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**bushytails** · 05-07-2005, 09:16 PM

That Deer number is remarkably similar to the one I posted pics of in the other thread... the one with the buldging Rulycons and the big burnt areas... so doesn't surprise me one bit.

--Randy

**willawake** · 05-08-2005, 03:08 AM

Funny to see Q-TEC up there, didnt seem to be crap products. I see them everywhere here. I have one still working for a few years.

The funny one is Macron MPT-350 (Macron Power), i have to check out if it is the same model number tomorrow, they are coming standard in this cheap but great case which is sold by a major chain here. Its really shitty to find that out cos the PSUs were quite weighty and seemed quite good compared to the usual lightweight crap from cheap cases. oh well, i will have to find another cheap case for builds. Funny though, the shops had many of these cases in a big pile to sell.

**kc8adu** · 05-08-2005, 05:45 PM

my favorite crap psu incident was a powmax.
had one with bulging rulycons but it worked but unstable.
took it out on the dock with a heavy extension cord.
shorted +3.3 and watched the wiring go up in flames.
did the same on +5 with same result.
and +12.it then went up in smoke with a loud buzzing almost roar with flames and sparks from the fan like a rocket car on the salt flats.
it flamed almost 5 minutes before it tripped the breaker on the power strip.
btw any short on any line should cause shutdown on any well built unit.

**bushytails** · 05-08-2005, 06:35 PM

hrmm, if you like destroying things, I've heard this works rather well... next time you recap a board, take a couple badcaps, clip jumpers onto their leads, then clip the jumpers onto a spare mains cord. plug said cord into a long extension cord. stand back. plug other end of extension cord into wall. wait for capacitors to really explode.

--Randy

**Chris1992** · 05-23-2005, 06:09 AM

Deer DR-A300ATX doesn't surprise me one bit -- Bushy's thread. And @Bushy and kc8: whoa! STAND WAAAAAAAAAAAY BACK, everybody!!!

**japlytic** · 10-10-2005, 02:14 AM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

There should be a display of power supplies at computer shops showing their internals, so consumers can choose one which is reliable (according to the brands of electrolytic capacitors).

(ToPower has been in business since 1986 - most of the electronics from Taiwan were fairly good since the 80s to the mid 90s).

**Chris1992** · 10-10-2005, 06:05 AM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

Good idea, japlytic. No comp. store I know of does that.

**Newbie2** · 10-10-2005, 04:54 PM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

Originally posted by japlytic

There should be a display of power supplies at computer shops showing their internals, so consumers can choose one which is reliable (according to the brands of electrolytic capacitors).

(ToPower has been in business since 1986 - most of the electronics from Taiwan were fairly good since the 80s to the mid 90s).

Good idea japlytic! All the computer stores I know doesn't do that.

**Cprossu** · 12-19-2005, 12:41 AM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

I would like to see something like that,
as of now I know of a shop where they have the psu's actually out of the boxes, and whenever I am there looking at PSU's, people and salesmen around me get really confused and nervous when they see me looking through a crack in the PSU at some cockeyed angle with a flashlight pointed in the fan grill and scream "Damn this POS had fuhjjyo's in it!"

one time I was asked by a salesman "Can I help you with anything?"
I responded "I just want a PSU which doesn't explode"
Then he pointed me to some L&C's and Allied's
to which I exclaimed "THOSE BLOW UP!"
to which he told me "I've been running an L&C for a year, they are great supplies"
I commented "I hope you have good house insurance and a fire extinguisher if you have that plugged in when your away"

well 2 months later, that guy tracked me down in the store when I was buying some memory and told me that his L&C did blow up. (But then again, for Deer based psu's, confusious once say, "Deer PSU's which is used only explode if they should exist"

At this point I would like to comment that I knew the fellow responsible for drawing out the final production schematics for that PCB of deer psu's and that those cursed schematics exploded in a spectacular array of colors burning his house to the ground (but not hurting anyone too badly), but that is untrue, a lie, and would certainly make me feel better after replacing so many of those damn pieces of garbage.

whoops let my bad side escape for a moment back there- sorry! =)

**Spacedye69** · 12-19-2005, 05:52 AM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

Cprossu in Arizona, arneson in Florida...must be all the sun that makes them this way!

**kc8adu** · 12-19-2005, 06:15 AM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

Originally posted by Cprossu

I would like to see something like that,
as of now I know of a shop where they have the psu's actually out of the boxes, and whenever I am there looking at PSU's, people and salesmen around me get really confused and nervous when they see me looking through a crack in the PSU at some cockeyed angle with a flashlight pointed in the fan grill and scream "Damn this POS had fuhjjyo's in it!"

one time I was asked by a salesman "Can I help you with anything?"
I responded "I just want a PSU which doesn't explode"
Then he pointed me to some L&C's and Allied's
to which I exclaimed "THOSE BLOW UP!"
to which he told me "I've been running an L&C for a year, they are great supplies"
I commented "I hope you have good house insurance and a fire extinguisher if you have that plugged in when your away"

well 2 months later, that guy tracked me down in the store when I was buying some memory and told me that his L&C did blow up. (But then again, for Deer based psu's, confusious once say, "Deer PSU's which is used only explode if they should exist"

At this point I would like to comment that I knew the fellow responsible for drawing out the final production schematics for that PCB of deer psu's and that those cursed schematics exploded in a spectacular array of colors burning his house to the ground (but not hurting anyone too badly), but that is untrue, a lie, and would certainly make me feel better after replacing so many of those damn pieces of garbage.

whoops let my bad side escape for a moment back there- sorry! =)

ROFLOL!
i do this anytime i see a new brand on display at hamfests/computer shows.
one guy asked me what i see in there.
same crap in another pretty case!
a kid at the shop handed me a psu last week and asked is it crap?
yep its the same as those pointing at an rma pile loaded with a-power and echostar duds.
i looked at a few on display at the ft wayne in hamfest this year.
i forget the brand but a peek into the vents with the ole arc-ls tells all.
vendor asked what i was doing.looking for a psu that isnt crap!
bought a used fsp 350 there for 5.00!
a friend had lost the psu in his pos for the 3rd time in a year.i had a road kit in the van so i recapped it right there.had 4 fuhjyyu in it.
and dont be fooled by the weight of some units today as they have a big pfc choke inside!

**Newbie2** · 12-19-2005, 04:31 PM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

Originally posted by Cprossu

I would like to see something like that,
as of now I know of a shop where they have the psu's actually out of the boxes, and whenever I am there looking at PSU's, people and salesmen around me get really confused and nervous when they see me looking through a crack in the PSU at some cockeyed angle with a flashlight pointed in the fan grill and scream "Damn this POS had fuhjjyo's in it!"

one time I was asked by a salesman "Can I help you with anything?"
I responded "I just want a PSU which doesn't explode"
Then he pointed me to some L&C's and Allied's
to which I exclaimed "THOSE BLOW UP!"
to which he told me "I've been running an L&C for a year, they are great supplies"
I commented "I hope you have good house insurance and a fire extinguisher if you have that plugged in when your away"

well 2 months later, that guy tracked me down in the store when I was buying some memory and told me that his L&C did blow up. (But then again, for Deer based psu's, confusious once say, "Deer PSU's which is used only explode if they should exist"

At this point I would like to comment that I knew the fellow responsible for drawing out the final production schematics for that PCB of deer psu's and that those cursed schematics exploded in a spectacular array of colors burning his house to the ground (but not hurting anyone too badly), but that is untrue, a lie, and would certainly make me feel better after replacing so many of those damn pieces of garbage.

whoops let my bad side escape for a moment back there- sorry! =)

Hope that salesman learned a good lesson.

**linuxguru** · 12-20-2005, 10:46 AM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

Missing line filters and secondary caps, but I've seen worse PSU PCBs, including some made with brown paper-phenolic laminate, not white/cream FR4 or similar. As crap PSUs go, L&C are probably near the top of the heap.

**Newbie2** · 12-20-2005, 01:33 PM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

In fact, my brother's system is powered by an L&C LC-B450 E 450W PSU and it works fine because it only has been in service for a month but on the +12V rail the motherboard (ECS PM800-M2) reports that the voltage is hopping continuously between 11.90V and 12.01V. It is powering a standard Celeron 2.2GHz (Northwood, 128K L2 cache, Northwood) system, which belongs to my brother. I replaced the standard fan that came with my brother's L&C power supply with a powerful dual ball bearing fan because I thought the stock fan wasn't giving enough good airflow. The insides of it are identical to the 400W L&C PSU shown above.

My dad is an expert at power supplies and stuff, and while looking at the insides of the L&C power supply, he also noticed the lack of some stuff, which he says are important.

**Rainbow** · 12-20-2005, 01:43 PM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

That PSU on the photo above is rated 400W?

My 200W DTK shown somewhere around here looks much better.

**Newbie2** · 12-20-2005, 01:54 PM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

L&C is a Deer brand and they over-rate their crappy power supplies by a lot.

**willawake** · 12-21-2005, 07:06 AM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

I found a translation for what the Finnish Safety Authority TUKES had to say about the Tagan TG330-U01 on silentpcreview forums.

Tagan TG330-U01 (Topower Electronics Co Ltd, China):

- Not immediately dangerous, but safety level is very low.
- Air/surface clearance on transformed T4(TD00 SES-TR) primary and secondary coils are under 4mm/5mm.
- measured minimum clearance 1.3mm from output of primary coil to secondary coil.
- The protective tubing of the primary coil output is too short
- Transformer cannot handle voltage test 3000Vac/1min between the output of the primary coil and the secondary coil arcing happened at 1800v

Not directly dangerous but security level is very low
No reported accidents.

Conclusion: The importer has been notified to remove the product from market. The product may be returned [for refund I assume] as defective to the place of purchase [in Finland].

**Newbie2** · 12-21-2005, 07:21 AM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

Those Finnish guys have high standards. In insides of that Tagan power supply they say is unsafe look good.

**Chris1992** · 12-21-2005, 09:22 AM

Re: Unsafe PSUs

that's a 330w!? I'm buying Tagan for my next PSU!

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