Death of a Gutless Wonder III: The Labors of Hercules

[Tazz]

It's late. You're looking at your online bank balance, feeling discouraged. All you want to do is finish your computer build, but you forgot to budget for a new power supply. You have thirty dollars you can spend. What to do? You scour vendor listings. You hit eBay. That's when you find it... a twenty dollar Hercules 500 watt power supply. You think to yourself, "Hey, there's an idea. I could run that one for a little while until I can afford something better." But is this a wise move? What could go wrong if you only have to depend on the cheap one for a week? Come inside, and be enlightened.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...Story&reid=324

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Never have I been so glad that I keep a fire extinguisher by the load testers.

[ef3393]

OMG don't burn your test equipment!!

[Oklahoma Wolf]

That's why I used the Brand meter instead of the Rek. It's always the power meter that's in the most danger from these things.

I'm just amazed that I didn't see this unit belching flames by the end. It really is the worst I've ever seen come through here.

[hood6558]

The REALLY scary thing about this review is that one of these or one just as dangerous undoubtedly resides in thousands of homes, since cheap O.E.M.s have to cut costs somewhere, and they usually start with the PSU. A lot of $500 PCs look like a great deal on paper, until you open it up and see just how many corners were cut to make that price point. I get dead PCs from time to time and fix them up for coffee money, and it's almost always the power supply, and half the time it's taken out the motherboard as well.
Thanks for a great website, you guys are the best, the only ones who really tell-it-like-it-is about power supplies.

[mdk777]

You have thirty dollars you can spend. What to do?

Irony is that today you can buy a Corsair 500 on sale (AMIR) for $30 and a 430 for $35 without the MIR.

With Gold units on sale for $50 from Rosewill and Seasonic(today not on sale $60)...buying crap is now the ultimate in penny wise pound...no ton... foolishness.

[rafal_iB_PL]

Out of spec even on low load test - 50W. Even that awful Linkworld:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...tory2&reid=123

was in spec @50W. Worst unit ever indeed.

[mariush]

The PCB seems to be labeled for 390w.

That would be almost true, considering the cold tests. Is it just me or is the fan blowing DOWN on the pcb instead of pulling air out?

I'll bet 5$ if you desolder the transformer there's a sticker on the bottom saying ERL-33 or worse. That's not a ER-35, it's undersized.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Could be. I have it on the bench now, but I think I'll just trash it. Need to get started on a review of Hercules' daddy now.

[McSteel]

Originally Posted by mariush

The PCB seems to be labeled for 390w.

That would be almost true, considering the cold tests. Is it just me or is the fan blowing DOWN on the pcb instead of pulling air out?

I'll bet 5$ if you desolder the transformer there's a sticker on the bottom saying ERL-33 or worse. That's not a ER-35, it's undersized.

I'd say EI-33 at best, so, about 250W before saturation kicks in. I've seen designs like this kill the mylar cap(s) in the flyback section... Great fun.