the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

[tom66]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

Another thing to look at is the half-bridge coupling cap -- that dipped red one. It is much smaller than it should be for 400W rating. Usually it is a few uF at 630V. The size dictates the maximum primary current (well, the dI/dt, but with a fixed inductance and on time, fixes the maximum current.)

[Pentium4]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

This thing was $10, bought by a friend of mine Even though it isn't seized, the fan will not spin at all...This thing was manufactured in February, 2011. Can't believe shit like this is still being made!

[Heihachi_73]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

Yuck, even the fuse lacks a socket. Talk about saving 4 cents on every PSU they churn out... The exact opposite of HongKongFlyApartCompany is ChineseThrowawayCompany I suppose. I wonder if they even have wheelie bins over there, let alone recycling...

If it's not seized, the IC on the fan's PCB is probably fried. Generally, the windings are the last to go open on a PC fan, unless someone put line voltage to it or something equally ridiculous.

[eccerr0r]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

I haven't seen a PSU with a socketed fuse for ages... Then again typically if the fuse burns on a PSU, something else already blew up and the PSU needs much more repairs than just the fuse...

[momaka]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

This thing was manufactured in February, 2011. Can't believe shit like this is still being made!

Not only are PSUs like this still made, but some manufacturers are starting to cut more and more corners. For example, cheap PSUs before used to only remove the second set of PI coils and use jumpers in their place. But now, they completely remove the spots for them from the PCB design! - That screams super-cheap IMO. I'm also starting to see those paper-thin heat sinks more and more often in bottom-of-the barrel PSUs along with much smaller PCBs being used. Back in the early 2000's and prior, the cheapest you could get was a low-end L&C, but even that had thicker heat sinks and bigger caps than many newer low-end PSUs today. I am seriously starting to think the Chinese are doing this just for a joke. What's next, remove everything and just have a few resistors bring down the line voltage down to 12/5/3.3V??

[tom66]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

No, include a 12V 2Ah lead acid battery and some LM317Ts!
Maximum 12 hour warranty from shipping date!

[ttn328]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

Seen this on the internet

[Behemot]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

Yeah we got few pictures here too, somewhere

[Pentium4]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

Wow, i wish my power supply had fake PPFC! I just love the extra weight

[tom66]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

I do wonder why they bother?

If the PSU manufacturer wants to make a PSU heavier -- they should just add weights. Many unreputable ones do that.

Are they being conned into buying fake PPFC chokes?

Or are they attempting to impress inspectors/reviewers? Most would point out other obvious failings such as lack of line filtering or poor clearances.

So, which is it?

[Pentium4]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

I do wonder why they bother?

If the PSU manufacturer wants to make a PSU heavier -- they should just add weights. Many unreputable ones do that.

Are they being conned into buying fake PPFC chokes?

Or are they attempting to impress inspectors/reviewers? Most would point out other obvious failings such as lack of line filtering or poor clearances.

So, which is it?

Yeah good point it just seems like a waste of time and money, and it's really easy to identify a fake one

[mariushm]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

EU regulations... they sort of force an power supply above 80w or something around that value to have PFC, passive or active.

I assume it's to pass visual inspection at import.. as they're not really opened up and the customs officers don't have the means to test them, they just visually inspect them.

Saw a couple of years ago a French customs officer in a tv documentary about CE mark and counterfeit stuff... he just opened a container, picked a random box, and it was supposed to be microwaves.

Opened the smaller box with a single microwave, pulled it out, opened the door, saw there's the platter, looked at the power socket to see if it's French and that's it.

Legally, he wasn't able to do more, if there was a report or complaint about a potential import all he could do was to send a few samples to an official testing lab but he couldn't hold the import until the lab gave the results.

[Agent24]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

Opened the smaller box with a single microwave, pulled it out, opened the door, saw there's the platter, looked at the power socket to see if it's French and that's it.

Legally, he wasn't able to do more, if there was a report or complaint about a potential import all he could do was to send a few samples to an official testing lab but he couldn't hold the import until the lab gave the results.

That's sad...

[tom66]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

Technically you can get away without PFC up to 150W, but you need to keep the 3rd harmonic in check -- which is far easier to do with PFC.

[Behemot]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

Yes, there is no reguation for PFC, just for harmonics. Quite common mistake.

[tom66]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

Well, 150W upwards specifies a PF >0.75 I think. I can't remember the specification at the moment.

[Behemot]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

Docs or didn't happen, you know the drill. The EUs norm ppl are usually refering to does not say a word about PFC, I have done the work of searching for it's contents, unlike everybody talking about it.

[tom66]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

The specifications are documents you must pay for. I will see if I can get IEC 61000 via my university access to this stuff, it's usually free.

[Behemot]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

You don't have to. Just there are fucking thieves who sit on government output organs, save all the norms when they are being published for free (as government usually has to provide it for free when some change has been made to it) and than sell it when the organs pull it off after few weeks/months.

[tom66]

Re: the gutless, bloated, and fried power supply hall of shame

The IEC are charging for it. They appear to be the only source. If I get hold of it, I will publish it on some torrent site or elektrotanya or something. I pay taxes (VAT) I should have access to this stuff -- which dictates CE certification and helps us determine if it is validly applied.