And that's how I repaired a 400W Power supply

L

lhuser

New Member
Well, first off, the make is an Antec SmartPower 2.0. Not the best PSU out there.

First thing's first: My neighbor's PC was trying to start up. You could see the red LED blink dim. The board's green led was pulsing. I automatically found out that the PSU is dead.

Needless to say, I come in the evening. Apparantly, the mouse doesn't work on the board anymore. I go down to check it...green LED is on at the PC...but the PC is not physically running. Power on...nothing. Flip the switch, then on again...nothing. Call the neighboor downstairs. I decided to do the paperclip mode, which consists of shorting the green and a black wire.

The OKIA 550W PSU lit on, but not the Antec. The Antec PSU killed the board, but that's understandable, as it was pulsing.

The neighboor needs a new board, and I take the PSU, as it was going to the garbage. I open the box, and right off the bat, 2 100uf 10V caps are bumped. they are shorting out. Sooo...I look at the Socket 7 board I have hanging on the wall for deco. I find some 6.3V and I luckily found some 10V. Soldering time! I replaced them with a bit of struggle. Finished the job neatly, rewired the 115V wires and then did the paperclip mode.

The rear fan and a HDD spun. Then, it was time to try on a PC. Worked until I shutted down. The front fan didn't work, so I opened the box, did some hard rewiring with a 4-molex wire. Then, for covering, I use heat shrinking tubing. Neatly done again. Fire up again, and fans spins at max speed. Cool! :D

It's got a 20+4 Pin connector, 4x SATA wires, a PCI-E connector, the 4 CPU pin connector, 6 molex plugs and two floppy wires. Preety nice, eh?

And that's how I repaired a 400W Power supply, but I had to spend an hour fixing it.
 
You're right about the Antec Smart Power line belonging in the "fooooo barrr" list as seen in the "good" and "bad" lists compared here.


Good:
Antec(except Smart Power models) - Astec - AOpen - Channel Well - Coolermaster - Enermax(except Liberty models)
- Enlight - Fortron Source (Sparkle) - HEC - OCZ Technology - PC Power & Cooling - PowerMan
- Seasonic - SilverStone - Sunbeam - Tagan - TTGI/SuperFlower - Vantec - Zippy / Emacs - Verax - Zalman
- Corsair

Bad:
Allied - Antec Smart Power models seem to lack(recommend True Power or NeoHE) - Aspire - CoolMax - DEER - Enermax Liberty models - EYE-T
- KingStar - L&C - Linkworld - Logisys - PowerMagic - PowerUp - Powmax - Q-Tec - Raidmax - Skyhawk - Star
- Turbolink - Ultra - ThermalTake(complaints heard some good some ???) - Rosewill - SilenX ???

Gee? The True Power and NEO models seem to do well while the SP models are found where again? "foobarville"! I just hope the replacement caps are actually equal replacements and not just close to or.... pop! puff! smoking like a chimney! :eek: is likely to be the outcome. "rest is pieces Smart Power"!
 
no, they are exact replacements. Same everything...and you know what? My True Power is a complete problem box. HDDs quitting for no reasons, boards aren't booting, 10V on the 12V Rail...nice.

Lately, the kid's been more quieter on those problems.

SmartPower stuff isn't the best thing, but with new caps and rewiring, that SmartPower is going to be different compared to the others.
 
The Antecs used here over the last several years have never even seen a glitch to start with. That covers several builds with different wattages. But those just happened to be True Power models like the current TP II 480w model running two ide hard drives, one sata, and two optical with a floppy to add there. I must be lazy. I still haven't bothered to put in the TP II 550w still sealed in the retail box it came in. hhmmm.... Maybe when I add three more 500gb sata drives you think?
 
My main complaint about all the Channelwell built Antecs (SP and TPII) is the use of cheap, low quality Fuhjyyu capacitors. Antec uses very passive settings on their fan controllers to reduce noise, which also reduces airflow, consequently heating up the unit. Fuhjyyu capacitors react very poorly to heat, and what you're experiencing is a very, very common occurrence.

Provided you've used decent replacement caps when recapping, the unit should give you years of faithful service - better than new!

Congratulations on the success.
 
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Probably. The reason why I wired the fans is because the fans didn't work.

The replacement caps are not cheap fuhjyyu. It's from a tough Socket 7board.

The problem with my TruePower 1, is that the 430W I have, has very flimsy wires. It has like cuts in the wires, because if I move them in an innapropriate way, it won't work.
 
With a bad harness seeing the insulation damaged and intermittency from broken wires inside the best thing to tell your friend is to plan on getting a replacement. Despite your success at replacing the blown caps that wiring problem won't simply go away. If one of those was grounding out somehow that would explain the blown caps and board damage seen. Regardless or make or model a direct short is still a direct short. Replace the supply or :eek: ! again! when "something" touches ground.
 
No, the wiring problem is on the Truepower. That bag o' crap fried a fan controller in 15 mins.

The One I repaired blown caps is a SmartPower. The wiring is great too.

The Truepower has either bad wires or there is a problem in the rails.
 
Or maybe someone let a reject out of the assembly plant? Through several builds and other people's cases not one Antec TP model has even failed at this end. Occasionally no matter "what make or model" a bad one gets out. I don't care for the way the TP3 models are wired. But you evidently received one that was miswired and should save for Antec to cover if the manufacturer's warranty is still in effect.
 
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