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

[goodpsusearch]

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

I have got one more T&P-nonsense psu

T&P-DHK 420ATX

I 've posted again this model (check link posted by momaka above) but internally they are completely different units.

There is some serious overheating on the PCB and the heatsinks are the T shaped ones.

The output filtering is terrible, only 1 cap per rail.
And the input filtering is totally missing. Wait, there is an NTC thermistor there.

I couldn't find info for the NPN switching transistors, they are 2X 1035

STPS10L45CT 3.3V
pbyr3045wt 5V
F16C20CT 12V

terrible choice of components

why use 30A rectifier for 5V ? This is not 2000.

And, as shown in pics attached, the super group regulation toroid coil strikes again.

[momaka]

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

why use 30A rectifier for 5V ? This is not 2000.

If the 12V rail is produced by superimposing a 7V rail on top of the rectified 5V rail, then in such arrangement, both the 12V rectifier and 5V rectifier are used when current is being pulled from the 12V rail. This was done on some "newer" group-regulated PSUs to improve stability between 5V and 12V rail (at the expense of efficiency.)

But I doubt this PSU uses such design. Most cheapo half-bridge PSUs just have separate 12V and 5V rail windings (or rather, the 12V rail winding is just an extension of the 5V rail winding... but that's different that the superimposed 7V rail method.) Heck, this one didn't even bother with a mag-amp or linear reg for the 3.3V rail, so no way we can expect any decent design decisions to have been put into this PSU... other than make it as cheap as possible.

[PeteS in CA]

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

It'd probably do 250W without glowing or blowing up, but that is cheap junk. EMC nightmare, lousy output noise, 85C input lytics, and probably junkalicious output caps.

[goodpsusearch]

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

FS-500 Switching Power Supply PFC

This is a no name psu that comes with PFC (well, we will see about that) and alpine sleeve bearing fan:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1596983101
Manufacture brand is Flyalpine Electronics Co Ltd, might be related to Hong Kong Fly Apart LLC

Another terrible unit, 1 cap per rail, including the 5vsb. No coils on the input, no coils on the output, there is just a tiny thermistor for the inrush. But I doubt there would be a big inrush current with those tiny main caps, that probably are fake 330uF and their real C is 220uF.

Maybe you already noticed that the PFC looks strange..
Well, it turns out this is another fake PFC unit:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1596983101

But the 5vsb is controlled with an IC, no 2 transistor circuit here, the IC is UTC7608D , couldn't find datasheet online.

2x 13007 NPN transistors yet again

Terribly thin T shaped heatsinks

So much empty space on this PCB

MBR2045CTG @ 5V

F16C20C @ 12V

But 3.3V uses p40ne03l-20 40A mosfet. So, at least this output is expected to be very clean in terms of ripple and close to the nominal value. And the other 2 voltages could be better now that this is not another super group regulated psu.

PWM and supervisor combo IC: sc6105b

Another good (or bad?) thing about this power supply is that it still works and hasn't exploded violently like the one I will be posting soon.

[PeteS in CA]

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

Those heatsinks and a pair of true 330uF input caps might be adequate for 200W continuous, but 220uF input caps and that tiny main transformer probably make 160W-180W a more realistic maximum.

Junk like that should be considered fraud.

[Dan81]

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

FS-500 Switching Power Supply PFC

This is a no name psu that comes with PFC (well, we will see about that) and alpine sleeve bearing fan:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1596983101
Manufacture brand is Flyalpine Electronics Co Ltd, might be related to Hong Kong Fly Apart LLC

Another terrible unit, 1 cap per rail, including the 5vsb. No coils on the input, no coils on the output, there is just a tiny thermistor for the inrush. But I doubt there would be a big inrush current with those tiny main caps, that probably are fake 330uF and their real C is 220uF.

Maybe you already noticed that the PFC looks strange..
Well, it turns out this is another fake PFC unit:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1596983101

But the 5vsb is controlled with an IC, no 2 transistor circuit here, the IC is UTC7608D , couldn't find datasheet online.

2x 13007 NPN transistors yet again

Terribly thin T shaped heatsinks

So much empty space on this PCB

MBR2045CTG @ 5V

F16C20C @ 12V

But 3.3V uses p40ne03l-20 40A mosfet. So, at least this output is expected to be very clean in terms of ripple and close to the nominal value. And the other 2 voltages could be better now that this is not another super group regulated psu.

PWM and supervisor combo IC: sc6105b

Another good (or bad?) thing about this power supply is that it still works and hasn't exploded violently like the one I will be posting soon.

These are also sold under the Intertech brand in Romania. They vary in quality, and their OEMs are usually Huizhou Xin Hui Yuan for "high-end" units ("""750W""") and sometimes Allied (aka Deer's top $$$ range of PSUs somewhat, with Deer being in the middle and L&C being bottom of the barrel) for their lower wattage platforms (though not always)

[goodpsusearch]

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

Do you think this is the same OEM?

Xpower 54071

I attach some pictures bellow.

Fake ppfc, it is not even connected with cable to anything.

I tore it down with the help of my cats.

On the inside, instead of copper and core, I found what looks to be a block of cement...

One cap totally exploded.

I found the aluminum cover and the rest of the cap is still installed on the power supply.

And what about those fake Chemicon primary caps?

But, on the back of PCB, there are several smd components, this is not something I expect on these terribly cheap power supplies that I get for free.

[Per Hansson]

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

Nice state of the art design, the PFC is wireless!

[RJARRRPCGP]

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

terrible choice of components

why use 30A rectifier for 5V ? This is not 2000.

QFT! I was saying to myself, "Why use a 30A rectifier for 5V? This is not the socket 462 era!" "It's not 2003, LOL"

[PeteS in CA]

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

The PCB date code is 1998 (3398). The 2.5A 5VSB seems more along the lines of what I'd expect for 2000 or later. The heatsinks and main transformer seem about right for 250W-300W. With 500W you get nightlight, briefly. Probably at 200W and above the output noise would be horrific.

Is the blown lytic the 5VSB output cap? Possibly blown by the circuit going out of regulation?

[goodpsusearch]

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

Nice state of the art design, the PFC is wireless!

wireless transmission of power Tesla dreamt of

The PCB date code is 1998 (3398). The 2.5A 5VSB seems more along the lines of what I'd expect for 2000 or later. The heatsinks and main transformer seem about right for 250W-300W. With 500W you get nightlight, briefly. Probably at 200W and above the output noise would be horrific.

Is the blown lytic the 5VSB output cap? Possibly blown by the circuit going out of regulation?

I think this is the auxiliary capacitor that blew.

[goodpsusearch]

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

aqprox! app550PS

This unit uses 2x13009 but the main transformer is very small. It is not by any means capable of outputing 550W, I would say not even 300W, maybe will do for less than a minute..

The primary caps are on the low side too.

Good to see input filtering.

Also, good to see 2 caps per every output rail. But there is no coil, except 5vsb.

I felt very relieved that this psu has separate toroid coils for 5v/12v and 3.3V and that each of the main voltages has 20A proper rectifier. But unfortunately, 12V uses F20C20CT not schottky rectifier with almost 1V Vf.

Soldering looks excellent. The heatsinks are OK.

And now a quiz:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1598208551

Is this passive pfc fake or not?

[Per Hansson]

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

And now a quiz:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1598208551

Is this passive pfc fake or not?

I vote for real PFC, not fake.
If it's fake they are just being silly putting so much effort into it!

[momaka]

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

wireless transmission of power Tesla dreamt of

I think this is the auxiliary capacitor that blew.

Yeah, looks like the aux. secondary side rail smoothing cap. That rail is usually unregulated and can go up and down based on 5VSB load... or based on how bad the 5VSB output caps fail, it can go through the roof and either kill the PWM controller or nuke its filter cap(s) if they aren't rated for high enough voltage above what the rail is expected to go up to.

The PCB date code is 1998 (3398).

Not sure about that. I think you missed it.
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...2&d=1597523349

There's another line of text above that, and it says:
---BW-2014REV:1.0
... which suggests it was made/designed/copied in 2014 and that's inline with the shananigans going on in this PSU. PFC wasn't of much concern back in the 90's, so hardly any consumer PSUs had it, let alone cheapo ones. It wasn't until the late 2000's that PFC became required in EU... and hence some of the cheapo PSU manufacturers popping up with fake PPFC coils. So I think 2014 or later is when this PSU was made.

aqprox! app550PS

This unit uses 2x13009 but the main transformer is very small. It is not by any means capable of outputing 550W, I would say not even 300W, maybe will do for less than a minute..

Yeah, I give it 250W max.
The small transformer could do more than 300W, but if this was a different topology (double-forward or resonant LLC) and running at much higher frequency. The SG6109 is probably configured for standard affair under 50 KHz, and it appears the output has Micrometals -26 cores on the toroids, which is just good enough for those relatively low switching frequencies. Speaking of which, the output toroids appears kind of on the small side, so that too probably won't let the PSU do more than 250W long term.

Is this passive pfc fake or not?

I'm with Per on that one - looks real to me.

It indeed would be silly to give that PPFC choke a proper steel EE core and even wind a few turns of wire just to make it look real. If they reached that point, why not fully wind the rest of the inductor and actually have a compliant PPFC? But then again, Copper is expensive, so there's still a small chance it's fake. I'd be really disappointed if it was, though.

[PeteS in CA]

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

Concur with momaka about that "550W" PSU. No way that thing could do 550W continuous. The topology looks like a half bridge, and between using BJTs and the -26 material inductor cores I'd guess the switch frequency is 25Khz-35KHz (the -26 is good for 50KHz, but above 35KHz the turn-on, turn-off, and storage times of those BJTs eat up a lot of pulse width modulation range).

Those heatsinks and the MJE13009 clones are probably good for 350W-400W, but that small main transformer is quite a mismatch. I'd get nervous at about 200W continuous.

[pc7fan]

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

What a ridiculously underseized transformer. Like Pete, I would say 150W continuous... Unless you swap it with an EI33 or even an 35/39. These half bridge supplies are very similar between models and the tranny pinouts are usually similar. Until then, 150W continuous without the tranny melting itself.

[goodpsusearch]

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

Fake!

[goodpsusearch]

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

I also uploaded a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfeJudo3Uo8

[momaka]

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

WOW! What a gyp!

Looking back at the first picture you posted...
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...3&d=1598208547
... I should have guessed that it was fake. I see now that the copper wire loops around the outside of the laminated steel "core". If this was a proper PFC choke (or any transformer with EE core for that matter), then wire should be wound around the middle section element of the EE core.

*Sigh*
This is such a waste of materials and resources.

*EDIT*
I didn't know you have a YT channel. Cool beans, I'll check it out.

[Hemingray]

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

Got this awhile back from a load of random cables grabbed from the Goodwill bargain bins. Label that was stuck over the real rating had this rated to 500mA. Imprinted label on the case has it at 200mA.

Best part: Damn thing can't even do 100mA without the voltage tanking. Output sagged down to 3V at just 125mA.