Cheap Power supply cause of death.

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Totempole

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Dec 6, 2009
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I replaced a power supply in a PC for a friend with a cheapie. I had the machine for a few weeks doing a disk cleanup, software updates etc. In the 2 weeks I had it, it worked great.

My friend tells me when he took it home it home and tried it out, it made a loud bang and started smoking. He brought it back to me and it was pretty obvious that the PSU was done for. Since it's still under warranty, I couldn't open it, but checking through the vents, I see that one of the primary capacitors is obliterated.

Anyway, with reference to the picture below. It's the cap on the right that exploded.
1372669843-IMG5437-o.jpg

(Cap n0. 2 exploded: Coincidentally the same brand, but the one's in this one are light blue.)

So my question is, what would the most likely cause have been? The PSU was used on a 230v input, and was configured as such by default.

I suspect that maybe the switch was flipped to 115v? I can't exactly ask him about it, but it's really not that big of a deal, I'm just curious about this. Since it's a cheap PSU theres also a very good chance it simply failed.

When I received the PC, the PSU was correctly set to 230v.

My question is, what would the most likely cause of that particular capacitor exploding be? It's the only damaged component in the PSU I can see.

Needless to say, my plan is to return tha PSU and get a better one.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts about this.
 
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toyftw

toyftw

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Welcome to the world of Raidmax PSU's! They are known for doing exactly what you'rs did.
I doubt having the switch at 115v was the cause
 
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T

Totempole

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Yes, I saw that clip, and I've learned from my mistake. What is the exact purpose of the cap that exploded? I read it had something to do with voltage doubling when set to 115v.

I should also mention that the cap sprayed everywhere inside the PSU and even leaked down the side of the case. Luckily no damage to the PC though.
 
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Eduello

Eduello

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Shaun o

Shaun o

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There are a few ways to tell on the quality of build of a power supply other than its brand name.
For example, in the picture above it shows a brown circuit board, or fiber circuit board.
There very commonly used in a cheap power supply.

Keep build costs down.
Where as on a good quality one when you look at it, you will clearly see circuit paths, and a printed lacquered layers used.
The way the fuse array looks, and the amount of filtering before it gets to the actual main caps.

The other give away, on the outside is by its case quality and the label with the quoted power ratings.
With just the wattage given for the overall PSU and not each power rail.
Along with a very low Amp rating on the 12v power rail.

But the old saying is, if it sounds too good to be true, it`s often the case.
Of course the biggest worry is due to it being cheap with little circuit protection, another cost cutter.
It can often do far more damage to other components.
It`s Important to understand that. If you had to add up what it would cost you to replace a few more components of your PC due to a cheap power supply.
Then it makes you think a lot.
 
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