Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

[lucky13]

It was suppose to be a quick recap for this TP380W P/S as I have read thru the many posts in this forum including this one:

Antec TruePower380 & the Fuhjyyu Syndrome

These F caps were replaced:
4x 3300uF/10V (all bulged)
2x 2200uF/16V (looked fine)
1x 470uF/16V (bulged)
2x 1000uF/10V (looked fine)

All were replaced with new Panny FMs.

The P/S would not power up a mobo. Unfortunately, I did not check the 5vsb pin before recap.

After recap, i used an el-cheapo P/S to test it. Normally, all the greed LEDs will light up as soon as power is applied. Then I use my DMM to check the actual voltages to make sure 5V and 12V are within tolerances.

This time nothing. Just the 5vsb light is on.

I checked the actual voltage on that line. It is almost 6v! It is also not too steady. It jumps around 6v +/- 0.2V approximately.

WTF?

I guess there are more caps to replace? Anyone has a list?

I should add that during recap I inspected all the components on the board as well as solder side. no sign of any over cooked components.

[ratdude747]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

are you sure you dont have a cap backwards? also chuck for broken joints, etc..

[Toasty]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

Likely that OVP has kicked in and is preventing it from starting.

Did you connect only the mobo power connector? Sometimes a hard drive is necessary to be connected for some supplies to start.

Does it come on if you jumper the connector? (green wire to black)

There may be other caps or components that are defective which are causing the high voltage. Any pics? Any areas with obvious heat damage would be where to start looking.

Toast

[ratdude747]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

cold transformer joints?

[lucky13]

Antec TruePower380 Recap failed and blew up!!



Well, I decided to order more Panny caps so I can recap all the "F" caps.

I replaced all the small "F" caps and reassemble the P/S.

Once I got the circuit board secured to the p/s frame, I plugged in the ac power. I used my DMM and measure the 5vsb pin on the ATX connector. It reads 5.16V and does not change.

I said to my self, YAY!

Then I pull out my el-cheapo p/s tester with all those idiot lights to test the powered up connection.

Once I have the connection made, I plugged in the ac.

BOOM!

Actually, it was like fire crackers went off. A couple of loud crackle and blue smoke came out.

I said SH*T and quickly yanked the ac power cord.

I found there is an area near the ac input cap has blown up.

I don't recall any caps I had changed was in that area.

Now remember that I had replaced the large output caps and the two 1000uF caps before and the p/s did nopt power up because the 5vsb line was like 6 volts.

So, what the heck just happened to me ?

[Gianni]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

It's hard to say what happen but this kind of "boom" can be due to different reason:

- bad solder joint;
- a piece of solder bouncing inside the PSU;
- bad cap on IC control, current sensing etc...

For sure something has driven badly Mosfet/transistor and it has blown for power dissipation.

Ciao
Gianni

[Toasty]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

That should buff right out....


Looks as though whatever was mounted in the 5th picture (underside of board) had a lead or two touch the case and short out the FET. Fuse blown?

2SK264?... what's the last digit? Carefully wipe the front of the blown FET to reveal the last number.

Also, would you back up a bit on those shots? Tough to tell where we're looking.

Toast

[lucky13]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

That should buff right out....


Looks as though whatever was mounted in the 5th picture (underside of board) had a lead or two touch the case and short out the FET. Fuse blown?

2SK264?... what's the last digit? Carefully wipe the front of the blown FET to reveal the last number.

Also, would you back up a bit on those shots? Tough to tell where we're looking.

Toast

Here is a shot pull packed a bit....

[lucky13]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

It's hard to say what happen but this kind of "boom" can be due to different reason:

- bad solder joint;
- a piece of solder bouncing inside the PSU;
- bad cap on IC control, current sensing etc...

For sure something has driven badly Mosfet/transistor and it has blown for power dissipation.

Ciao
Gianni

Answer:
1) no way; not me ;-)
2) maybe
3) it was working with 5vsb stable at 5.16v for awhile before I power off and connect up the p/s tester

[lucky13]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

BTW, after this catastrophic event, anything other than the new caps I put in are salvageable?

[momaka]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

Wow, that's strange (and unlucky).
What else blew besides the MOSFETs? Also, since you got a reading of 6v for 5vsb before, did you replace those critical caps on the 5vsb? Usually they're either 10, 22, or 47uF at 25-50v.
Lastly, did the power supply explode as soon as you plugged in the power cord, or was there a delay of a few seconds? What PS tester are you using? Maybe it doesn't provide a minimum load.

BTW, after this catastrophic event, anything other than the new caps I put in are salvageable?

Depends on how much you value junk parts and your time. If it was me, I'd either try to fix it or put it in a pile somewhere and try to reuse almost everything, from caps, fans, and wires to case and resistors.

[lucky13]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

The MOSFET was the biggest piece that blew. There were some resistors near the input cap blew and vaporized.

Yes, I ordered more caps from Digikey and replaced those 50V caps.

The p/s did not blow when I first connect up the ac. I used my meter and checked the 5vsb wire and found the voltage is no longer 6v like before. I waited for about a minute to make sure the 5vsb line does not rise and then pull the ac cord.

I then connect up one of those el-cheapo atx p/s tester that will show the green LEDs after it triggers the p/s on. This tester has been in use for some time now and it is good for triggering on a p/s to test (instead of a real mobo). As soon as I plug in the ac source, the tester beeps (like it should) and spark flew and that's all she wrote. I quickly yanked the ac cord as smoke fill the room. I did not check if the fuse blew but judging from the dark spot left on the mylar sheet on the bottom, I'd say it looked bad.

I am not going to try to fix this. I will save the board after I yank out all the new caps I put in.

I will find my notes and post the list of caps I had changed as a reference for others.

[lucky13]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

OK, here is my tester

[lucky13]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

All right, here is the list of all the caps that were replaced with pannys (now all recovered):

C3 1uF/50V Fuhiyyu
C7 10uF/50V Fuhiyyu
C9 100uF/35V Fuhiyyu
C14 22uF/50V Fuhiyyu
C18 1000uF/10V Fujiyyu
C19 1000uF/10V Fujiyyu
C27 470uF/16V Fujiyyu
C31 100uF/16V Fujiyyu
C32 220uF/16V Fujiyyu
C37 1uF/50V Fujiyyu

4 x 3300uF/10V Fujiyyu (C29, C29, C35 & C36 these all bulged)
2 x 2200uF/16V Fujiyyu (looked OK but replaced also)

[Toasty]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

Hmmm....

Looking at the pulled back shot, I'm wondering if your problem came from the conductive glue/caulk problem known to fry PSU's...? I don't know if it was used in this one, but the brown goo in that area may be the cause of the destruction.

Shame this didn't work out.

Toast

[momaka]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

Also, looking at the top of that last shot of the PCB's underside, you soldered one of the small capacitors on the underside of the PCB. Not sure, but that could have caused the problem as well, especially if that capacitor was filtering something important.

By the way, how many switchers are there on the primary side (without counting the 5vsb one)? Judging from the 3 pins on the main transformer, this looks like a push-pull configuration so probably two switchers. One of them is blown for sure like you showed in the pictures above, but I wonder if the other one is blown as well. If it isn't, maybe it could have been the glue that caused the problem, like Toasty suggested.

Shame this didn't work out.

I agree. It would have been a nice power supply.

Maybe you can scavenge other parts as well, like the schottky rectifiers, bridge rectifier, heatsinks, wires, fans, chokes, etc. and use them to rebuild a crappier PSU (kind of what Newbie2 and etnietering did) - if you have the time that is.

[Newbie2]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

Maybe you can scavenge other parts as well, like the schottky rectifiers, bridge rectifier, heatsinks, wires, fans, chokes, etc. and use them to rebuild a crappier PSU (kind of what Newbie2 and etnietering did) - if you have the time that is.

I got the primary input filtering components (X cap and coil) and the 10A bridge rectifier for my L&C power supply from an Antec SmartPower SL450 450W power supply that didn't power up anymore.

[lucky13]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

Hmmm....

Looking at the pulled back shot, I'm wondering if your problem came from the conductive glue/caulk problem known to fry PSU's...? I don't know if it was used in this one, but the brown goo in that area may be the cause of the destruction.

Shame this didn't work out.

Toast

I've never heard of glue became conductive till now. I will search this forum and read up about it. This p/s was not super dirty or with oily film.

Yup it is toast now

[lucky13]

Re: Help! Antec TruePower380 Recap failed

Also, looking at the top of that last shot of the PCB's underside, you soldered one of the small capacitors on the underside of the PCB. Not sure, but that could have caused the problem as well, especially if that capacitor was filtering something important.

By the way, how many switchers are there on the primary side (without counting the 5vsb one)? Judging from the 3 pins on the main transformer, this looks like a push-pull configuration so probably two switchers. One of them is blown for sure like you showed in the pictures above, but I wonder if the other one is blown as well. If it isn't, maybe it could have been the glue that caused the problem, like Toasty suggested.

I agree. It would have been a nice power supply.

Maybe you can scavenge other parts as well, like the schottky rectifiers, bridge rectifier, heatsinks, wires, fans, chokes, etc. and use them to rebuild a crappier PSU (kind of what Newbie2 and etnietering did) - if you have the time that is.

I missed the 100uF/50V one so I did not order it from Digikey. I ended up paralleling 2x 47uF/50V. I checked to make sure that is the only spot I could lay the cap down and solder it w/o getting the cap punctured by other solder joints. So, the issue was not from there.

You are right about 2 switchers. There are two mounted on that heatsink. Almost back to back. The other one did not blow.

I am ditching the case & wires and only keeping the PCB with the components on for future rebuild work. Actually I might unsolder all the other major components and ditch the heatsink too.