Hardware Insights Forum

Discuss the gutless wonder here

http://www.hardwareinsights.com/whit ... ht-horror/

Behemot (in the review) wrote:The receptacle itself is poorly made out of some pressed pieces of metal, not sure whether this will be even safe in the long run.

Well, I can answer that question with a no: Over 6 months ago (2017-11-09, to be precise), the reception PC at my Mum's accounting office made "funny sparking noises" and went off. So I checked the cord; it was a bit old, but still appeared to make steady contact with (compliant) mating connectors.
I tried a brand-new cord (which came with a laser printer, so you'd hope it's decent), but the sparks still happened. Sure enough, the PSU involved (Aywun A1-3000) has one of these shonky inlets (plus non-safety-rated 2kV ceramic capacitors instead of Y2 class).
I promptly replaced it (with a previously-recapped Hipro HP-D3057F3H), and the PC seems fine since then.

Yeah, I despise PC builders that still take such cavalier attitudes towards PSUs.
(So we're not relying on those "specialists" anymore for tasks I can handle fine myself, thank you very much.)

(And to think Americans are scared of space heaters… Seriously, all these shitloads of dodgy and non-compliant SMPS make my Kambrook fan heater look exceedingly safe in comparison. I don't doubt that shoddy heaters catch fire periodically, but even those are tame compared to dodgy SMPS. )

Addition 2021-09-02: Not only are the pins folded into a poor approximation of the intended shape, they're also made of steel.
No budget for brass, was there?

Just witnessed a selection procedure in this branch of an university for few new PCs. They specifically wanted the units to be at least 80+ Bronze certified. While strange condition, it would still filter the worst craps.

Well guess what: the supplier gave them ATX-350W V2. Still pretty much the same shit with NO fan regulation, not meeting any efficiency even in a dream, plus selling complete PCs with craps with no efficiency has been even banned in Europe. The idiots accepted this despite it not meeting their own conditions (well, the question is if if actually WAS in the documentation, or they only wanted it orally) so what can you expect?