Antec AR300 or AR350 to repair or replace

[zing]

Hi
I have a dead antec AR300 from an Antec Aria case, it is also similar to AR350 from Antec NSK1380. Tried it with few motherboards, but its no go. Im planning to get an PSU tester in couple of days to check what exactly is dead in it.
My quickest option would be to buy a replacement, but considering I have almost no budget to cover this I am going to try and fix it. Hopefully with your help:)
If it's not fixable perhaps someone recommends a similar PSU with a decent price tag. These seems to be unique PSUs unfortunately with weird dimensions. We're talking (WxLxH) 15x8x13 cm but since it's L shape, the length has dimensions of 4.5cm and 8cm and the height has 13 and 9.5cm.
And the power socket is actually outside its box, has 3 cables that come with it to an external socket.

[zing]

Perhaps picture can explain more.

[Soultribunal]

A power supply tester (unless its a really high grade one) will not tell you what broke inside. At least they don't in my experience.
The ones I've used simply state if the Rails are working (12V, 5V, 3.3V) or not.
If you are handy with electronics, and soldering you may be able to repair the inside, depending on what failed.
Hopefully, you will be able to see what died easily (VR being cracked, Capacitor Bulging or popped). Most of the time though, when a PSU fails, it takes a lot of components inside with it.
Get it open first, and look for physical signs of what failed, perhaps it is something that can be replaced and re-soldered onto the PCB inside.
Otherwise, it might be new PSU time for you.


Regards,
ST

(P.S. - Be careful when poking around Capacitors, unless they leak or are fully discharged, they retain voltage inside, which can be dangerous).

[Oversized Rooster]

Time is money. It will take much less "time-money" to just buy a replacement. Besides, you don't want more down time do you?

[Soultribunal]

Originally Posted by Oversized Rooster

Time is money. It will take much less "time-money" to just buy a replacement. Besides, you don't want more down time do you?

If you didn't notice Rooster, he stated in his original post that he has 'almost no budget for this' so the possibility of repair seems ideal (if it is possible).
Sometimes Time isn't always money.
Espically if you have the know how.

ST

[zing]

to be honest guys I am new to all this.
It was unfortunately a second hand one and the guy before me apparently open the PSU and fiddled with it. Nowonder its dead.
The board is rammed with all kind of fuses and caps. I am not quiet sure I can play with it.
I am trying to find a cheap PSU with same dimensions or close enough to fit in this box. So far I found one on ebay
eBay.ie: 300w Micro ATX Power Supply -Brand New and Retail Boxed (item 260362135807 end time 28-Feb-09 16:54:00 GMT)
I might be able to get it fixed in the back where the old one was.
It will be less work for sure. A hassle? maybe.

[AHandyOne]

Hello there all!
It seems to be well outdated post and I came across it while "googling". I recently fixed and modified exactly the same power supply and I have exactly the same case. This system worked for a year, having 6 core AMD cpu based board and fanless low end graphics card. The temperatures inside the case is what killed the PSU. Upon investigation I decided to replace all secondary side capacitors plus main capacitor (220uF400V) and plus secondary diodes on heat sink. It worked great afterwards and I have also replaced 120mm fan to a better equivalent with blue LED accents, just to improve air flow and looks. In the process, once I removed the secondary heatsink with diodes, I discovered all screws were loose. This can easily cause failure of the diodes. I applied extra thermal grease on each and tightened up screws. The temperature sensor that controls speed of fan, I siliconed directly on the heatsink as well. I can tell you that amount of time and money I spent was probably not worth it, but in the end I had a great looking and perfectly working better than new PSU. I made sure I used all high frequency quality capacitors (mostly Panasonic) and to a few I added ceramics in parallel on the back side of the board.
Good luck with your projects and feel free to ask me details should you have interest in doing the same.
Best.