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

[RukyCon]

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

Out of curiosity, can you crack open that transformer? It looks half decent for an overall shit power supply.

Ok, here is what i found.

The feedback coil (i think that's what it's called) consist of 7 windings with 2 layers of tape isolating it from the secondary. (that plus the wire insulation of course)

The secondary coil consist of 2 wires with 18 windings each, both wires are connected in parallel.

The primary coil consist of 121 windings with 2 layers of tape isolating it from the secondary.

And that's it for that transformer, it seems to be a bit unsafe by the way it's built.

I may keep the core for future use.

[jazzie366]

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

Ok, here is what i found.

The feedback coil (i think that's what it's called) consist of 7 windings with 2 layers of tape isolating it from the secondary. (that plus the wire insulation of course)

The secondary coil consist of 2 wires with 18 windings each, both wires are connected in parallel.

The primary coil consist of 121 windings with 2 layers of tape isolating it from the secondary.

And that's it for that transformer, it seems to be a bit unsafe by the way it's built.

I may keep the core for future use.

>2 layers of tape between primary and secondary

That tape is 600V insulation rated (from decent brands at least). That means it's got 1000v of isolation. That would fail EU standards so fast due to the fact that 3000v is required. There are better ways of doing this nowadays. I've seen newer transformers from SMPSs like this that would put a plastic/glass isolator on the core of the transformer, tape over that, wind onto that, tape, isolator, tape again, and then the secondary. Feedback windings usually will be left to be insulated by tape as they are on the primary and do not need to be isolated at a high voltage for safety standards.

I haven't seen this type of isolation much, but I found it in a SMPS sample I ordered from an Alibaba seller. It was the best one I've ever seen come from china, but they were so expensive that profit wouldn't be attainable unless they were sold en mass.

However, here's some things it had for those curious:

1" isolation between primary and secondary on the circuit board. The transformer was extended to stretch over the gap.

Transformer windings were double insulated, with another layer of insulation on top of the double insulation. This gave the wire enough insulation to exceed the insulation that the transformer you've listed above had without any tape or insulators.

As for filtering caps, the PSU was rated 12v 30A. So 360W. It made every bit of that power. Primary were 2x 100uF 400V Samxon caps in parallel. I don't remember what series. As for the output, they were also Samxon, they were all 25v caps, 1000uF. There were a lot of them, my guess is somewhere between 6-8, I can't remember as this was a long time ago when I was first entrepreneuring into the online world of selling things.

The PSU was rated for 75k hours at max load. It was also fan cooled, and not like the shit ones you see on eBay. The case was molded so on the side walls of the interior of the PSU, there were heatsink fins sticking out. There was a fan on the inside in the rear pulling air through.

IMO I wish I could've sold those power supplies, but hell 10 of them would've been 700$ before shipping, tarrifs, customs broker fees, etc. So in the end, I'd have to sell them for a minimal profit probably 150$ each. Unless I ordered a bunch of them, the price didn't go down, and they were very firm on the price, I tried to haggle with them for a week and they wouldn't budge. They knew damn well the product they were making was worth the money.

[goodpsusearch]

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

For your eyes only:

4 "Powertech" power supplies

Worst quality psus available here in Greece. They cost 15-20€. Really bad!

Let's start.

Powertech ATX-420W

-No PFC

-No input filtering. Just 2 Y caps and thermistor

-330uF main caps

-group regulation output toroid coil with size of the 3.3V toroid coil!

-tiny 3.3V toroid coil

-output filters: just 1 cap per rail

-HQ caps, some bulging

-1x 16A rectifier for main output voltages

-WAM fan

-paper thin heatsinks

[goodpsusearch]

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

Powertech ATX-450W

-No PFC

-No input filtering. Just one thermistor

-330uF Canicon (no, you can't!) main caps

-group regulation output toroid coil smaller than a 3.3V toroid coil from a semi-decent psu

-tiny 3.3V toroid coil

-output filters: just 1 cap per rail, 1 bulging

-serious heat damage in secondary section near 12V rectifier and diodes

-HQ caps

-16A rectifier for main output voltages

-WAM fan

-paper thin heatsinks

-no fan controller

[goodpsusearch]

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

Powertech ATX-530W

-No PFC

-No input filtering. Just 2 Y caps and thermistor

-470uF main caps

-group regulation toroid coil small

-tiny 3.3V toroid coil

-output filters: 2 caps per rail, no coil

-HQ, Cheng and Asia X caps

- S1645CT @ 3.3V
MBR2045CT @ 5V
F16C20CT @ 12V

-WAM / Legend fan

-paper thin heatsinks

I got 2 "530W" units, one made at 2012 and another at 2013.

The first has its fuse blown along with some resistors and diode that are part of the 5vsb circuit.

Pics attached:

[goodpsusearch]

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

And pics of the 2013 unit. It works but the PG cable needs re-soldering to PCB.

I wouldn't use it in any computer though.

[goodpsusearch]

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

Wait! I found another one!

This is sold under a different brand name, aqprox! and the model is app500PSBULK. Slightly better than Powertech versions, still catastrophically failed

I think that some not trimmed leads touched the metal case. The metal case of these units is thin like aluminium foil and there is no insulation sheet.

Nothing different than the 530W Powertech versions, except the better heatsinks and the nearly complete AC mains filter (no MOVs)

Not worth repairing. It will be used for parts

[momaka]

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

For your eyes only:

4 "Powertech" power supplies

Worst quality psus available here in Greece. They cost 15-20€. Really bad!

Ouch! That's quite pricey for such crap.

Then again, even in the US, $15-25 will only get you crap as well (at least brand new anyways). Now if you are willing to spend $30-35, you can get decent respectable PSUs like the Antec Basic series or ThermalTake TR2 (sometimes even with a $10 rebate). Neither of these PSUs is great, but they are loads better than Diablotek, Solid Gear, and Logisys.

Anyways, I doubt any of the PSUs you posted would do even half of their labeled power in spec. All look pretty terrible. The burned 5VSB sections are likely due to the output caps on the 5VSB failing and thus causing all sorts of problems with regulation and overloading on the primary. At least they have 16 Amp rectifiers for the 12V rail, so that makes them semi-capable of something.... or maybe not, given those small output toroid inductors.

Meh, why am I even wasting my breath (or rather HDD space) saying all this - these PSUs are only good for parts (and not that many great ones, either). The 120 mm fan is probably the best one. And that's probably only after you lubricate it properly.

Wait! I found another one!

This is sold under a different brand name, aqprox! and the model is app500PSBULK. Slightly better than Powertech versions, still catastrophically failed

I think that some not trimmed leads touched the metal case. The metal case of these units is thin like aluminium foil and there is no insulation sheet.

Yeah, that's quite possible. I posted a crappy L&C a long while back that had a blown fuse. Nothing else seemed wrong with it, and indeed it looked like something had arced to the metal case (due to no insulation sheet). I never bothered trying to fix it, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case.

Shame about that aqprox, though. Doesn't look that bad of a unit. If it had output PI coils and bigger output inductors (and maybe a bigger main traffo), it would have made a passable 200-250 Watt unit. It's got pretty decent heatsinks, actually.

[kevin!]

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

Wait! I found another one!

This is sold under a different brand name, aqprox! and the model is app500PSBULK. Slightly better than Powertech versions, still catastrophically failed

I think that some not trimmed leads touched the metal case. The metal case of these units is thin like aluminium foil and there is no insulation sheet.

Nothing different than the 530W Powertech versions, except the better heatsinks and the nearly complete AC mains filter (no MOVs)

Not worth repairing. It will be used for parts

I repaired an equal equal, belongs to a friend, is equal to yours from the photos but 650w, literally blow the 5vbs capacitor, but after doing 30,000h, change all the capacitors of the HQ brand and for now works well , but I have recommended a thousand times to change it for a good quality Seasonic ... And to top it off, I was wearing a fake PFC ...
Approx buys PSU from China and they are misleading sources.
Apart from my friend, years ago I had an approx of 500w and I corrupted the HDD partitions and the HDD accumulated pending sectors, the PSU just crushed to the ground. And since then I learned the lesson, to buy good quality PSU.

[PeteS in CA]

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

Blech! I wouldn't use the 4X0 watt PSUs for more than 200W continuous, and the 5X0W PSUs might do 250W, depending on the input rectifier ratings. Those are really atrocious!

[Dan81]

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

Blech! I wouldn't use the 4X0 watt PSUs for more than 200W continuous, and the 5X0W PSUs might do 250W, depending on the input rectifier ratings. Those are really atrocious!

With nothing in spec. No PI coils and no spaces to add them.

[goodpsusearch]

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

I got 13 Deer/L&C/Allied/Solytech power supplies for free, but most of them are badly burnt due to fan getting seized.

I am going to post some pics without many comments. Τhere isn't much to talk about anyway, because there are hardly any parts inside these power supplies

Premier DR-8400BTX (MAX 400W)

Have you ever seen a power supply so badly burnt?

The fan that seized is a "Muhua Fan-Tech".

What I like here is that the PCB was evenly burnt in most of its surface! The output caps are all bulging, the cables have burnt too!

The primary transistors 2x D4206 are rated for 7A continuous, worse than 130007 rated for 8A.

12V gets 2 DIODES on a bracket, there is not a single pi coil on that psu!

Edit: 5vsb survived! The rest is dead.

[goodpsusearch]

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

Same unit, same failure: Fan seized (80mm sleeve bearing Globe fan), heat did the rest.


The toroid coil is done

But it still works!

3.3V: 3.13V
5V: 5.08V
12V: 12.5V
-12V: -12.02V

[goodpsusearch]

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

Another Premier DR-8400BTX (MAX 400W) dead from stuck fan:

This one is dead, 5vsb ok.

[goodpsusearch]

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

Premier DR-8460BTX (MAX 450W)

Better quality with improved parts:
2X P13007 switching transistors
SB3045ST for 5V rail
SB1060CT for 12V rail

Still it's a PoS. Still, the fan seized

[goodpsusearch]

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

Force DR-8460BTX (MAX 450W)

This is not an APFC unit, but both the 2 x Anodia 470uF 200V main caps are bulging and their capacitance is ~5uF and the esr ~60ohm.

Why?

[RukyCon]

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

Force DR-8460BTX (MAX 450W)

This is not an APFC unit, but both the 2 x Anodia 470uF 200V main caps are bulging and their capacitance is ~5uF and the esr ~60ohm.

Why?

Maybe someone set it to the 110v mode. (If it has one)

[goodpsusearch]

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

Maybe someone set it to the 110v mode. (If it has one)

It doesn't have a voltage input selector. I just replaced the bulging main caps and the psu works

[RukyCon]

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

The only other things i can think of is either there was a voltage spike which killed the capacitors or the capacitors are not really rated for 200v.

[goodpsusearch]

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

Force SL-8600EPS (MAX 600W)

The PWM/supervisor combo is the chip of the year "2012".

-Nice 120mm fan and black color

-SBD20C100T for 12V, good enough

-2x KSH13007A and ERL-33 size transformer limit this unit to 250W max output, but it probably wouldn't be able to deliver anything without ripple being out of spec with that terrible 1 cap per pair solution.