Linkworld Stability Power LPJ9-25 420 W review

Conclusion and evaluation

I think it was pretty expected this unit will fail from the very beginning. I wonder if there is any such unit, no matter the rating (paper takes everything), which can actually deliver more than some 300 watts. I thought this “420watt” one could do that, it at least has higher-rated primary transistors than the previous ones, but nope, no joy here. It is actually difficult to decide which of these cheap wonders I have covered in the last few months is the worst one as each has its own critical flaws. But I think this Linkworld LPJ9-25 3*SATA could be the winner. The only positive thing I can think of is it has SanKen PWM microchip for the stand-by power supply and not the obsolete and dangerous two-transistor design. So it won’t kill your motherboard with 8, 10, or 15 volts instead of 5 V. Well, there is one more, it also somehow managed to keep reasonable ripple. But everything else is a complete disaster.

The voltage regulation is so bad, combined with non-working UVP, that I would not use it even for old Pentium III or similar rig. Depending on the actual load settings the voltages of this thing can pretty much vary over the whole spectrum. ATX spec, voltage regulation, what’s that? Must be some swear-words! If you remember the times when even hard drives were regularly burning, often together with other components, well, units such as this one were the cause. So yeah, different reason, but it can still easily kill your HW. I think now you can see why. Back in those days nobody took even cheap multimeter to see what these wonders actually produce so I think there was very little knowledge what exactly is so bad about them.

I think it is also pretty obvious the unit uses garbage and undersized components. If there was not some kind of OPP in it, it would melt or catch fire, at least the undersized PFC coil for sure. It also runs very hot and with poor efficiency. I mean dropping to just 60 %, I did not expect to see such a thing these days. It also uses non-safety rated Y capacitors and that is a real electric shock or fire hazard. I should not forget the hot glue they used, combined with the temperatures, who knows what can happen. No, really, I think it is easier to just state the two good things as I did above as everything else is horrible.

Pros	+ cheap + working “overload” protection + PWM IC with integrated FET for stand-by + good ripple suppression
Cons	− cannot deliver rated power − poor efficiency − poor component quality − missing components − hot glue used to hold components in place − runs incredibly hot at higher load − undersized, overheating and smelly PFC coil − terrible voltage regulation, no UVP − unsafe Y capacitors
Be aware of…	/?\ buying this unit

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