The power cord connected at the back of the PSU melted.

[lacsonandrei]

Dear tom's hardware community

I would like to ask for advice on what should I do regarding my power supply (PSU) problem. First and foremost, the brand of my PSU is PCbang which is a Korean brand, it is a 600w PSU(those are the only informations I could get so far since everything else is written in Hangul.) I had been using the said PSU for 14 months as of writing this thread, within that period of time I went through 3 different power cords since all of them melted due to intense amount of heat produced by one of the three prongs at the back of the psu where you plug the power cord.

■ Is the PSU defective? If yes, should I buy a new one or is a repairable problem?

■ Would buying a higher quality cord fix this problem?(perhaps it will be able to tolerate higher temperature)

Thank you!

 

[zoltan.boese]

May I require a photo?

Look, what I found: https://www.power-plugs-sockets.com/south-korea/
"In South Korea the standard voltage is 220 V and the frequency is 60 Hz. You can use your electric appliances in South Korea, if the standard voltage in your country is in between 220 - 240 V (as is in the UK, Europe, Australia and most of Asia and Africa). Manufacturers take these small deviations into account. If the standard voltage in your country is in the range of 100 V - 127 V (as is in the US, Canada and most South American countries), you need a voltage converter in South Korea."
I presume the power supply is just not fitted for you electric network. Get rid of it, sell it to someone, who can make better use of it and look for another decent one.

 

[13thmonkey]

If your PSU is doing that throw it in the bin, it's a fire hazard. Electrical equipment should never ever get hot (unless designed to).

 

[13thmonkey]

May I require a photo?

Look, what I found: https://www.power-plugs-sockets.com/south-korea/
"In South Korea the standard voltage is 220 V and the frequency is 60 Hz. You can use your electric appliances in South Korea, if the standard voltage in your country is in between 220 - 240 V (as is in the UK, Europe, Australia and most of Asia and Africa). Manufacturers take these small deviations into account. If the standard voltage in your country is in the range of 100 V - 127 V (as is in the US, Canada and most South American countries), you need a voltage converter in South Korea."
I presume the power supply is just not fitted for you electric network. Get rid of it, sell it to someone, who can make better use of it and look for another decent one.

I doubt this is a voltage issue, current causes heat not voltage and if it was a 110V PSU, then you'd have 1/2 the current going through it that it was designed to take, but internal components would fail first. Any decent PSU auto senses the voltage, this is not a decent PSU.

 

[KiL3MaNjAr0W]

Never attempt to service parts on a power supply. It is a replace only part. Remove the psu and install a new one matching as @Zoltan said, the power specifications for your location.

 

[Rookie_MIB]

Anything named 'PCbang' needs to go in the garbage before indeed, it does what it's name describes.

As for the actual problem, it's entirely possible that something in the PSU plug input block (ie: the plastic molding where the power cord plugs into) is not making good contact when you connect up a cord. What this does is minimize the surface area which is transferring power, and this results in hot spots which can melt the cord through small contact patch, or internal arcing. This of course can generate heat, which is causing the plugs to melt.

Seeing as you've replaced multiple cords, I would say the problem lies in the plug of the PSU itself, and it's unlikely that you're going to be able to fix it unless you want to open the PSU and hardwire a plug end into it via soldering and heatshrink.

Obviously that's not an ideal answer. My suggestion would be to get a -good- PSU from a trusted brand (Corsair, EVGA, Seasonic etc) and replace the one you have. Reason why is simple, what you have is a potential FIRE HAZARD, and while a PSU might be expensive - so is your house, and at the very least, so is your computer which could go up in flames as well...

 

[Rogue Leader]

You're lucky you have't burned your house down.

Toss that PSU in the garbage before you do. Give us a link to a local store where you'd get a PSU (or online) and we will find one for you.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

I doubt this is a voltage issue, current causes heat not voltage and if it was a 110V PSU, then you'd have 1/2 the current going through it that it was designed to take,

A reasonably smart device like a switching power supply will double the input current when you halve the voltage, as output power remains roughly constant. It would halve the current (and quarter the power) if it was a resistive load.

@OP, it's almost certainly a loose connection on the mains input jack in the PSU. This may or may not be able to be fixed.

However, a quality control issue like this casts (extra) doubt on the quality of the rest of the PSU, the PSU has bits inside that can kill you, and a new PSU will be cheaper than the labour to get anyone qualified to look at it.

Replace the PSU.