Death of a Gutless Wonder III: The Labors of Hercules

[walterm]

Why? It is "without redeeming value" of any kind. Dangerous, and out of specification are all the "strikes" needed.
Make HEC cheapos look good.

[Per Hansson]

Originally Posted by Oklahoma Wolf

Fan failures don't count - the fan from the Hercules was working right up to the end

Hardwired to the 12V, too.

Really, so there was no "intelligent silence temperature control" then?
I'm just curious about the fan, if it was running from 12v how come the PCB could be THAT discolored?
I mean the fan looks to pretty much cover the full size of the PCB?
Running the fan at 12v is a really good idea for cheap PSU's with crap caps, I'm just surprised by that out of all parts the fan is the most crappy one?

Well my biggest surprise is the PCB, normally you find a Deer or someother such PCB which in itself isn't terrible, just that it isn't populated with any components, just jumper wires in their place.
But this thing does not even have any jumper wires or missing components, there isn't even a spot to add EMI filtering or the Pi Filters for the secondary!
And designing a shitty PCB such as this surely costs money, so this I really don't get!

Also the FI, D, N & S markings are a real sham.
A unit carrying the "S" marking is tested by the Swedish testing agency Semko, like the FCC pretty much.
They have very stringent requirements, faking those marks is really really bad because it lures the consumer into thinking this is actually a safe and tested unit!

[Kougar]

Originally Posted by Per Hansson

I'm just curious about the fan, if it was running from 12v how come the PCB could be THAT discolored?
I mean the fan looks to pretty much cover the full size of the PCB?
Running the fan at 12v is a really good idea for cheap PSU's with crap caps, I'm just surprised by that out of all parts the fan is the most crappy one?

The fan itself was fine, but if you study the airflow characteristics, it was terrible. It's a 120mm fan with no airflow direction modifications and no side vents. The only way the airflow can leave the PSU is out the back, which means a good portion of the air deeper in the unit is not actually being moved at all, it's sitting in dead zones without any airflow. Anything right on the PCB would've gotten the least amount airflow.

This is why many manufacturers block up to 40% of the 120 or 140mm fan (closest to the rear exhaust ports) with a clear plastic to channel all the air into the opposite end of the unit, which then forces it to flow through the entire unit before it can reach the exhaust vents on the back. It is also why some people still prefer 80mm fans on the back as they avoid most of this issue. In either case, the result is the air flows through the circuitry parallel to the PCB, instead of perpendicular to the PCB in a top-down fashion.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Originally Posted by Per Hansson

But this thing does not even have any jumper wires or missing components, there isn't even a spot to add EMI filtering or the Pi Filters for the secondary!

That's what really pushes my buttons. They made it an unsafe piece of junk on purpose, knowing full well what they were doing

[aspirem3802]

GAME OVER Man, GAME OVER for this Power Supply!

[FALC0N]

Originally Posted by Kougar

The fan itself was fine, but if you study the airflow characteristics, it was terrible. It's a 120mm fan with no airflow direction modifications and no side vents. The only way the airflow can leave the PSU is out the back, which means a good portion of the air deeper in the unit is not actually being moved at all, it's sitting in dead zones without any airflow. Anything right on the PCB would've gotten the least amount airflow.

This is why many manufacturers block up to 40% of the 120 or 140mm fan (closest to the rear exhaust ports) with a clear plastic to channel all the air into the opposite end of the unit, which then forces it to flow through the entire unit before it can reach the exhaust vents on the back. It is also why some people still prefer 80mm fans on the back as they avoid most of this issue.

Somewhere, a former PC Power & Cooling engineer nods his silent approval.

[KMFDM]

Wow...I like how it isn't even silkscreened for input filtering. And I'll bet you those input caps are actually 220uF. HORRIBLE! If you do a quick search you will find these things all over ebay. At $20 a piece they're probably making $19 profit! They're breeding....run for the hills. I think Deer will be jealous someone made a worse PSU than them

[McSteel]

These are about $6 per unit for 1000 units, with overseas shipping included...