^ ah, well it was worth the shot to ask..
Already ordered 2 brand new silent fans for the psus, the originals are too noisy after all these years. The heroichi one was unbearable, lubrication wouldn't fix that high-rpm fan. Sometimes I wonder how we copped with that noise back then 🤣 🤣 🤣

well, finding proper 680uf/200v caps seems impossible so what do you guys think of these? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231360856475?_trksi … K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
2003 panasonic caps, yay or nay?
😁

edit:

I also submit for your approval/disapproval this 200W Heroichi PSU:

worth recaping? should be fine for a ss7 built right? it was found in a K6-II/450 setup in some baby-at ATX case

keropi wrote:

what do you guys think of these? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231360856475?_trksi … K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT 2003 panasonic caps, yay or nay?

I think this was fair warning:

wave wrote:

Never buy caps from eBay. Most of the time they are horrible fakes

keropi wrote:

... 200W Heroichi PSU ...

From a distance might be passably decent for a low power retrocomp, but beware of all those Pce-Tur caps, not to be trusted.

Can't see their markings, are the main switchers 13007's perhaps?

Interestingly a Topswitch TOP221Y seems to be in charge of +5VSB.

The +3.3V rectifier is a 15A S15D40 or S15D45, should be enough for a SS7.

Glue occludes the +5V rectifier rating, at least it's a beefy TO-247. If the label doesn't lie it should be a 20A at least, again enough for a SS7.

I can just see two PI coils beneath the 2 small caps (-12V & -5V) at the corner. Glue and wires obstruct vision on the secondary area, there should be one PI coil each for +3.3V (orange), +12V (yellow) and +5V (red). If not, bad business, ripple on the main rails may be high.

so there is noone to be trusted on eBay for caps? not even EU-based stores? This is a German store btw , I thought we were talking about Chinese/HK sellers
I did find 680uf caps locally but they are LeLon , didn't bother with them 🤣
I'll have my brother in Germany order me these, they should be fine, right? NICHICON LGU2E681MELA

at any rate, back to the 200w psu:

by PI coils you mean these insulated buggers on in the pink circles, right? there's only 3 of them I'm afraid...

So since there are 3 missing coils there is no real need to report on the other rectifiers, the psu isn't that great apparently...
Thanks TELVM (again²) for yet another analysis 😀

This Herolchi platform is decent. I have seen the 250W version and the 300W version before and although those units are old (2000-2003 era) they are still functioning. All they need is a full recap and maybe some mods.

This psu has no 2 transistor 5vsb circuit, meaning it is safe from overvolting the motherboard. It may not have a pi coil in every output rail but take into account that it has 3 caps for +5V filtering!!!

If I were you I would replace the primary caps with 2x560uF or 470uF and that would make it a 250W unit. The transformer is ERL 35 size, it could output 350W without sweating!

What are the 2 main switching transistors?

The 2 primary caps don't need to be Japanese. Those caps are not stressed at all and they rarely fail, EXCEPT when the psu is ACTIVE pfc. The Lelon caps would be fine in primary section. Better than possibly fake caps from ebay at least.

See ya!

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=37498

In this thread I present some psus from the early 00s. One of them is Herolchi 250W (same platform as yours) that I turned into a 300W unit after replacing the primaries with bigger ones and doing some other minor changes in the values of the output caps. Btw, I sold that psu for 27euros and it is powering a Pentium 4 3GHZ Prescott office computer without any problem 😀

keropi wrote:

by PI coils you mean these insulated buggers on in the pink circles, right? there's only 3 of them I'm afraid...

Right. I sleep better when I know there is a PI coil (inductor) present for every rail.

16v capacitor on a 12v rail? Somebody likes premature magic smoke. 😁

hmmm... I'll check the 200W psu tomorrow and I'll try to make out what the transistors/rectifiers are , maybe even document the caps on it for better judgement or something... getting 470uf chemicons for it is no problem as long as it worths it. I don't really like the lack of coils TELVM mentioned tbh...

I also took into consideration the ESR stuff TELVM explained some posts ago, do you guys think I should replace the 470/1000/2200/3300uf caps with LXY/LXZ/LXV/KY/KZE series ones? Just to be on the safer side of things 😊

..it could also be the case that I am overthinking stuff, all these pcs were working just fine with crappy caps , it's not like I plan to power some demanding modern pcs with these psus 🤣

Don't get crazy with all this!

Macron Power MPT-301 is a favorite psu among the members of the forum I posted a link before. It lacks pi coils in 2 of the 3 main outputs, but still outputs very low ripple, and its voltages are stable as a rock. There is a review of that psu in Hardware Insights, you can see yourself if you like.

Why don't you use 470uF caps from othes power supply? I have decades of 470uF primary caps, if you lived in Thessaloniki I would give you some, as I have no use for them.

^ well, if I am to use old caps then I do have the 470uf/200v Panasonic ones from the Seasonic PSU, so I am set for the moment... thanks for the offer though, appreciate it! 😊

just finished documenting the components on the 200W PSU, also put the capacitor values in the format uF/volts

The following is 95% correct but you should check yourself just to be sure:

+5vsb:
330uF 10V
220uF 16V
Those can be replaced with either 2x1000uF
or 2x470uF
or 1x1000uF & 1x 470uF

-5V:
1x220uF 16V
-12V:
1x220uF 16V
Those values can stay unchanged.

All the 1000uF 16V should be upgraded to 2200uF
The 2200uF caps should be recapped with the same value caps except the +12V capacitor. This cap can be upgraded to 3300uF (recommended, not necessary)

The 2 main switching transistors are C4106:
http://www.alphacron.de/download/hardware/2SC4106.pdf
7A continuous is on the weak side. I would say this psu will be able to output 230W if the primaries are replaced with 470uF.

I was expecting there 13007 transistors that are capable of 8A continuous ( 250W, 300W peak) but it still would be fine for an old Pentium 2 / 3 computer.

thanks for the info wave 😀
hmmm , tbh I don't think I'm gonna bother with it... there is no room to replace 1000->2200uf , there is no room to put a 3300uf one , there is a lack of coils, the main switching transistors are not that beefy... you get the idea 🤣
I have 2-3 more psus to check , if I see anything interesting I'll post it here for approval 😁

Well, it's a lot of work to do to get 250w if you are lucky.. You are right. At least don't toss it 😀

This enlightening article empirically demonstrates how junk capacitors like the dreaded Fukkyyus inexorably murder hardware, and how a recap with decent stuff restores PSU health.

Tom's Hardware - PSU Repair: A Case Study

"... With only the old 680µF Fuhjyyu caps, the 5VSB output settles around 5V, is horribly noisy and shows horrible power-up tran […]
Show full quote

"... With only the old 680µF Fuhjyyu caps, the 5VSB output settles around 5V, is horribly noisy and shows horrible power-up transients peaking at up to 16V (clearly no good for capacitors rated only for 10V) ..."

"... I measured the old 5VSB Teapo SC capacitors after removing them. The rear one, nearest to the heat sink and flyback transformer, read 34µF instead of the expected 680µF ..."

"... When I measured that (Fukkyyu) 47µF cap, it read 112pF. Yes, that's picofarads, five orders of magnitude off ... ... Dead caps don't come much deader than that." 🤣 🤣 🤣

"... (the Fukkyyus) All but one were at least an order of magnitude off on capacitance. That “good” one came out dead on ESR at 90Ω. No survivors ..."

"... When all of the capacitors on a flyback power supply's outputs have failed, there is little left standing in the way of flyback operation generating high voltage spikes and destroying components ..."

This fine topic has sparked the electronic technician in me (which I actually choose on my high school's technical program and studied for 2 years - a bit too little but nice for a quick view on most areas). Since I have loads of old computers parts lying around I'll need to do some repairs on them soon or later (there are three mobos that have puffed caps already and I want to fix them).

I don't have a capable multimeter. What would be a good choice for all-around testing of PSUs, mobos and cards? Also, where can I get some reliable caps (on the internet)? Where I live most of electric/electronic parts I can find are of bad/terrible quality.

For starters a common, unexpensive multimeter measuring at least voltage (DC & AC), resistance and continuity will do for PC tinkering.

An ESR/capacitance meter is useful to check capacitors.

Don't know where you reside, these are reliable cap sources in western Europe:

http://www.farnell.com/

http://www.digikey.com/us/en/international/europe.html

http://www.rs-components.com/index.html

just finished the AT psu since I received today the small 0.68uF capacitors (panasonic ones)

Installed a fan header for easy change (taken from a fan adapter) and forced the fan to be more silent with a 2W 68ohm resistor. Left it memtesting ~8hrs in a p166mmx setup, no part of the PSU was even close to hot, no buzzing, coil noises, high pitched sounds. I think this one is done now 😀

Fantastic! Awesome work.