PSU is melting?
- Thread starter bulatla96
- Start date
bigpinkdragon286
Splendid
- Oct 3, 2012
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Not a clear enough picture, but my first guess is glue. Those are heavy capacitors, and the manufacturer may have spent a little extra to make sure the capacitors didn't get damaged in transit.
- May 18, 2007
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Electrolyte is typically brownish, not red. The red dots on top of the capacitors are most likely red marker. The red stuff at the capacitors' base is more likely some sort of caulking/glue/cement to help the capacitor pins survive vibrations.
That PSU is missing all EMI input filtering and uses discrete diodes for its input bridge, which means it is a very old low-cost design not really suitable for modern PCs. I'd recommend replacing it with a better quality modern PSU.
Firstly if you don't know what you are looking at do not take power supplies apart, there can be potentially fatal voltages in there even after they have been unplugged for a while and you won't know how to fix it anyway.
Secondly, whether or not those capacitors are leaking or it's glue that looks like a very old cheaply made power supply.
Fixing PCs at home with no spare parts is difficult, because the easiest/best way to know if the power supply is your problem is to try a different one. For you to do that you have to buy one, and if it doesn't work you've wasted your money. That's why I don't like to make definitive statements because it's your money not mine. I'd personally suggest if the PC is any good take it to a professional, if it's an older machine with not much value it may be easier just to replace it.
Secondly, whether or not those capacitors are leaking or it's glue that looks like a very old cheaply made power supply.
Fixing PCs at home with no spare parts is difficult, because the easiest/best way to know if the power supply is your problem is to try a different one. For you to do that you have to buy one, and if it doesn't work you've wasted your money. That's why I don't like to make definitive statements because it's your money not mine. I'd personally suggest if the PC is any good take it to a professional, if it's an older machine with not much value it may be easier just to replace it.
- Dec 26, 2012
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That's glue. It'd be astronomically impossible odds for both caps to leak such evenly applied electrolyte and not be visible dripping down the side of the cap like a wax candle, and not be overflowing the edges of the pcb. You can see the hot-glue behind the one cap, that's used as a brace/holder for when the cap is soldered to the board. The red glue has only 1 purpose, tamper resistance.
https://youtu.be/f6snWfd1v7M
Consider your psu is the same quality as any of these shown, it's just a matter of time. Whether or not it takes out your gpu/mobo/ram/ssd/hdd is pot-luck guess, buy a lottery ticket.
https://youtu.be/f6snWfd1v7M
Consider your psu is the same quality as any of these shown, it's just a matter of time. Whether or not it takes out your gpu/mobo/ram/ssd/hdd is pot-luck guess, buy a lottery ticket.
- Dec 26, 2012
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Hah, yeah, there's no cpu cooler fan, good catch, but considering how clean the inside looks, it's probable Op removed the fan for cleaning, and hadn't reinstalled it yet, too busy freaking out over the red stuff inside the psu.
Almost nobody opens a psu to clean the fan, it'll do a few things like totally void any possible warranty, doesn't do much that a can of compressed air or a vacuum can't do and exposes the cleaning person to potentially lethal amperage (voltage doesn't do much but hurt, anything over 0.5A can stop a heart)
Almost nobody opens a psu to clean the fan, it'll do a few things like totally void any possible warranty, doesn't do much that a can of compressed air or a vacuum can't do and exposes the cleaning person to potentially lethal amperage (voltage doesn't do much but hurt, anything over 0.5A can stop a heart)
- May 18, 2007
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Not tamper-resistance, vibration resistance. The Supreme court has ruled that 'warranty void' stickers are invalid. Companies can't deny a repair for removing tamper-evident elements from their products, they can only deny warranty repair if prior repair/inspection messed the device worse than the original fault you opened it for already had. (Of course, expect companies to fight any such cases. People with sufficient money, will and knowledge to follow through in a court battle should ultimately prevail.)
One leading cause of correctly spec'd capacitor failure is vibrations breaking the leads' welds to the capacitor internal aluminum foil due to mechanical stress and vibrations. Silastic and similar compounds are used to tie large components together so they can't rock about the board as much during shipping and handling, making them that much less likely to break their leads, internal welds and solder joints.
- May 18, 2007
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Capacitors can age and fail without showing visible signs of it - as I wrote earlier, vibrations for example can cause solder joints to crack, leads to break and welds within capacitors to fail. Also, the bung that seals electrolytic capacitors is slightly permeable to water and gasses so their internal pressure can equalize over time in normal operation without blowing the vent, which means that capacitors can dry out without any apparent damage.
Computers randomly restarting is a common symptom of dying caps, mainly on the output side where the excess noise causes devices to trigger a reset due to bad power or internal error from excessive supply noise.
@Karadjgne I'll stick with my lethal voltage comment. While it is true that it's current flow that kills you a car battery can output 100s of amps but you can hang onto it all day with your fingers and nothing happens because it's low volts- you need voltage to break down the resistance of your skin in order to cause current to flow. Seen those movies where they torture people with a car battery and wet sponges? total rubbish.
So it's the Voltage that causes the current to flow - you can't have one without the other. Of course if you wan't to insert electrodes through your skin and directly into your heart, sure even a low voltage source can kill you with a tiny current flow under .5A or whatever. In the real world with our fingers though it's voltage that is dangerous.
Sorry for the RANT, I see that comment in various forms a lot and it's misleading. Gives you the impression that high voltage is not what's dangerous when it totally is.
So it's the Voltage that causes the current to flow - you can't have one without the other. Of course if you wan't to insert electrodes through your skin and directly into your heart, sure even a low voltage source can kill you with a tiny current flow under .5A or whatever. In the real world with our fingers though it's voltage that is dangerous.
Sorry for the RANT, I see that comment in various forms a lot and it's misleading. Gives you the impression that high voltage is not what's dangerous when it totally is.
- May 18, 2007
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Voltage on its own is a non-issue: static shocks can be tens or even hundreds of kV, yet all you get is a painful but otherwise harmless zap. That voltage source needs to be able to source sufficient current at a low enough frequency to penetrate tissue. The static zap might produce a current peak in the kA range but the discharge is so fast that most of the energy is at frequencies which can barely penetrate skin, so all you get is a small charred spot.
I've been zapped by voltage multiplier circuits at 5-30kV many times. Definitely (very) painful, but otherwise harmless since these have less than 10nF worth of net output capacitance. (Well, harmless as long as you don't over-react to the pain and punch someone who happened to walk behind you in the face, slam your hand into a shelf, have your hand snag on stuff on the bench and pull everything to the floor, etc.)
SkyBill40
Distinguished
- Oct 11, 2013
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Ring.. ZZZZING!
Yeah. Been there. I also used to work in a couple casinos in Las Vegas and part of what I did was some light servicing on slot machines. I've been zapped with 120v a couple of times and it definitely got my attention.
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