Fried PSU - any possible solution for a fix?

[jkinney110]

Well, awhile back (over a year now) I had a new Zalman ZM-850HP power supply and when assembling my rig I made THE MOST amateur mistake I've ever made in 11 years of building - and I let a screw fall into the PSU in my Antec 1200 tower. It was my first case with a Bottom-Mounted PSU. Well, I dished it out and thought that was that. But when I went to turn the system on for the first time, POP! Sizzle? CRACK?!

There was still a screw inside. Naturally, I'm a do-it-yourself'er and I decided to take off the cover and see what happened. And I took no time to worry about the fact it was, at the time, a $240 Power Supply and I had just voided the warranty.


Anyway... I see what had been fried, and my father is a very capable electronics technician. So, I want to know if it's possible that I bring him my PSU and have him replace an Integrated Circuit on the bottom of the PCB for this PSU.

When I last had it opened, I wrote down what I observed:

[850w Enhance Electronics PCB]
Location: IC10
m-IC P/N: 33152 PDMB

So what I need to know is, what do I do about this? In most cases with electronics.. Where there's a will, there's a way. And rather then to spend $160 @ Fry's Electronics I'd prefer to try to replace one circuit on the PCB and mystically have a working power supply again.

Are my hopes a lost cause?

Or am I fighting the right battle?

Believe me, I have since then found a great deal on a PSU ($75 shipped for a Corsair TX750-W) that will suit my needs fine. But this Zalman was nice the two weeks I used it before installing it on a different build.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Direfox]

Short answer- no.

Power supply components are specialy constructed and special ordered for their individual manufacturers. Its not like just buying some stuff at radio shack and building something that would put Seasonic to shame. I suppose you could build something that supplies electricity to your computer, but if it was that easy to control your rails and DC ripple every maker would have a decent PSU.

It would be like buying a wrecked Lamborghini and using junkyard parts to cobble something together that runs. Its not going to go far or run well and may kill you if you try to drive it.

Buy the Corsair.

 

[jkinney110]

That was extremely well put

Thank you

I thought it was a pretty good deal on the Corsair - Jumping on it immediately =D




Besides, I'm not out much. I haven't needed this Zalman for a long time now and I don't think I'll need it for a long time to come either =D

 

[Direfox]

No problem, good luck with your build and I think you will be happy with that Corsair.

 

[BillParrish]

I disagree. Lack of a schematic will be somewhat problematic but switching power supplies are fairly simple.

Go buy the new new one to get you running but since....

my father is a very capable electronics technician.

If he has the time to mess with it it should be no problem to replace the MOSFET Driver IC. And if nothing else got fried a couple of dollars for the part and an hour of time is a decent investment. However something else may have been damaged so it is a bit of a crap shoot as to the amount of time and effort involved.

More than likely any of these will do for a replacement, double check the part number as I cannot find the PDMB designation but typically these are packaging designations. The web sites below have more data/information in the datasheet.

does the IC look like this (package type, number of leads, etc ) ?
http://fs.bookpawnshop.com./3/33152-MC33152-MC33152P-mosfet-driver/picture-1.jpg

http://www.ic-on-line.cn/iol_33152/datasheet_list/33152.htm


ON Semiconductior company (formerly a part of Motorola) makes the part. The extra letters are package type and your Dad should know what he will need with a glance. Here is the part list from ON.
http://www.onsemi.com/PowerSolutions/product.do?id=MC33152

Digikey or Arrow electroncis etc. should have the part .

It will make a nice spare/emergency/bench supply.


I too almost learned this lession the hard way but fished the screws out before hitting the power. I now lay a rag over the fan opening when dealing with power supplies mounted like this.

Edit:
Safety disclamer, Remind your Dad to fully discharge the caps before starting, he will know what to do.

 

[Direfox]

I stand corrected. BillParrish knows a lot more than I do about Lambor....err... Power supplies. I had no idea you could buy those parts standard.

 

[BillParrish]

Well you where mainly correct, if the OP's dad was not a tech it would not be worth the trouble. Most shops would charge more (and because of the time involved would not be out of line) than it costs to buy a new supply. So these where kinda special circumstances.

 

[blivit4]

The only "special" parts in a PS are the wound inductors/transformers. Al the other parts are standard IC's, diodes, capacitors, transistors, resistors, rectifiers etc. If PSs used specially mfg'd versions of those parts, a PS would cost many times what they do. The biggest problem is with parts without markings, so there's no way of knowing what the values are supposed to be. A schematic is a help only if it has an embedded parts lists. If you're real good you'll be able to figure out what an acceptable alternate part might be.