Popping a Cap in One's Antec

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I am considering writing up an article in the not too distant future on how to repair an Antec/CWT PSU with the infamous Fuhjyuu Failure Syndrome. With that in mind, I wanted to see what my fellow forum members thought about such an article.

I could also use a little assistance with this idea. While the spirit is willing, the supply of flaky Antecs is pretty much all dried up for me. I had three that needed it done, and all three were done months ago. I have a fourth, but it's ancient. So, if anyone out there might have an Antec or other CWT made unit with bad capacitors who is willing to volunteer it for the article, I'd love to hear about it. In exchange, provided the unit in question wasn't totally hosed to begin with, I would be willing to send it back your way fully working afterwards if desired (and with much better build quality I might add).

Unless, of course, jonnyGURU is interested in ripple testing the unit before and/or after recapping to quantify the change ;)

At any rate, the patient must meet the following criteria:


PSU must be OEM Channel Well (prefer Antec but Thermaltake, ISO, or XClio variants will also do)
prefer something newer like a Smartpower/Truepower II
must have one or more bulging and/or leaking capacitors
must still have its magic smoke - if it went with a bang I can't fix it
won't be missed if the recap is not successful (not that likely)
Canada or US Antecs only - can't afford to return ship if the cost gets too high
I'll need pictures of the unit and a full list of the large value caps in the supply before hand so I can order the parts - need voltage, capacitance, height, and diameter at a minimum


I plan to recap my old CWT unit anyway, but I thought I would see if there was anyone out there dying to curse someone else with their old Antec ;)

Also note I don't have my eBay special digital cameras yet - I want to make sure I can fix at least one of them before taking a patient for this article.

[dBTelos]

I like the idea. But what is the whole point of this anyway? Showing people how to recap their CWT Antecs?

[jonnyGURU]

A re-capped Antec is a happy Antec.

I think the before/after ripple tests would be cool, since the secondary caps should affect that.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I think the before/after ripple tests would be cool, since the secondary caps should affect that.

Indeed - the results should show a drastic before/after change in ripple, even if we only barely load it. Some of these Fuhjyyus go so far out of spec the PSU goes into protection ;)

[SuperSix]

Our Nspire units are OEM Channelwell units too, I'll see if I can find any for you. :)

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I forgot about them :)

[SuperSix]

I forgot about them :)


But it seems the new revision (and part number) units we just got in are from a different OEM. I need to find a way to get one to Jonny for eval.

I was TOLD they are still Channelwell units, but since when does Channelwell make entry-level power supplies w/130MM fans?

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Not sure on that, but if any of the transformers have the letters CWT on them, they're CWT.

The newer ones with the Samxon caps probably won't help so much with the article though... not much point replacing good caps with other good caps ;)

[CAD4466HK]

I am considering writing up an article in the not too distant future on how to repair an Antec/CWT PSU with the infamous Fuhjyuu Failure Syndrome. With that in mind, I wanted to see what my fellow forum members thought about such an article.

I could also use a little assistance with this idea. While the spirit is willing, the supply of flaky Antecs is pretty much all dried up for me. I had three that needed it done, and all three were done months ago. I have a fourth, but it's ancient. So, if anyone out there might have an Antec or other CWT made unit with bad capacitors who is willing to volunteer it for the article, I'd love to hear about it. In exchange, provided the unit in question wasn't totally hosed to begin with, I would be willing to send it back your way fully working afterwards if desired (and with much better build quality I might add).

Unless, of course, jonnyGURU is interested in ripple testing the unit before and/or after recapping to quantify the change ;)

At any rate, the patient must meet the following criteria:


PSU must be OEM Channel Well (prefer Antec but Thermaltake, ISO, or XClio variants will also do)
prefer something newer like a Smartpower/Truepower II
must have one or more bulging and/or leaking capacitors
must still have its magic smoke - if it went with a bang I can't fix it
won't be missed if the recap is not successful (not that likely)
Canada or US Antecs only - can't afford to return ship if the cost gets too high
I'll need pictures of the unit and a full list of the large value caps in the supply before hand so I can order the parts - need voltage, capacitance, height, and diameter at a minimum


I plan to recap my old CWT unit anyway, but I thought I would see if there was anyone out there dying to curse someone else with their old Antec ;)

Also note I don't have my eBay special digital cameras yet - I want to make sure I can fix at least one of them before taking a patient for this article.



Would you mind getting a working,with no problems "yet" Neopower 480 2.0?

If I dont get my 7900GT KO back soon,or one that works anyways, I would have no problems sending it to Jonny for hot box treatment then to you for recapping! I havent used it but to test dead cards since May. I would like to see the before and after:) The end result would be all Hitachi caps{yeah right!} Either way you look at it, I would have it for another 4-5 years.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Would you mind getting a working,with no problems "yet" Neopower 480 2.0?

Maybe... I'd very much prefer there to be at least one cap visibly swelling or leaking though. That way it will be somewhat easier to quantify the benefits of recapping on the scope later. Will keep yours in mind though. If this is a Neo HE, there's no benefit to recapping - it's a Seasonic.

The plan is to use United Chemicon, Panasonic, Nichicon, or a combination of the three as I can get them easier. All depends what Digikey has that will fit.

[CAD4466HK]

Maybe... I'd very much prefer there to be at least one cap visibly swelling or leaking though. That way it will be somewhat easier to quantify the benefits of recapping on the scope later. Will keep yours in mind though. If this is a Neo HE, there's no benefit to recapping - it's a Seasonic.

The plan is to use United Chemicon, Panasonic, Nichicon, or a combination of the three as I can get them easier. All depends what Digikey has that will fit.

It's not a HE, It's the old NEOpower 480 120mm it's a different version then the one that didnt come sleeved and only had the 12v@ 18&15 ver.1

Mine is the ver.2.0 18&18 and sleeved.

What I can do is to put it in my server for about a week,since I just added
another Maxtor DM10 300gb,
giving it 8 hard drives now. It's kind of warm in there,and I know for a fact it
would shut down every 5 min in there,at least keep me in mind. I wanted it recapped anyways,and your the authority on this type of thing ,might as well!

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Check the caps before you do that... if any are already bulging, I wouldn't trust expensive hardware to it. Since JG seems willing to do before and after ripple testing, you'd probably be both sending it to and getting it back from him. I should warn you a week under heavy load is very unlikely to be long enough to show this problem if the caps are ok right now.

This whole process could take a while... I'm not that well off and just getting the cap order in will take some time. The good news is I can get the full cap list and pics from JG when/if he does the before testing, so you wouldn't necessarily have to do that part. The pics will be used to determine whether there is enough free space to use physically larger caps than CWT used.

[CAD4466HK]

Check the caps before you do that... if any are already bulging, I wouldn't trust expensive hardware to it. Since JG seems willing to do before and after ripple testing, you'd probably be both sending it to and getting it back from him. I should warn you a week under heavy load is very unlikely to be long enough to show this problem if the caps are ok right now.

This whole process could take a while... I'm not that well off and just getting the cap order in will take some time. The good news is I can get the full cap list and pics from JG when/if he does the before testing, so you wouldn't necessarily have to do that part. The pics will be used to determine whether there is enough free space to use physically larger caps than CWT used.

I'll open it up later today,being modular,it wont be that bad! Besides, I already
trust my server to a Truepower 430, dual fans that hardly move any air and 26@12v

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I'll open it up later today,being modular,it wont be that bad!

Any updates?

[CAD4466HK]

Any updates?

You caught me napping Wolf:p
I had forgotten all about it:(
I'll get on it now:D

[CAD4466HK]

Any updates?

Ok, I see a Ruby for primary and Fuhjy for the secondary,
no swollen subjects Wolf,sorry:(

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Ah... I'll keep yours in mind yet though. Might need it if I can't find another patient ;)

How's that Truepower 430W doing?

[CAD4466HK]

one of the fan

[CAD4466HK]

Ah... I'll keep yours in mind yet though. Might need it if I can't find another patient ;)

How's that Truepower 430W doing?

I'm not even going to try to open that one up:eek:

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Got a few pics of the CWT 235W already - just wondering what everyone thinks. These are resized down to 800x600 from the maximum res the camera can take. I think I had the camera set a bit too dark. It's a Nikon Coolpix 3700 if anyone's interested.

Behold Fuhjyyu in all their glory!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Oklawolf/Power%20Supplies/CWT235W-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Oklawolf/Power%20Supplies/CWT235W-2.jpg

[dBTelos]

Apparantly Ok.wolf has the ability to pull CWT supplies out of his ass at the snap of a finger :D I'm sure you bent your pocketbook with that heavy lifting 235 watter.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I got it free in exchange for an old Fujitsu 6.4gb drive :D

This PSU is so old the PSU fan blows air into the case.

[dBTelos]

I just happen to need an extra 6.4GB of space, darn (sarcasm). I could have givin you a 2liter of mountain due, probably worth more then that PSU (not sarcasm).

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I use it for repairing car stereos - it does the job without making me worry about bad decks killing the FSP 530W .

[DvBoard]

Antec 400W SL400, says "SmartPower" On the label. Would this be one of the one's with the possible issue?

[CAD4466HK]

Antec 400W SL400, says "SmartPower" On the label. Would this be one of the one's with the possible issue?

From what I know, the older Smartpower's were not "as bad" as the newer
Generation
From personal experience, I bought a Antec Super LANboy that included
a Smartpower 350 Blue,with the bottom intake fan and rear 80mm fan.

That was 3 years ago,and that PSU is still alive and kicking in that customers rig,:D
running a 3200 XP ,1 gig of PC-3200, XFX 5900XT,and various drives,ect.

It's the luck of the draw my friend;)

[Oklahoma Wolf]

SL400 is a definite candidate. Did an SL350 not long ago.

[DvBoard]

This one is prbly about 3 years old. I'll have to take a look and see if it's doing anything. The capacitors would have a noticable buldge correct?

Also, it's in my only rig right now and working, but that's just a sign that it hasn't hit failure point yet? Or that it doesn't have the issue?

[Oklahoma Wolf]

The capacitors would have a noticable buldge correct?

Yup - some may be leaking too. 3 years is well over the amount of time this problem usually shows up. I had one CWT that lasted that long before needing recapping, but it needed doing too eventually. 3 of my 4 CWT's in all needed recapping - that's not a good track record :(

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Ok, the Neo is done - complete success. Used Chemicon KZE and KY caps to replace the Fuhjyyus. Some of the wiring had to be rerouted to take into account the larger diameter 4700uF cap, but as recaps go it was actually easier than my SL350 was. I had to do some serious desoldering and rerouting of wires in that one.

The fan on this thing is really slow - no wonder the Fuhjyyus all die in these.

FWIW, the PCB was marked as a CWT EX series board.

Now I just gotta get the FSP done - that's tomorrow's work methinks.

[GalvanizedYankee]

OKW, could you give us the fan brand and model number...Please.
Did you up-rate the 80mm fan to something sane, like 45cfm@12V.?

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Maybe later - I just put it back together ;)

It's a 120mm fan in here BTW.

[GalvanizedYankee]

Sorry...Brain fart. I was thinking SP or TP.
Of the few I've opened up and / or seen in review, the 80s are generally 45~50cfm and the 120s 70~85cfm.

[CAD4466HK]

Sorry...Brain fart. I was thinking SP or TP.
Of the few I've opened up and / or seen in review, the 80s are generally 45~50cfm and the 120s 70~85cfm.

Stolen from SPCR:

Way to go OW:D Can't wait to see the article on the "refreshed" Neo:D

[Oklahoma Wolf]

A day later, the FSP Epsilon is back in the saddle again, using Chemicon KY and KZE itself :)

And, as a bit of a teaser, here's the recapped Neo being tested:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Oklawolf/Power%20Supplies/Dscn2663.jpg

Yes, the fan was indeed running :eek:

[DvBoard]

Opened mine today [No Pics :( No Camera], and it was fine. Good thing too, that PC already survived on PSU explosion.

[CAD4466HK]

Gods! I hate that fan! Curses! :mad:

[Chilly]

Can't wait for the load/ripple tests :D If you like, I have a Antec TrueBlue480 laying around I can send you (you could keep, abuse it w/e it as well, have no use for it personally)

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Heh - it would have to be a one way trip... can't afford to ship any more PSU's ;)

I suppose I could always use an extra PSU around the house though... I'd have to recap it of course :D

[nn_step]

Oklahoma Wolf are you still looking for Antecs to recap? because yesterday I received a Antec NeoPower 480 with some flaky voltages.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Nope - cad's has been done and hopefully will be going through final ripple testing as soon as Jon is able to get to it.

Any recaps I do from here on out would have to be paid for ;)

[nn_step]

what kinda rates?

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I'd probably want to line up several units - without a credit card, ordering the caps from Digikey is a bit of a pain, and they have a $20 minimum order IIRC. Shipping the units back and forth might add up after a while too. Might not be worth it when factoring in the cost of a good new PSU. I'd probably charge between $20 and $30 Canadian for the labor - $30 an hour is what my electronics repair rate is. Good news is, it wouldn't take an hour to do - more like 30 minutes. But the labor charge should pay for the parts too if I get enough units to recap.

Haven't really thought about it too hard though. Where I am, I'm limited to the post office for shipping units out, so I figured there probably wouldn't be too much interest in me doing recaps for money ;)

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Ok, all the data is in and I'm able to start working on the article. Cad should be getting his Neo back pretty soon now.

The results are very, very interesting... y'all are going to want to read this one when I'm done :D

Looking to have the article finished by sometime Thursday.

[GalvanizedYankee]

Who proof reads your stuff? :D

Looking forward to it OKW. Quivering in happy anticipation. :cool:

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I'll probably post it in the moderator's area before kicking it live for looking over. I'm expecting this one will have the folks over at badcaps all a-buzz for a while ;)

[jonnyGURU]

Oh.. CAD gets that PSU back?

I thought it was going up for a charity auction. :D

[Oklahoma Wolf]

lol - just don't forget to send him the cables too ;)

[CAD4466HK]

Oh.. CAD gets that PSU back?

I thought it was going up for a charity auction. :D

Sure, a charity auction would be great:p
All the procedes can go directly into my wife's, forever, outstretched hand :lol:
Or I will be happy with any 600W+ PSU you want to switch it out for jG :rolleyes: :D

[Chilly]

If the results are yummy I might contact you for some recapping on an antec TruBlue 480, being a canuck shipping should be on the cheap :)

[Edit] Forgot to add can't wait for the article, hope you post a mini how-to in the future for the more electronicly skilled!

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I couldn't do it for free, assuming I actually had caps to recap with (and I don't)... caps need to be paid for somehow, and I'm attempting to save up for a new car ;)

Article's done now, just needs uploading and proofreading. Maybe later tomorrow.