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Darn China capacitors

E.TE.T Quote-o-matic
Yesterday Creative Gigaworks S750 gave pop and went dead about minute after being turned on.
It didn't have blown fuse like apparently many people from UK had it do... In any case that 3,15A glass tube fuse is probably slower than 10A normal house fuse but neither did that go.
Turning power switch doesn't give any standby power to control "console" but only "blinking" power LED in back of subwoofer unit.

Already opening subwoofer unit just for few centimeters showed one good hint of failure reason: Bulging CapXons in primary side.
And there's one unknown small cap in shrink wrap which looks like it might have shot some flames/sparks from bottom.
Besides Capxons they've thrown also at least one tiny Su'scon to power supply board for good measure and amplifier/control electronics PCBs have such "quality" caps as Jun Fus.
I guess they run out of Fuhjyyus because of lack of those.
PCB material itself is of very good quality and so is soldering quality but then someone went cheap.

When selecting PSU for any kind performance computer and wanting reliability you should stay away from PSUs with any cheap caps.
Especially CrapXon (typoed CapXon), POSt (typoed OST) and El Cheapo (typo Teapo) are holy trinity of crap caps in cheap PSUs and sure sign that PSU isn't intended to last. (FSP/Sparkle is especially fond of that shit)
Actually even though review gives glowing results and PSU was properly tortured.... err (ab)used those don't mean anything sure for longer term performance if there are other than Japanese caps in it.

Comments

  • C_MonC_Mon A Genuine Sucker
    all i can say is, you have my condolences .
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    This has come up several times in our discussions before. Cheap caps are never a good deal.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    When I bought a new PSU a few months ago, one of the main selling points on its website was Japanese caps (granted, this is Japan, but even so). I probably would have bought that PSU anyway, but it was nice to know the caps were less likely to be crap.
  • E.TE.T Quote-o-matic
    Here are those [url=http://koti.mbnet.fi/tuunaes/GigaworksS750/PC010876.JPG]primary CrapXons[/url], just look at that print on top of the rightmost cap...
    Rest of board is [url=http://koti.mbnet.fi/tuunaes/GigaworksS750/PC010877.JPG]this kind[/url], take a note of extreme left edge next to smaller transformer.
    I mean [url=http://koti.mbnet.fi/tuunaes/GigaworksS750/PC010880.JPG]this[/url]... power supply's second Suck'scon hiding inside that shrink wrap.

    Rest of "facility" looking like [url=http://koti.mbnet.fi/tuunaes/GigaworksS750/PC010882.JPG]this[/url] with power supply board belonging attached to between that metal plate in front and amplifiers.


    [QUOTE=Biggles;190611]When I bought a new PSU a few months ago, one of the main selling points on its website was Japanese caps[/QUOTE]
    Never trust advertising blindly.
    There might be only couple Japanese caps (typically in primary) and then rest are usual crap.

    This is good page to search reviews with inside pics.
    [url]http://www.techpowerup.com/reviewdb/[/url]
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    My second monitor started to fail a while ago. Knowing about the Great Capacitor Plague I took it apart to check the caps. The three 820 uF were blown. After reading this thread I checked the brand on them. CapXons.
  • E.TE.T Quote-o-matic
    Was that monitor Samsung?
    They've used CrapXons in their very popular 226BW TN craps.


    My two years old LG W2600HP-BF IPS has Sam Young NXBs everywhere in power supply (Sam Whas in logic board) what I checked them and took their values and measurements fair month ago.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    [QUOTE=E.T;190614]Never trust advertising blindly.
    There might be only couple Japanese caps (typically in primary) and then rest are usual crap.[/url][/QUOTE]

    Because being done by the government for false advertising is fun!
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    It is a samsung :P I got 3 brand spanking new caps ready to put in. Just need to head home to use Dad's saudering kit!
  • E.TE.T Quote-o-matic
    [QUOTE=croxis;190628]It is a samsung :P I got 3 brand spanking new caps ready to put in.[/QUOTE]Do you really believe that those other CrapXons are going to last too well?
    Monitors are such pain in the neck to open that better do full recapping because replacing few extra capacitors don't take much any time.

    And better make sure those are low-ESR caps you're putting in there.
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    Well, mine died a couple weeks ago (Samsung 225BW). After finally getting around to ripping it open last weekend, yep, five bulging crapxons: 3 330µF and 2 820µF caps. Took a look at a couple forum posts at [URL="http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?p=92408"]badcaps[/URL] to get some digikey part numbers for low ESR caps for samsung monitors, and ordered up replacements for the five bulging caps and the 47µF cap that was also known to fail.

    Shipping was fast (ordered Saturday, they shipped first business day afterwards, Monday, and arrived today, Wednesday)!

    Soldiered them up and the monitor is as good as new (except for the one screw I misplaced of the 3 that keep you from popping the back off). Now my 5 monitors are are all arrayed again!

    For those not exposed to my monitor setup, the one that failed is the top monitor in the following photos taken last fall:

    [URL]http://www.vorklift.com/temp_private/IMG_3158.JPG[/URL]
    [URL]http://www.vorklift.com/temp_private/IMG_3159.JPG[/URL]

    And yes, that is a Dell 3008WFP below it :D - and in case you are wondering, the structure behind it supporting the two arms I designed and built. Still a couple parts on it that need painting.

    Oh well, $7 for caps and shipping means I no longer have an excuse to get a $500 24" IPS panel :D
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    Reminds me, I need to purchase some good caps for a geForce vid card to get it up and running again, that and a surface mount 7805 regulator.

    [QUOTE=croxis;190628]It is a samsung :P I got 3 brand spanking new caps ready to put in. Just need to head home to use Dad's saudering kit![/QUOTE]

    That's better than a Soldiering Iron... :p

    ;)
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    [QUOTE=E.T;190602]I guess they run out of Fuhjyyus because of lack of those.[/QUOTE]

    Obvious statement was obvious. :D Nicely executed though. ;)

    DELL once sold a series of desktops with low end caps and had to replace many mobos on warranty for quite a few months. They fixed this problem since, but it took probably some legal action for them to admit that there even was a problem with "swollen" capacitors.
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    [QUOTE=Stingray;192765]DELL once sold a series of desktops with low end caps and had to replace many mobos on warranty for quite a few months. They fixed this problem since, but it took probably some legal action for them to admit that there even was a problem with "swollen" capacitors.[/QUOTE]

    In the late 90's while at Sierra, we were buying new Dell computers. There was one particular series where the Power Supplies were blowing within the first 90 days of use, heck we even had one blow within 2 hours of seting it up and running it.

    The caps of course. :p
  • ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie." London, UK
    We have Dell's at work, and they're the sorriest pieces of crap I've ever had the misfortune to use!
  • Vertigo1Vertigo1 Official Fuzzy Dice of FirstOnes.com
    [QUOTE=JackN;192768]In the late 90's while at Sierra, we were buying new Dell computers. There was one particular series where the Power Supplies were blowing within the first 90 days of use, heck we even had one blow within 2 hours of seting it up and running it.

    The caps of course. :p[/QUOTE]
    If that's the series I'm thinking of, they also had a really poor heatsink retention method. You could literally whack the top of the case (just enough to make a loud bang, not enough to dent it), and the heatsink would fall right off. I would not have believed it, had I not seen it happen with my own eyes.
  • A2597A2597 Fanboy
    speaking of blown Chinese capacitors...

    [url]http://gigaom.com/apple/explosion-reported-at-foxconn-ipad-production-plant/[/url]
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