PSU Fan Dieing

[Gargamel]

So what do i do. I dont think i still have a warrenty on it, does this mean Bad psu or bad fan. I was thinking I might rip the fan out and strip one from an old psu and wire it up, put it back together and see what happens.

[bjoci]

I'd do the same thing.

[mpilchfamily]

Fan replacement is pretty simple.

[CaligulaPwns]

Just be careful inside that thing. Those caps can hold a charge a while after its unplugged. I did that with an old Sunbeam PSU just got a 80mm x 20mm fan and plugged it into the 3 pin header.

[mpilchfamily]

You shouldn't have to remove the PCB form the case so you won't have the underside exsposed. The Caps shouldn't be an issue.

[CaligulaPwns]

Maybe I have my terminology wrong. The big black thing in the upper left hand corner of the image below. Fan headers are on the top part of the PCB like all the other internals.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/b...es/inside4.jpg

Additional Comment:

Or the 2 yellow things in the Ultra psu link below.

http://www.slcentral.com/ultra-x-con...ideXU500-2.jpg

Additional Comment:

More support...

http://www.techimo.com/forum/general...er-supply.html

http://www.hardforum.com/archive/ind.../t-773383.html

[Gargamel]

Do you guys know of a way to ground the psu or at least the caps so that the charge is gone b4 i start touching stuff? Maybe ill just give it a day unplugged and see what happens, cant be any worse than getting shocked by an outlet right?

[slash_2_2000]

Erm, yes it can. The entire concept of a capacitor is that it stores charge. You could get a very dangerous shock from a PSU. Still, I've pulled apart dozens to replace fans. It's not hard and not exactly dangerous presuming you're not sticking your tongue into the wiring.

[davidhammock200]

650W Ultra PSU

Lifetime warranty, contact Ultra.

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by davidhammock200

Lifetime warranty, contact Ultra.

ya, but i duno if i still have the invoice laying around

[davidhammock200]

Originally Posted by Gargamel

ya, but i duno if i still have the invoice laying around

Call the SOB's, they are trying to rebuild their image after shipping a bunch of POS PSU's (which were only good for about 400W's) but labeled as 550W PSU's & then had 750W labels placed over the 550W labels, so right now they are being extra nice, especially if you tell them you know about their most recent problems.

Given the total lack of Ultra quality on "most" of their PSU's if they won't make it right, just replace the POS.

Good Luck,
Dave

[Nagoshi]

You dont need to ground the whole thing and empty all the caps before changing the fan. Just pop the cover out, cut the fan wires, remove the fan, put new fan, solder wires together, voila. You shouldn't need to touch anything in there.

But yeah, if Ultra has a lifetime warranty, try to use it. If they don't want for x reason, replace the fan ^^

[CaligulaPwns]

Some PSU's have headers for the fan...I know my Sunbeam did.

[Nagoshi]

Heh, a couple of years ago the PSU fan died in my old P3. It was around 4-5 years ago - smelled like burned stuff, my father was sure the comp was taking fire... hopefully that cheap PSU only warmed up and shut down automatically

Guess who replaced the fan? Me, at around 15 years old. With my electrician father barely looking.

You jsut have to cut the fan wires and solder your new fan to them. You dont need to take out the PCB or put your hands in there.

[davidhammock200]

Do not open any PSU, unless you truly know what you are doing & let's be honest , if you truly "knew" you wouldn't be here asking for advice on changing a fan.

Serious injury & even death are truly possible, for the very foolish!

If Ultra will honor its "Lifetime Warranty" & I believe they will if you push hard enough, you will get a new PSU, that is probably better than what you have, but if not, is it really worth the risk to replace the fan on a sub-standard POS PSU?

Always Build with the Best (& that does not include your Ultra PSU)!
Dave

[eligray]

David, I'm just wondering how a PSU could cause serious harm to you. AFAIK the highest voltage caps that there could possibly be would be 120v. At 120v, you'd need to be in a bathtub or something in order to reach 40 amps or whatever the magic number is that ****s up you heart. Just wondering. I know you could get an unpleasent jolt though.

That said, play it safe. I opened up an old PSU yesterday, but just discharged capacitors before touching stuff. If you don't know, don't try

EDIT: scariest moment was ****ing around with caps later, by charging off of my 12v rail. Nice spark when starting to charge, and nice spark when discharging. About the 4th time i tried to charge the 16v cap from the 12v rail, it exploded hot acidic stuff all over my hand. Gave me a good scare, but no harm done