Blown up ext. USB case PSU

[Scenic]

well..
my brother bought a really cheap USB 5,25" casing for his friend's Dell GX280 (internal laptop drive incl. mounting stuff + adapter would've been too expensive)..

well.. the plug of the PSU was so cheaply made that you could plug it in in every direction... 3x wrong, 1x right..

http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/omg-wtf-psu/DSC07234.JPG

he then used this for a while on his own PC before giving it away..

then he wanted to install something on his netbook and wired it all up again.. but this time, he put the power plug in the wrong way without noticing...

well .. a pic is worth more than 1000 words.. so here are some pics of what's left of that PSU..

note: all those drops everywhere are the electrolyte from the caps..

edit: 1st pic semi-unrelated.. my brother's netbook.. accidentally copied it to my webspace with those psu pics..

http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/omg-wtf-psu/

the primary side is actually still working (well.. it was.. already junked the remains of that PSU), but the diode packs on the secondary side are toast (open)..
no safety functions (talking about overheating protection) kicked in.. i doubt it actually has/had something to protect it.. lol

i couldn't even recycle the cable to the external USB case.. shorted out..

so i modified the USB drive casing for usage with a single 12V 4A power brick i had lying around.. (with an ST L78S05CV voltage regulator inside that USB casing for 5V 2A ; cooled by the 40mm in there..)

[kc8adu]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

reminds me of a similar unit that came to me as an emergency data recovery.
the psu was a minh wha or something close.it tried to go back home by doing the china syndrome on the customers floor.
lucky for them the fire was noticed in time and the drive was also ok.
iirc there were a bunch of these supplys under recall.

[i4004]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

>well.. the plug of the PSU was so cheaply made that you could plug it in in every direction... 3x wrong, 1x right..

i'm usually buying cheapest trays but didn't see such crap so far...

but hold on, looking at your pic this connector is excentric?
two upper pins have more spacing than lower(?) (or is it just optical illusion?)
how did he plug it in?
i have one tray with simillar plug and i can't plug it in the wrong way even if i wanted.
is your borther into bodybuilding, perhpas? hehe...


looking at the pix, yeah, that's the psu i have on one of my trays....should be switched off (switch on 220v rail) when not in use...as the quality is so creepy...

weird that usb tray survived it...

[Scenic]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

12V shorted out (causing the PSU to overheat), 5V didn't short out (my brother described that the drive worked (tray opened, recognized by windows), but it didn't read any media... he only realised that there's something wrong because the PSU made a popping sound after a while (cap blowing up)..

yes.. the upper pins have more spacing than the lower ones..(only a tiny bit though.. i've seen better plugs with more spacing difference..)

anyways.. the ring around them isn't a one-piece one.. so when you try to plug it in wrong, the ring just bends out and there's no blocking anymore..

the "nose" on top of that plug is a joke.. not sticking deep enough into the inside to prevent the plug from being inserted the wrong way..

and the 4 pins inside the plug weren't that stiff either (you could easily bend them around a bit.. so those wouldn't prevent the plug from going in the wrong way too)

[Hugh Chardon]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

All I can say is...WOW! that is one heated and burned PSU. I will add, however that the link in the original post leads to some of the BEST photos I've seen yet.
I humbly bow and ask how do you get such great results ? My photos are
right up there in mediocre, sliding towards bad, as time permits. Crisp, clean
clear. Man, what a difference from looking at my crap.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Addi...owered-Router/

[Per Hansson]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

Lol, yea, using a phone for taking the pictures is the way to go I guess :P

Orientation of image: 1
File change date and time: 2009:04:18 22:49:53
Image input equipment manufacturer: Sony Ericsson
Image input equipment model: W810i
Software used: R4EA031 prgCXC1250316_GENERIC_H 7.7
Exposure time: 0,0125
F number: 2,8
ISO speed rating: 80
Exposure bias: 0
Metering mode: 2
Light source: 0
Flash: 8
Custom rendered: 0
Exposure mode: 0
White balance: 0
Digital zoom ratio: 0
Scene capture type: 0
Subject distance range: 1


No, but really good lightning helps allot, and a decent camera of course
A tripod really helps if you can't get allot of light and still allow you to take a clear picture
But to get very good depth of field you need good lightning and still a quite long shutter time (since you don't want to use flash)
So the tripod is most important IMO

EDIT; This thread might be of interest; https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=4652

[Toasty]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

All that destruction for the sake of a 25 cent fuse.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

Out of edit time
And this one will make you drool for life

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1141

[i4004]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

>So the tripod is most important IMO

tripod?
to shot something that usualy sits on the table?
or on floor?

no, exposure is not the big issue if you have enough light...
what's needed here is a good macro mode...one where you can manually adjust the focus length....
but i'm too lazy now to photograph the same connector scenic has..heh....

somethign else is important, background! everell made some rather nice pix in this very section, when he took on the bestec 5vstby problem...
the angles, the background..very nice...even though it seems he used flash...
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6845
later on he got even better...
it seems to be some cheap and small kodak camera...
by looking at those yellow date tags i almost thought it was cell phone and i was going "what the hell!!??"...huh...


that thread from 2005(with intel board) i think willa relatively recently bought much better board..i mean 4 years ago what was there to buy anyway?
<wink>

[Scenic]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

All that destruction for the sake of a 25 cent fuse.

*?*

there's a fuse in there..
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/omg-wtf-psu/DSC07246.JPG

fuse was OK after all that BTW..

[370forlife]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

I like the knock-off Panisonic caps.

[Scenic]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

thats actually a "W" for WANLONG lol
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/omg-wtf-psu/DSC07241.JPG

[Toasty]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

>>WANLONG<<

Oh, I could get some mileage outta that one...


>>fuse was OK after all that BTW.. <<

I think they fused the wrong end...

Or is that, the wrong end was fused...???

[370forlife]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

I think all the ends wound up fused.

[Wizard]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

Very typical for poorly designed chinese PSU fakes. Goes up rather violently and not even rated for specs at all.

Honestly, I'm taken back by the capacitors blown up. Blown PSUs I see tend not to do that, but this, that takes the cake for POORLY designed PSU.

PS: There are very rare few that have fuse in secondary side.. Very rare. That plug has groups of 2 pins that is not same spacing and does have notch that only let you fit one way. Sounds like the female socket is sloppy. I have many units with this type of plug and there is no way I could mis-plug even on purpose. Just to show how amazing this can happen.

Cheers, Wizard

[Toasty]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

>>Sounds like the female socket is sloppy.<<

I've heard of that...

[Wizard]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

>>Sounds like the female socket is sloppy.<<

I've heard of that...

Heh, what else can I say without this cannotion?

Cheers, Wizard

[pentium]

Re: Blown up ext. USB case PSU

>>Sounds like the female socket is sloppy.<<

I've heard of that...

**Insert cheap mom joke here**