VOGONS


First post, by ransworld

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Hi everyone,

I recently bought a Compaq DeskPro 66M, and found that it is shutting off randomly—sometimes after a few minutes, sometimes after a few hours.

I opened the power supply, and found that a component at R61 had blown, and has been completely removed by a previous owner.

The attachment R61_missing_component.jpg is no longer available

Would anyone happen to know what specific component belongs at R61?

An image previously posted by user "geo75" shows what looks like a varistor(?) in a sleeve (circled in red).

The attachment Damaged_r29_1024 Large.jpeg is no longer available

Reply 1 of 2, by mkarcher

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R61 most likely is a varistor. This component is only used for dissipating overvoltage spikes on the mains input, and it degrades while doing that. If it dissipated a lot of overvoltage enery, it might start to burn (as it did in your supply). If the component is missing, the only thing you lose is resilience against overvoltage spikes. If the supply runs instable, you likely have another fault that will not be fixed by installing a new varistor at R61. Any sufficiently beefy varistor for 275VAC/400VDC can be used to restore surge protection.

Be careful: That varistor is connected directly to live and neutral of your mains line, possibly with a fuse before it. That's a dangerous area to work in, and I myself do not know what safety certifications are required on a varistor to be deemed acceptable by your local (or any other) regulations, but there likely are some requirements. You likely can get over 1000 watts of power at that location without any safety device (like a fuse or GFCI) interrupting the circuit, so if anything goes wrong, there is a fire hazard.

Reply 2 of 2, by ransworld

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That's some great info—thanks! I'll see if I can find any info on regulations.