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

[momaka]

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

Given it was one of the cheaper units out there, thr PFC choke could very well been fake. That, and my friend specifically asked me to bring the choke to him so he could reuse the copper wire.

Well, if it's a fake choke, there wouldn't be much copper wire for your friend to reuse.

And yes, going by how much components are installed, Allied is actually Deer's high end line, with L&C being the bottom of the barrel, and of course Deer itself which is in the middle.

Yes, Allied is indeed Solytech's high-end line, with the others as you described. I was just joking with you that you called Allied a high-end PSU. Really in the grand scheme of things, Allied PSUs are pretty mediocre compared to the whole market.

The fact is that this source ERL39 burned the coil, how is this possible? I had never seen anything like it.

No idea. First time I see/hear of a burned transformer. Normally the primary transistors pop way before that happens. Would be really interesting to desolder it and take it apart. Perhaps a short developed on the output side windings (high-current side).

[kevin!]

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

Well, if it's a fake choke, there wouldn't be much copper wire for your friend to reuse.


Yes, Allied is indeed Solytech's high-end line, with the others as you described. I was just joking with you that you called Allied a high-end PSU. Really in the grand scheme of things, Allied PSUs are pretty mediocre compared to the whole market.


No idea. First time I see/hear of a burned transformer. Normally the primary transistors pop way before that happens. Would be really interesting to desolder it and take it apart. Perhaps a short developed on the output side windings (high-current side).

Probably, I've never seen anything like that, when I saw it I was stunned.
Thank you

[Dan81]

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

Well, if it's a fake choke, there wouldn't be much copper wire for your friend to reuse. .

He did find some copper wire inside. Ah well, I couldn't reuse the PFC either, as I couldn't screw it to the new casing. Plus, it was blocking airflow.

[Stefan Payne]

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

Hello, I share these photos of this PSU Be Quiet Pure Power L8-CM-530W 80Plus Bronze, which I took from a Spanish forum, the photos belongs to bmdm (he granted me permission to publish his photos), I do not say the name of the forum to avoid spamming.
The fact is that this source ERL39 burned the coil, how is this possible? I had never seen anything like it.

What Hardware was used?
My guess would be newer higher end stuff like a 1070 or maybe even 1080(ti), that causes brutal transients...

That might eventually have killed the Transformer (and possibly other stuff), though the L8 is very high on capacitance on +12V...

[kevin!]

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

What Hardware was used?
My guess would be newer higher end stuff like a 1070 or maybe even 1080(ti), that causes brutal transients...

That might eventually have killed the Transformer (and possibly other stuff), though the L8 is very high on capacitance on +12V...

Initially it has a gtx 760, with a gigabyte motherboard h77 d3h, 2 SSD, 1 HDD. the processor does not know what it is not specific, but comments that it was freezing by being a few minutes playing, possibly it would not have enough power and I just burn it, as you say. A if the psu must be wrong, or exceeded its capacity.
Now the owner bought a 750w seasonic focus and all the problems were solved.
(sorry my bad english)
Bye thank you

[momaka]

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

My guess would be newer higher end stuff like a 1070 or maybe even 1080(ti), that causes brutal transients...

That might eventually have killed the Transformer (and possibly other stuff), though the L8 is very high on capacitance on +12V...

I doubt the transients killed the traffo. Yes, all new hardware has really harsh transients between idle and full load, but most cards typically go through their throttle steps fairly smoothly with the load. And either way, hard transients can only make a PSU unstable, possibly loose regulation and shut off.

Ah well, I couldn't reuse the PFC either, as I couldn't screw it to the new casing. Plus, it was blocking airflow.

Yes, PPFC coils always block a bit more airflow. Still 100% worthwhile installing, though.

[Dan81]

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

Yes, PPFC coils always block a bit more airflow. Still 100% worthwhile installing, though.

Well, as I said, I reused the AC filtering PCB from a Enermax, and that should be more than enough, given the main PSU PCB has complete filtering as well.

[Behemot]

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

What does the filtering board has in common with harmonics?

[momaka]

Leadman ALYWA-4-86-XT [Leadman 1985 PC-150] PSU

I got five (5) old AS-IS power supplies off of my local CraigsList last summer. Owner said they were bad and/or failed bench testing many years ago. I haven’t tested them yet and don’t know what I will do with them either. But as always, I open up all used electronics I get to check for roaches / pests and clean up if there is dust. So while at it, I took some pictures. The unit I have for you today is an old Leadman.
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547613992
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547613992

I don’t know much when it comes to these old PSUs, but it looks like a unit for AT systems (please correct me if I am wrong.) To be honest, I also didn’t know Leadman was this old as a company. FYI, this is the same company that made many crappy PowMax PSUs later on in the 90’s and early 2000’s.

Model number, as far as I can see, is ALYWA-4-86-XT, at least according to this label on the case:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547613992

And here is the other label with all the voltage rails and their current capabilities:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547613992
The distributions seem pretty standard for an AT PSU, with the 5V rail being rated the most (15 Amps) and the 12V rail trailing far behind (4.5 Amps). Of course, those of you who’ve been working with computers long enough to know Leadman and PowMax PSUs, I’m sure you’re probably wondering if the ratings above are actually real. After all, one should never trust a Leadman unit, right?

So let’s have a look inside:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547613992
At a glance, this PSU doesn’t appear to be bad for an AT PSU. After all, many AT PSUs weren’t packed full like today’s high-power units. But taking a closer look revealed a few things that caught my eye…
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547613992
As you can see, Leadman didn’t skimp on the input filtering just on their ATX PSUs later in the years. Even “back in the days” it appears they were cutting corners… if not outright driving on the bank. In particular, look at that Christmas candy-colored common-mode choke with its telephone-like wires! That’s a classic sign of a nasty cheap PSU. Capacitors C1 and C4 are installed across the Live and Neutral lines, so they should be X2-class rated. Yet, all we get is regular polyester and ceramic caps for C1 and C4, respectively. Then, next to the input caps, you can see some large and small diodes – this is the “bridge rectifier” of the unit… and a staple cost-cutting technique of Leadman / PowMax PSUs (the different diode sizes, that is). As if installing the same bigger diodes for the whole bridge would have been so much more expensive If you thought that’s all, look at the blue wire for the voltage selector switch up there – it’s some thin measly 22 AWG stuff. But the cheapness doesn’t end there, either:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547613992
Most of the input wires are actually 22 AWG, with ground being 24 AWG! Sure this is a low-power AT PSU, but corner-cutting like this is just silly!

Let’s move onto the secondary side:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547613992
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547613992
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547613992
Here, we have some interesting surprises – the output filter electrolytic caps are all Japanese brands, and I actually think they may be genuine (most likely because cheap Chinese and Taiwanese caps weren’t widespread back in the 80’s). The black cap is a Nippon Chemic Con SL 16V, 1000 uF (probably for the 12V rail) and the two big gray ones are “NTK” brand, 10V, 2200 uF (probably for the 5V rail). The lack of vents on these caps also suggests this is an old PSU from around the 80’s. This is further supported by the “LEADMAN 1985 PC-150” label on the PCB. Speaking of which, I don’t know if that’s the actual model number of the PSU or just an internal PCB model. But either way, it’s not a good AT PSU (save for the caps, perhaps.) Sure the output caps appear to be fairly large, but also note that there are empty cap spots on the PCB and that some of the output caps installed are smaller than the PCB markings. So I’m pretty sure Leadman was doing more cost-cutting here.

As for the components on the heatsink: I couldn’t get any part numbers off of those, due to them being covered by brackets (that I didn’t feel like removing.) They are all TO-220 parts, though - likely two BJTs for the primary side (can’t imagine this being anything else but an H-bridge PSU ) and two output rectifiers for the 5V and 12V rails. There is another TO-220 component on a separate smaller heatsink on the secondary, which I’m not sure if it’s a regulator or a diode for the -5V or -12V rails. However, that’s all there is to this power supply.

Next, a shot of the PCB solder side:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547614130
Yet another pointer for this PSUs vintage - the traces definitely don’t appear to be computer-generated, which wasn’t uncommon. The separation between primary and secondary traces appears marginal. It might still be better than some mid-2000’s gutless units of theirs, like the Sun Pro KY-480ATX I posted here a few years ago. And the soldering appears to be done with leaded solder and not that bad.

Last but not least, sharp eyes may have noticed from the case pictures that the fan is missing. Well, this is why:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547614130
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547614130
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1547614130
It’s probably the only issue that is not Leadman’s fault. Looks like a decent fan, TBH. It is ball bearing type too. Brand is ALYWA (same as PSU?) and model number DFB-8A12M, rated for 150 mA @ 12V. Might be worth a short at fixing it, but will see.

Well, that’s all I got for this power supply. No detailed component breakdown again, but I think the pictures speak for themselves. Overall, it's not that terrible when considering this is an AT power supply. In fact, it's probably better than some of the gutless PSUs they produced later in the years. Nevertheless, I still think this unit belongs to this thread, mainly because of the corner-cutting. After all, I posted an Astec PSU of a similar vintage in the Quality Pictorial thread (link here), so I think that explains why I posted this Leadman here even better.

Anyways. I suppose that's yet another gutless Leadman added to my collection. Weeee

[PeteS in CA]

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

"X" cap C4 is rated for 500V and a horrible tempco! The "Y" caps are also GP ceramic disc types, !

The output caps are all rated for 85C, which mean that at best they are high quality general purpose parts. I don't know who NTK Electronics is, but the NCC SL series part is high quality general purpose, and that series probably went obsolete in the mid 1980s. NCC/UCC's low ESR parts in that time frame would have been the RX or RXA series in miniature can, and RZ or RZA series large can. Probably all 4 were available, with the RXA and RZA being fairly new.

In that era Boschert and Astec tended to use low ESR parts on the 5V output, and high quality general purpose capacitors for the lower current outputs (in NCC/UCC, SL or SM series).

If you wanted to fix that thing and make it safe, you could probably salvage real X and Y caps from something you've scrapped. You might be able to uprate the input rectifiers the same way. You also would want to replace all the 35 year old electrolytics. You'd want to use the worst low impedance parts you could find for the output capacitors, maybe something like Nichicon PS series (NCC/UCC seems to EOL older series quicker than Nichicon does).

Or maybe it could be a "Get a load of this POS!" curiosity for your hardware nerd friends.

[momaka]

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

If you wanted to fix that thing and make it safe... Or maybe it could be a "Get a load of this POS!" curiosity for your hardware nerd friends.

Most likely the latter case. I don't really trust Leadman designs that much, TBH. Or maybe take it apart for its useful components?? (Though there isn't much of anything special in there.)
Like I said, fan is probably the only thing worth fixing.

[momaka]

HEC HEC-250CN-2RU 250 Watt ATX PSU

Another real looser here: (what the) HEC-250CN-2RU 250W ATX PSU made by… oh, HEC do I know?





Firstly, I apologize for the awful pictures – you all know this isn't typical of me. However, that's only because I took these at my previous job and didn't have a camera with me except my cell phone (which is ancient, as you can tell by the picture quality.)

IIRC, this PSU is found in some older PowerSpec computers – a house brand PC by MicroCenter. This was actually the 2nd or 3rd bad unit I encountered, so I decided to open it. At first, these PSUs didn't look overly terrible inside: full input filtering, single-transistor forward topology, and even a few acceptable silicon parts on the heatsinks (I didn't write down their numbers, though, so I can't tell you what they were.) But that's all this PSU has got going for it.

Now for the not-so-great stuff:
Considering this is supposed to be a 250W PSU, at least going by the label , clearly those heatsinks are a bit undersized. The input and output wires are also indicative of cheapness: 20 AWG. Fan is cheap too. And last but certainly not least: skimpy output filtering… though I wouldn't exactly call it inadequate, as this PSU did actually have two caps per rail for the most part (I think only the 12V and -12V didn't). I don't remember the capacity of the caps off top of my head, but I think they were mostly around 1000 uF (2x for the 3.3V and 5V rails each and 1x 1200-2200 for the 12V rail, IIRC). It's a shame, really, because the PCB silkscreen does actually have holes and space for bigger caps on some of the rails. So technically, this PSU could be upgraded with bigger output caps.

Speaking of the output capacitors, the first two faulty PSUs of this model that I opened had just bad caps – one due to a seized fan. But the one pictured above has a burned output torroid. I'm not sure what caused it, but my guess would be these PSUs cannot handle even what the label states – which is sad, because the 12V rail isn't even rated that high – only 13 Amps. What I find interesting is that this PSU appears very similar in design and layout to HEC Orion 585W (and Thermaltake TR2 430W) – which can handle about 350W of power max. So I imagine with a beefier torroid and output caps, this PSU could handle maybe 13-14 Amps on the 12V rail – enough for a basic PC.

And that is that is all I have. Unfortunately, I didn't take any solder-side pictures or write down any other details, as I did this over my lunch break (before said PSU had to be discarded for return.) I imagine this PSU is in a better place now… or not (probably rotting and polluting the ground at some dump.) For anyone who stumbles on this particular PSU: I don't really think it's worthwhile for a recap – not unless you intend to run a PC that draws 70W of power or less (i.e. something like a very low end CPU under 65W TDP and onboard GPU). And even then, I would still be a bit worried unless the output caps are upgraded to bigger ones, along with the 12V rectifier. All in all, it's a cheapo low-end PSU. Maybe not as bad as blow-up-in-your-face PowMax or similar crap, but still bad enough that I post it in this thread.

[PeteS in CA]

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

That output inductor is extra crispy! Either it was badly overloaded for a long time or it was run so hot the core lost its magnetic characteristics and self-fried. Or both.

Those input rectifiers look pretty wimpy, as do the input lytics - they should be 470uF, but look more like 330uF or less. But the thing has possibly decent input EMI filtering.

I could believe those heatsinks easily adequate for 200W with a decent fan, but that main transformer looks really small. I'd peg this at OK for 150W-175W.

[Stefan Payne]

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

Either it was badly overloaded for a long time or it was run so hot the core lost its magnetic characteristics and self-fried. Or both.

Or the Core was of bad quality.

I heard that there was a Problem with the Core back in the early/mid 2000s. But its possible that the same shit got to other manufacturers as well.

The Case I'm aware of was the PFC Coil failing.
In a 230VAC Area...

[Hemingray]

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

Here's my submission to the gutless hall of shame. A Duro "400W" ATX PSU, pulled from a curb picked XP PC. I'm going to hazard a guess this is just a crappy Linkworld PSU (Like the "300W" one on JonnyGuru's site). The output on this was so crappy that it actually took out a cap on the motherboard.

No bridge rectifier here, Just the 4 crappy diodes. EMI/RFI filtering? Bah! We don't need no stinkin filters! SWCON caps on every end of this thing, a +12V section that's good for 6A at the most (2x FR302 Fast-Recovery diodes). All of this running an AMD based machine.

Somehow, this did not kill any hardware other than one cap on the mobo. After putting in a spare Bestec (Not the 12-250E mobo destroyer!), The machine ran just fine.

This unit is still alive, but I sure as hell ain't plugging this in ever again.

[Stefan Payne]

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

Doesn't look too bad, though very "90s"...

[momaka]

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

RE: the Duro PSU...
Not sure if it's a Linkworld - at least it doesn't look like it to me.
Pretty gutless unit though, especially the secondary side with its two 3 Amp DOaB. Not only that, but I see a 40N03P MOSFET (Q5), which tells me the 3.3V rail is likely linearly-regulated from the rectified 5V rail. This is a cheap way to get a clean 3.3V rail with very little ripple, but it is very inefficient. And I imagine the 5V rail rectifier is probably a 20 Amp part at best. So 3.3V + 5V combined power is realistically no more than 100 Watts.

At least back in the Pentium 3 and Athlon days, most PCs rarely required more than 40-60 Watts of power. So that's how this PSU probably managed to survive that long.

[RJARRRPCGP]

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

Yikes! Are you sure those caps with "K" vent markings aren't "Rulycon"?

That would be the right period for the dreaded "Rulycon" caps! (or the dreaded "JEE" caps)

[Hemingray]

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

Yikes! Are you sure those caps with "K" vent markings aren't "Rulycon"?

That would be the right period for the dreaded "Rulycon" caps! (or the dreaded "JEE" caps)

All caps in this thing are branded "SWCON". Don't see any other brands in here

[Hemingray]

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

RE: the Duro PSU...
Not sure if it's a Linkworld - at least it doesn't look like it to me.
Pretty gutless unit though, especially the secondary side with its two 3 Amp DOaB. Not only that, but I see a 40N03P MOSFET (Q5), which tells me the 3.3V rail is likely linearly-regulated from the rectified 5V rail. This is a cheap way to get a clean 3.3V rail with very little ripple, but it is very inefficient. And I imagine the 5V rail rectifier is probably a 20 Amp part at best. So 3.3V + 5V combined power is realistically no more than 100 Watts.

At least back in the Pentium 3 and Athlon days, most PCs rarely required more than 40-60 Watts of power. So that's how this PSU probably managed to survive that long.

Build quality and parts used were the same as the 300W LW tested on JonnyGuru at one point, all the way down to the FR302 12V regulator and the 40NO3P 3.3V reg.