room heater) and a GeForce 6800GT. booted right up, voltages were okay (even while stresstesting), no problems at all...

warranty label was still intact, so noone was in there yet..

seems to be a Seasonic unit (allthough (for me) it looks a lot like a delta somehow)
all OST caps, none bulging.
was really clean too.. almost no dust in there (only a little bit on the fan blades)

marking on the transformers is "VRL" (main transformer) and "VEE" (standby).

only thing that worries me a bit is that the PCB is bending quite much..
so i'm gonna put a plastic standoff under there somehow..

---

edit: maybe this guy's booting problems (freezing) came from bad RAM or a flaky mainboard..
the PSU is working fine for about 2 hours now (in that 2,8GHz P4 HT with the GF6800GT... running 3DMark and superpi all the time)

my first own PSU with cable management... wooohooo lol

[Scenic]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

okay... this thing makes me angry... considering this PSU is still sold new for about 70EUR

http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/badcaps...tec/antec1.jpg
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/badcaps...tec/antec2.jpg
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/badcaps...tec/antec3.jpg
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/badcaps...tec/antec4.jpg

PCB bending.. looks not _that_ bad on the photo as it is in RL..
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/badcaps...tec/antec5.jpg

totally sloppy soldering...

2nd pic: rightmost pin (upper circle) has NO SOLDER AT ALL on it.. only made contact because it was pressing against the edge of the hole..
lower circle is _a bit_ better, but still horribly soldered.
overall look is sloppy too..

3rd pic: that resistor (?) was heatshrink tubed.. okay.. but what about that tubing being much too short?!?
on the left side, it could possibly make contact with the other pin of that surface mount resistor..
right side: no contact.. not soldered in !?! WTF

4th pic: same thing, different angle..
glue cracked, resistor (?) has no contact on the right side

5th pic: PCB bending... with that resistor bent a little upwards .. really not soldered in there...

this thing may be made by seasonic, but its IMHO not worth the money for a soldering job THAT bad...
and a lot of legs on the solderside were much too long, so that they could make contact with surrounding pins when bent a little...

my first and last antec..

oh.. and the fan had absolutely NO oil in that hub. i put a drop of silicone lube in there (just because i don't wanna open this thing up in a month or so because the bearing's done..)

[Wizard]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

The one pin that is not soldered is a dual diode rectifier, there are other one in parallel with it. Very durious to do. Proper job is use one larger capacity dual-diode rectifier or split the high current one for main board and one for drives (they are not this much demand). Even split another for video cards.

Cheers, Wizard

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

this thing may be made by seasonic, but its IMHO not worth the money for a soldering job THAT bad...
and a lot of legs on the solderside were much too long, so that they could make contact with surrounding pins when bent a little...

This is why I don't tend to recommend the Seasonic built stuff - I find low end Seasonic to be a bit subpar to even FSP.

Wanna see a really bad bowing PCB? Check this out:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...Story3&reid=90

I had three of these - one modular and two non modular. One of the non modular ones died after a couple months of use. It was the one I never took apart and resoldered the PCB on. And these are 1200W units currently being sold for a small fortune by Silverstone (OP/DA1200).

[Scenic]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

sorry for bumping this old thread

Just wanted to let you know that this PSU is still going strong powering my main PC..

no problems whatsoever after i resoldered most of the PCB back then (the sloppy soldering can be seen in the pictures in one of the earlier posts).

All OST caps are still fine, fan is still working fine (Adda fan.. sleeve bearing IIRC), voltages are stable, running cool (it's a 80+ certified PSU)..

still wouldn't recommend Antec PSUs though..

i'm gonna move my main PC into a new casing soon and while doing that, i'll clean up everything.. including the PSU ofc.

while i'm at it, i thought about also changing the caps in that PSU.. so this prolly won't be the last time i bump this thread


Sys this PSU is used in:

Abit IP35P Mainboard (intel P35, S775)
Core 2 Quad Q6600 (G0 Stepping) 2.4GHz @ 3.2GHz Aircooled
6GB DDR2-1066 RAM (2x 1GB + 2x 2GB)
nVidia Geforce GTX260 55nm
bunch of HDDs
LG DVD-ROM
LG DVD-RW

if GTA IV wouldn't exist, i'd probably still be happy with my old Core 2 Duo E4300 1.80GHz and 2GB RAM

[370forlife]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

I don't think it's 80plus certified. Probably higher efficiency that normal, but I can't find a listing on the 80plus's website.


...great, now I remembered how fun GTA IV is. Time to stay up until 3 in the morning again.

[seanc]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

Just scanned this thread and noticed KeriJane's comment:

OH! I remember! Certain Seasonc PSUs and the Antec Neo430 that was shipped in certain Antec cases had an unfortunate tendency to NOT BOOT at zero load or at very low load. This would only occur with specific motherboards that had a power up strategy that didn't load the PSU quickly enough. The worst offender was boards based on the NF4 chipset. I got a few Neo430s really cheap that way!

I have an Akasa PSU that tests fine on its own, but will shutdown when hooked up to a couple of motherboards (working fine off of Antec EA-380).... which are NF4 based

More testing required!

[Scenic]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

a bit of gravedigging (thread wise) again.

well.. turned out my little Antec-Seasonic isn't as healthy as i thought it was
within windows, 5VSB seemed relatively low at 4.69V (same value +-0.01V on my DMM)

took everything apart yesterday for cleaning and found a dark spot on the PSU's PCB.
turned out that the resistor that i soldered back into place back then (pics in post #11 .. 3rd and 4th pic) has totally burned to a crisp..

mind you.. it was still working fine before i took it apart.
well.. i also found what looks like a 2 transistor 5VSB circuit . being a lower end seasonic it's surrounded be OST caps.. none bulging, but.. yeah.. it's OST.. so that doesn't say much..

i'm gonna take detailed pics tomorrow. the pics i took an hour or so ago turned out to be crap.. (blurry as hell)..

i went digging for the well known Delta DPS-700 yesterday.. and it's currently powering my computer.. damn that thing blasts some hot air out

[370forlife]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

I have the two different versions of the dps-700fb (available on ebay, that is), one with the short sleeved cables and one with the long unsleeved cables. Sleeved cable one only intermittently starts my computer and when hooked up to my supermicro x6dal-g, makes a squealing noise for the first 10 seconds of start up. You experience the same thing?

The one with the unsleeved cables runs just fine. It was really starting to blow out some hot air, checked it out the other day and the thing was crammed full of dust. Blew it out and it runs a lot cooler now.

[Scenic]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

mine is the one with the super long unsleeved cables. no startup problems.
cleaned it out the last time i had it apart. wasn't in regular use since then.



that upper yellow sticker is clearly NOT just for show..

[everell]

Re: Antec NeoHE430 worth buying/recapping?

well.. turned out my little Antec-Seasonic isn't as healthy as i thought it was
within windows, 5VSB seemed relatively low at 4.69V (same value +-0.01V on my DMM)

well.. i also found what looks like a 2 transistor 5VSB circuit

Sounds familiar. Most of the 2 transistor 5vsb circuits I have seen on Antec went overvoltage rather than undervoltage. I am currently working on an Antec SL300. Replaced all the capacitors in order to get rid of those Fuhjyyu capacitors. Next I am going to gut the 2 transistor 5vsb circuit and add a DM311 mod circuit board. Solves so many problems!

Original problem: critical capacitor in 5vsb measured ESR > 99