Power supply suddenly sparked then died

[Jimmy Martin]

I had a Colorsit 500W PS powering a P4P800E-Deluxe with maximum hard drives
installed plugged into an APC BackUp XS 1000 uninteruptable power
supply.Only the computer was connected to the UPS. One day the computer shut
off and sparks were flying out the back of the PS. I could later see some
burnt components inside the PS..
Could the APC XS 1000 have caused this to happen or does it sound like the
PS just blew up on it's own?

The Powerchute software for the APC says 'Your battery backup is currently
providing 240 watts of power' even when I have full line power available.
Battery capacity is 100%. Estimated battery time:21min. Power Source:AC
Utility. The 21 min stays the same.

Does this sound right? I would think that as long as I have full line
voltage, the battery wouldn't be proving any power. Only if I lost power
would the battery kick in. But the battery on the UPS seems to be running
constantly.

Jimbo

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

I had a Colorsit 500W PS powering a P4P800E-Deluxe with maximum hard drives
installed plugged into an APC BackUp XS 1000 uninteruptable power
supply.Only the computer was connected to the UPS. One day the computer
shut off and sparks were flying out the back of the PS. I could later see
some burnt components inside the PS..
Could the APC XS 1000 have caused this to happen or does it sound like the
PS just blew up on it's own?

The Powerchute software for the APC says 'Your battery backup is currently
providing 240 watts of power' even when I have full line power available.
Battery capacity is 100%. Estimated battery time:21min. Power Source:AC
Utility. The 21 min stays the same.

Does this sound right? I would think that as long as I have full line
voltage, the battery wouldn't be proving any power. Only if I lost power
would the battery kick in. But the battery on the UPS seems to be running
constantly.

Jimbo

Chalk this one up to a valuable lesson learned....don't scrimp when it comes
to the power supply. The cheapie power supplies are not worth the
cardboard they come in. It is possible that the power supply caused damage
to the UPS.

Replace both the Power Supply and UPS with reputable known quality products.
The power supply is a critical component, and it should be illegal the way
some people will spare no expense on motherboard, CPU and memory and then
but the cheapest POS power supply they can find...

Bobby

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

I had a Colorsit 500W PS powering a P4P800E-Deluxe with maximum hard drives
installed plugged into an APC BackUp XS 1000 uninteruptable power
supply.Only the computer was connected to the UPS. One day the computer shut
off and sparks were flying out the back of the PS. I could later see some
burnt components inside the PS..
Could the APC XS 1000 have caused this to happen or does it sound like the
PS just blew up on it's own?

The Powerchute software for the APC says 'Your battery backup is currently
providing 240 watts of power' even when I have full line power available.
Battery capacity is 100%. Estimated battery time:21min. Power Source:AC
Utility. The 21 min stays the same.

Does this sound right? I would think that as long as I have full line
voltage, the battery wouldn't be proving any power. Only if I lost power
would the battery kick in. But the battery on the UPS seems to be running
constantly.

If you look at the status it should show that the electrical power is
being supplied by AC Utility Power if it is working correctly. It will
still show that it is providing x watts of power, but I think that is
only the amount currently being used by the connected devices.

 

[Tim]

APC is a reputable known product.
The PSU is not known to be reputable and that seems like the sole source of
problems.
- Tim

 

[Paul]

I had a Colorsit 500W PS powering a P4P800E-Deluxe with maximum hard drives
installed plugged into an APC BackUp XS 1000 uninteruptable power
supply.Only the computer was connected to the UPS. One day the computer shut
off and sparks were flying out the back of the PS. I could later see some
burnt components inside the PS..
Could the APC XS 1000 have caused this to happen or does it sound like the
PS just blew up on it's own?

The Powerchute software for the APC says 'Your battery backup is currently
providing 240 watts of power' even when I have full line power available.
Battery capacity is 100%. Estimated battery time:21min. Power Source:AC
Utility. The 21 min stays the same.

Does this sound right? I would think that as long as I have full line
voltage, the battery wouldn't be proving any power. Only if I lost power
would the battery kick in. But the battery on the UPS seems to be running
constantly.

Jimbo

It is likely to be the fault of the PSU. I looked at a picture of
the label on the side of a couple of Atrix Colorsit power supplies
listed on Newegg, and one of them was only 12V@15A. That is the
minimum current you want on +12V, and that particular supply
had a rating of 5V @ 50A (kinda unbelievable). Such a supply
might be more suited to running an A7N8X motherboard, which
draws most power from +5V. The P4 boards use more +12V, and
so a bit more current there would be useful.

I trust you won't be buying another one of these :-(

The components in a PC are too expensive to trust to a cheap PSU.

Paul

 

[DaveW]

That off-brand PSU failed on it's own, in all likelihood.

 

[Jimmy Martin]

I had a Colorsit 500W PS powering a P4P800E-Deluxe with maximum hard drives
installed plugged into an APC BackUp XS 1000 uninteruptable power
supply.Only the computer was connected to the UPS. One day the computer
shut off and sparks were flying out the back of the PS. I could later see
some burnt components inside the PS..
Could the APC XS 1000 have caused this to happen or does it sound like the
PS just blew up on it's own?

The Powerchute software for the APC says 'Your battery backup is currently
providing 240 watts of power' even when I have full line power available.
Battery capacity is 100%. Estimated battery time:21min. Power Source:AC
Utility. The 21 min stays the same.

Does this sound right? I would think that as long as I have full line
voltage, the battery wouldn't be proving any power. Only if I lost power
would the battery kick in. But the battery on the UPS seems to be running
constantly.

Jimbo

Could someone give a recomendation on a decent 500W PS that isn't cheaply
built? Even if a ps is expensive I could still get a dud if I don't know
what has worked well and lasted a long time.

Thanks.

Jimbo

 

[daytripper]

Anything is possible, of course, but most likely is the supply simply went to
Heaven.

Sounds right to me. I'd expect the UPS always generates AC from its battery -
which in turn is always being charged while the mains are available. No need
for switches in the DC path. It probably always reports the current output as
being "from your battery backup" - *unit* - regardless of the state of the
mains...

/daytripper

 

[KC Computers]

I had a Colorsit 500W PS powering a P4P800E-Deluxe with maximum hard

Could someone give a recomendation on a decent 500W PS that isn't cheaply
built? Even if a ps is expensive I could still get a dud if I don't know
what has worked well and lasted a long time.

We are a custom PC dealer and have great success with Antec power
supplies.

 

[Greysky]

Chalk this one up to a valuable lesson learned....don't scrimp when it
comes to the power supply. The cheapie power supplies are not worth the
cardboard they come in.

Yes. Neither are they worth the cardboard they are made out of...

It is possible that the power supply caused damage to the UPS.

Count yourself lucky nothing else was destroyed... A few years back, before
I knew better, I was running a el cheapo power supply which died a violent
death. I smelled the acrid smell of burning components, and tried turning
off the computer- nothing happened. The machine stayed on, and I could see
the nightmarish sight of real fire from inside the case. This power supply
was so cheap it didn't even have a power switch on the back. My computer
was plugged into a UPS, and in my panic I unplugged it from the wall - of
course it didn't help. Now the UPS started beeping, and still, my PC was on
fire sitting right on my desk. There was no sogging way to turn it off. I
had to reach behind the machine which was burning hot, to try to pull the
power plug out. That was when there was a loud bang from inside the case,
and I recieved a tremendous electrical shock. Then the UPS died, and with a
numb hand, I managed to yank all the wires out the back, carry the dead
machine out to the swimming pool in the back yard, and throw it in. But it
still wasn't done with me. Smoke pouring out from the case set off the fire
alarm which was wired up to the monitoring agency - so I had 15 seconds to
run through the house with a computer on fire and toss it into the pool and
then answer the phone from the alarm agency telling them not to call the
police/ fire departmant. I managed to get that all done and later I found
the thing had also busted a pool tile on the way down.... sigh.

Replace both the Power Supply and UPS with reputable known quality
products. The power supply is a critical component, and it should be
illegal the way some people will spare no expense on motherboard, CPU and
memory and then but the cheapest POS power supply they can find...

Yep. I have a new machine sitting on my desk now, with a Antec adjustable
power supply running the show, which unlike that cheap Chinese piece of crap
referred to above, I have no problems with. Just in case, I also have easily
removable cables and at least three ways to totally cut power

 

[signmeuptoo]

I had a Colorsit 500W PS powering a P4P800E-Deluxe with maximum hard drives
installed plugged into an APC BackUp XS 1000 uninteruptable power
supply.Only the computer was connected to the UPS. One day the computer shut
off and sparks were flying out the back of the PS. I could later see some
burnt components inside the PS..
Could the APC XS 1000 have caused this to happen or does it sound like the
PS just blew up on it's own?

The Powerchute software for the APC says 'Your battery backup is currently
providing 240 watts of power' even when I have full line power available.
Battery capacity is 100%. Estimated battery time:21min. Power Source:AC
Utility. The 21 min stays the same.

Does this sound right? I would think that as long as I have full line
voltage, the battery wouldn't be proving any power. Only if I lost power
would the battery kick in. But the battery on the UPS seems to be running
constantly.

Jimbo

Best brand over all? PC Power and Cooling, with Enermax a near second.
Then Antec, OCZ, Silverstone, Sparkle, Thermaltake, Delta (?),
Coolermaster, Vantec(?) are some fine brands. If you can't find a choice
from that list you aren't looking very hard. Happy hunting.

Focus on something with at least support for 18 Amps on at least one of the
+12V rails (if there are more than one), 420Watt, 480 better, overvolt,
overcurrent, overtemp, overload, undervolt, Active PFC, Low Ripple/noise
current, good hold time, autofan, fan run-after shut down, Dual or triple
fans, are some of the things to look for in a power supply.

 

[Paul]

Best brand over all? PC Power and Cooling, with Enermax a near second.
Then Antec, OCZ, Silverstone, Sparkle, Thermaltake, Delta (?),
Coolermaster, Vantec(?) are some fine brands. If you can't find a choice
from that list you aren't looking very hard. Happy hunting.

Focus on something with at least support for 18 Amps on at least one of the
+12V rails (if there are more than one), 420Watt, 480 better, overvolt,
overcurrent, overtemp, overload, undervolt, Active PFC, Low Ripple/noise
current, good hold time, autofan, fan run-after shut down, Dual or triple
fans, are some of the things to look for in a power supply.

This thread provides a list of companies to avoid. I get
a chuckle every time I look at it. Some people become
positively rabid when it comes to their (cheap) supply:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=56231

Paul

 

[milleron]

Best brand over all? PC Power and Cooling, with Enermax a near second.
Then Antec, OCZ, Silverstone, Sparkle, Thermaltake, Delta (?),
Coolermaster, Vantec(?) are some fine brands. If you can't find a choice
from that list you aren't looking very hard. Happy hunting.

Agreed that PC Power and Cooling units are clearly tops, but the
greater-than-100% price premium seems to make choosing one out of the
question as far as I'm concerned. I'm getting an extremely good Antec
TruePower II 550-watt PSU for about $103 compared to the comparable
PCP&C unit that would cost $230 for similar connectors (24-pin,
multiple PCI-E, SATA , etc.) and ratings. The PCP&C unit has tighter
voltage tolerances and a little higher efficiency. I'll get one if I
have ANY problem with the Antec unit, but, based on my experience with
Antec in the past, I really don't expect any. All things considered,
I think that the sweet spot is with the Antec TruePower II series.

Focus on something with at least support for 18 Amps on at least one of the
+12V rails (if there are more than one), 420Watt, 480 better, overvolt,
overcurrent, overtemp, overload, undervolt, Active PFC, Low Ripple/noise
current, good hold time, autofan, fan run-after shut down, Dual or triple
fans, are some of the things to look for in a power supply.

DECIBEL rating is the other. Almost everyone building his own PC
needs to be concerned about NOISE. Some of the best PSUs today do
quite well with single fans that don't even run at all until the
operating temperature exceeds a certain (user selectable) level.



Ron

 

[milleron]

This thread provides a list of companies to avoid. I get
a chuckle every time I look at it. Some people become
positively rabid when it comes to their (cheap) supply:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=56231

Paul

Oh, man! Nice reference! It's more comprehensive than any articles
we've seen at places like Tom's or similar sites, so I'll forego
listing those links. I've bookmarked this one. Thanks.
Ron