Weirdy to watch

  • Thread starter Thread starter johns
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J

johns

I have 8 Antec SmartPower 350 power supplies
that are blown. No biggie, they are still in warranty,
but I opened one of them to see if I could tell what
the problem is. Sure enough C16 and C17 are
swollen and leaking goop. Both are 1000@ 10V,
and both are associated with the standby
power .. that is when the PC is OFF. What I'm
doing with these PCs is I have them hibernate
after 45 minutes of inactivity. When I replace
the supply, the PCs come up from hibernate
mode. None of these supplies has blown while
in regular use, or from a complete power down.
In hibernate mode, the fans are off, and I notice
that these 2 caps are sitting right between 2
very large heat sinks. Got the caps coming
from Jameco. If I can repair them .. easy to
do .. I will. Nuts to RMAing psupplies.

johns
 
how many dead antech does it take before you:
1. check your mains
2 buy a different brand
3 and since when does Dell use antech power supplies?
 
JAD said:
how many dead antech does it take before you:
1. check your mains
2 buy a different brand
3 and since when does Dell use antech power supplies?
Click to expand...

(top post fixed)

Kinda sounds to me like he bought them in bulk.

I also don't see Dell mentioned anywhere.

~e.
 
JAD said:
how many dead antech does it take before you:
1. check your mains
Click to expand...

I did that. Line power is 20 amps, 2000 watts. Each
machine measures 109 Watts, and there are 6 machines
on the line. Building is 4 years old .. essentially new.
2 buy a different brand
Click to expand...

Antec is one of the top brands. Their tech support
has not seen this before. I supect the problem is
caused by hibernate ???
3 and since when does Dell use antech power supplies?
Click to expand...

I have lots of machines .. more than 1000. Less than
100 Dells. I hibernate the Dells too, and they are holding
with no problems ??????? Weird. Not a clue. I'll switch
to the TruePower if this continues.

johns
 
visions of effty said:
(top post fixed)

Kinda sounds to me like he bought them in bulk.

I also don't see Dell mentioned anywhere.

~e.
Click to expand...
Won't be long now before we have Johns ranting about Antec the same way he
does about Asus mobos.

SteveH
 
Kinda sounds to me like he bought them in bulk.
Click to expand...

Yep. I bought new cases from Mwave.com .. SLK
1650B .. Built up 18 machines. Run great for last
year ... except for this weirdy with the psupplies
during hibernate. I figured one of the homies on
the group might have seen this. It is not a normal
commercial setup or problem. Full power down
leaves this standby supply on too .. keybd lights
and mouse. But the problem does not seem to
occur then ... just hibernate. ?????????

johns
 
bottom post fixed

Kinda sounds to me like he bought them in bulk.

I also don't see Dell mentioned anywhere.
Click to expand...

You don't know johns, and I don't recall asking you to ' fix ' anything.


\
 
You don't know johns, and I don't recall asking you to ' fix ' anything.
Click to expand...


Ah, that's okay. You don't like him? He probably doesn't like you either.

~e.
 
johns said:
I have 8 Antec SmartPower 350 power supplies
that are blown. No biggie, they are still in warranty,
but I opened one of them to see if I could tell what
the problem is. Sure enough C16 and C17 are
swollen and leaking goop. Both are 1000@ 10V,
and both are associated with the standby
power .. that is when the PC is OFF. What I'm
doing with these PCs is I have them hibernate
after 45 minutes of inactivity. When I replace
the supply, the PCs come up from hibernate
mode. None of these supplies has blown while
in regular use, or from a complete power down.
In hibernate mode, the fans are off, and I notice
that these 2 caps are sitting right between 2
very large heat sinks. Got the caps coming
from Jameco. If I can repair them .. easy to
do .. I will. Nuts to RMAing psupplies.
Click to expand...

Antec SmartPowers and TruePowers contain capacitors made by Fuhjyyu,
and their capacitors are infamous for failing -- see www.badcaps.net
for more informaiton. I have a 4-year-old 300W SmartPower where a year
ago a couple of Fuhjyyus on the +12V rail swelled, even though the
computer consumed only 60W (measured) and the draw on the +12V rail was
never over 10-15W.

I doubt I'd use capacitors from Jameco because I don't think they're
made for low ESR, and they could be from low quality manufacturers that
are no better than Fuhjyyu. It would be safer to get caps rated for
low ESR and made by Philips, Illinois, or one of the Japanese companies
-- Nichicon (but not their HM or HN series, which had bad production
runs), Rubycon, Nippon Chemicon, United Chemicon, Sanyo, or Panasonic.
They're available from Digi-Key, Mouser, and B&D Enterprises. Be sure
that the diameters are correct because PSUs and mobos often have no
room for anything even 1mm larger in diameter than the originals.
 
I did that. Line power is 20 amps, 2000 watts. Each
machine measures 109 Watts, and there are 6 machines
on the line. Building is 4 years old .. essentially new.


Antec is one of the top brands. Their tech support
has not seen this before. I supect the problem is
caused by hibernate ???
Click to expand...

The power supply has no way of differentiating between hibernation and
shutdown. The standby power consumption is the same.
 
Right. That is what is weird ????? I did
read somewere that there is a "small"
difference. Not a clue. One thought. Since
the PCs never get shut down, and only
hibernate down now, whatever is happening
is only happening during hibernate ... and
not caused by hibernate. I never have
a failure during the day. Just at night
when everybody is gone.

johns
 
Thanks. I'll do that. I've used Digi-Key in
the past. If the Jamecos work, I'll follow
up with Digi-Key. Good link. Makes sense.

johns
 
johns said:
Antec is one of the top brands. Their tech support
has not seen this before. I supect the problem is
caused by hibernate ???
Click to expand...

Maybe the computer draws more current from the +5Vstandby rail when
waking up from hibernate than when turning on in reaction to a key
press or mouse movement, and this additional current is just enough to
make the +5Vstandby voltage too low? I would try measuring this rail
with an analog meter or a digital one having a fast-reacting bar graph.
 
johns said:
Thanks. I'll do that. I've used Digi-Key in
the past. If the Jamecos work, I'll follow
up with Digi-Key. Good link. Makes sense.
Click to expand...

My experience is that Mouser usually has better pricing than Digi-Key.
 
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