scared of smps.please you are requested to give me some good advice.

[quan chi]

hi all!!

freinds 5 days ago that is on last monday i think at 21st.i bought a VIP 400 WATT GOLD SMPS.
IT HAS 3YRS WARRANTY
it worked fine for 5 days.now today morning i switched on the mains but didnt started the pc.after 5-10 seconds a sound like bursting of small crackers started to come from the cabinet.then i immediately switched off the mains.
after some times i again switched on the mains.again that bursting sound came.then i assumed that the smps might be faulty.

GUYS THIS SMPS HAS COST ME RS 1450.NOW I DIDNT BOUGHT THE CHEAP SMPS BEACUSE I HAVE HEARD SIMILAR KIND OF PROBLEM OCCURING IN THOSE CHEAP SMPSES.

i called the shopkeeper and he told me to come tommorow.

NOW GUYS I AM REALLY SCARED IF A SMPS OF VIP BRAND THAT TOO THE GOLD ONE BEHAVES LIKE THIS THEN WHICH ONE SHOULD I TRUST.

NOW I MIGHT GET IT REPLACED OR REPAIRED TOMORROW.BUT WHAT GURANTEE IT HAS THAT AFTER SOME DAYS THAT NEW SMPS WILL ALSO NOT BEHAVE THE SAME.

NOW THIS INCIDENT HAS MADE ME SCARED.YOU KNOW IT IS NOT THAT CHEAP.IF THE SAME THING HAPPENS AGAIN !!

PLEASE SUGGEST ME WHAT SHOULD I DO.

[ilugd]

if the smps is the one at fault, you don't have to worry do you? it is covered under warranty and so it will be replaced.

[raptorz]

My cabinet smps died within 3 months of use. I have been using VIP/Powersafe 400W SMPS for over year and half with my system left on most of the time(almost 24x7). No problems so far..

PowerSafe is quite reliable. Use need a good UPS too. Which one do you have?

If you can afford it, go for antec SMPS.

[pimpom]

You may have been just unlucky enough to get a faulty unit. It could also be your UPS. I've known some cheap UPSes that give out very high outputs, causing dmage to the PSU (SMPS). Some give out as much as 280V which is unacceptably high.

If you have a multimeter and know how to use it, or have a friend who dows, check the UPS output voltage.

[quan chi]

Originally Posted by ilugd

if the smps is the one at fault, you don't have to worry do you? it is covered under warranty and so it will be replaced.

Originally Posted by pimpom

You may have been just unlucky enough to get a faulty unit. It could also be your UPS. I've known some cheap UPSes that give out very high outputs, causing dmage to the PSU (SMPS). Some give out as much as 280V which is unacceptably high.

If you have a multimeter and know how to use it, or have a friend who dows, check the UPS output voltage.

well thanks for the reply.i dont have a ups.but one of my friends also told me that it might have happened due to high output through the mains.


but i already have mentioned that i now scare that if it happens again with the changed one.

[pimpom]

Another possibility: Your power cord may be defective and is only connecting intermittently. That will produce the crackling sound. To check that, use another power cord, disconnect everything from the SMPS - mobo, HDD, etc. and connect only the SMPS itself to the mains and see if the crackling sound is still there.

My former suggestion of checking the UPS output with a multimeter also applies to checking the mains voltage.

[quan chi]

well after the sound i opened the cabinet cover and found something like a black coloured pin with a burned surface.

you can refer the picture here.i think there should have been three pins.two of them were missing.as i have found two holes beside that thin copper wire.

[pimpom]

That's an NPN switching transistor - a plastic version of the metal-cased 2N2222A, to be exact. Yes, it should have three pins. Where did you find it? I mean, where was it located? Inside the SMPS or somewhere else?

[quan chi]

i dont know where this pin belongs to.
i found it lying inside the plastic exhaust tunnel fitted with the cabinet cover to remove the air from the cpu fan.when i removed or opened the cabinet after the burst to roll back to my previous smps.

the smps fan is situated below the smps like the coolermaster ones. a 120mm fan i think.the exhaust tunnel was also near to the smps fan.

but my system is working fine till now with my previous smps.

[pimpom]

I see. When you said you "found two holes beside that thin copper wire", I thought the transistor was still partly attached with that one remaining leg to a circuit board (PCB), and that there were two empty holes unoccupied on the board. I wondered which board.

I was wondering if the transistor was mounted on the motherboard or you opened the SMPS and saw the burnt transistor on the SMPS PCB. I would be very much surprised if this transistor was used on the mobo, and I didn't expect you to open the SMPS either. So I was a bit puzzled as to where you could have found the transistor mounted.

Everything's clear now: It was used in the SMPS and had fallen out (probably blown out) after having been burnt out from a severe short-circuit. The other two legs are probably still attached to the PCB inside the SMPS.

[quan chi]

Originally Posted by pimpom

I see. When you said you "found two holes beside that thin copper wire", I thought the transistor was still partly attached with that one remaining leg to a circuit board (PCB), and that there were two empty holes unoccupied on the board. I wondered which board.

I was wondering if the transistor was mounted on the motherboard or you opened the SMPS and saw the burnt transistor on the SMPS PCB. I would be very much surprised if this transistor was used on the mobo, and I didn't expect you to open the SMPS either. So I was a bit puzzled as to where you could have found the transistor mounted.

Everything's clear now: It was used in the SMPS and had fallen out (probably blown out) after having been burnt out from a severe short-circuit. The other two legs are probably still attached to the PCB inside the SMPS.

well then that might be the case.thanks for the reply.well what should i tell the shopkeeper tomorrow.

and i didnt expected such kind of behaviour from a vip gold smps.well what exactly could be the reason as it worked fine for five days and suddenly it went off!!

[pimpom]

Just goes to show that not even reputed manufacturers have a 100% record.

Tell them at the shop exactly what happened - that the PSU worked for five days and then burned out with a crackling sound, and that you found the burnt-out transistor inside the cabinet.