Disassembly
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The VPA500P’s input filtering consists of two X-Capacitors, 2.5 coils (one only goes over neutral and not active/line), four Y-Capacitors and one MOV, which is plenty of components. The bridge rectifier used is rated at 8A, which is easily good enough for a 500W product at 230V, even though it doesn’t have a heat sink. The main PFC Capacitor is rated at 270µF, and is supplied by Jun Fu, which are re-sleeved *gulp* Fuhjyyu parts. At least the primary side doesn’t stress the capacitors much. The primary side is controlled by a Champion Micro CM6805BSX IC. The manufacturer doesn’t publish a datasheet for it, so I can only assume it’s a custom made IC specifically for this platform. It drives three Silan Micro SVP13N50F MOSFETs – one on the PFC circuit, and two switching transistors. These transistors are rated for 13A at 25°C, but the manufacturer doesn’t specify what they can handle at higher temperatures.
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The secondary side has a few brands of capacitors used. The 5VSB input cap, which is usually the first to fail, is supplied by the Japanese Nippon Chemi-Con. This, however, is the only high quality cap used. The 12V rail’s capacitors are supplied by CapXon, whose reputation is questionable, to put it lightly. The other capacitors are all Jun Fu branded (re-sleeved Fuhjyyu), which are even worse. I let that go on the primary side, but I won’t here. This side of the power supply stresses them more, and so they fail much sooner. It surprises me that Antec would use them, as they have used Fuhjyyu capacitors before with disastrous results. I still see plenty of other CWT built power supplies to this day with failed Fuhjyyu and Jun Fu capacitors, including products which lack fan controllers.
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The 12V rail uses two PFC Devices PFR30L60CT rectifiers, which are rated for 30A each – easily good enough for the label’s claim of 34A worth of 12V capacity. The 5V rail uses a single PRF30L45CT rectifier, and the 3.3V rail uses the popular STPS3045CW Rectifier. Both of these rectifiers are rated at 30A, so both of these rails would be capably of that, assuming the other components are also up to the job. The secondary supervisor IC is an Infinno (a division of Sitronix) ST9S313. It only supports Over and Under Voltage protections. It lacks OCP support, and so this power supply only has a single 12V rail.
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The soldering is quite decent – much better than I’m used to seeing from CWT. The joints all have an appropriate amount of solder, and there aren’t any particularly long component legs. However, there was a hand done joint on the 3.3V rectifier, which had a small solder blob stuck on the PCB near it. I’ll have to knock half a point for that one. The blob was was just large enough to short some joints if it was to come loose.
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The fan is a Yate Loon sleeve bearing part. Rather than oil, the bearing has thick grease. This is much less effective, as it often gets pushed out of the bearing over a few years and doesn’t flow back in. This model has speed, noise and airflow ratings of 2600RPM, 32CFM, and 34dB respectively. It is temperature controlled, and was quiet during the first two tests. It became noticeable in Test 3, and was getting quite loud during Test 5. For a 500W unit, the heat sinks are small, especially considering that the unit didn’t sustain 80% efficiency throughout the testing. The power supply would probably have been quieter at higher loads if larger heat sinks had been used, and if the case had better ventilation.
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