Is there something wrong with my psu?

[mikeraach]

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/finbert/wtf.jpg

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/finbert/1.jpg

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/finbert/3.jpg

I took the cover off of my Sparkle 300W psu to change the fan, and I noticed this vertical black cylinder looking thing. I have no idea what it does all I know is it doesn't look 'right' (the black shrink-wrap type material has crystalized and is flaking off). What is it and should it be something to worry about?

On a side note, I'm currently not using this PSU as I upgraded to an Antec 400W when I bought my 9800 two months ago. I _was_ going to sell this sparkle, but after seeing the thing above I dont know if its damaged (if its damaged its going in the trash).

[Dubbin1]

It has gotten wayyyyy hot

[mikeraach]

Ya, thats what it looks like to me as well, but what is it?

[mikeraach]

So now one can tell me what it is or if its bad?

[Oklahoma Wolf]

For the first time in a few years of electronics repair, I can't really tell what it is exactly I'm looking at :o

That said, due to the overheating the component exhibits, it's probably either a coil or resistor. Can you tell if this is the component the R28 label is referring to? If so, it's a resistor. If you have a multimeter you could check it to see if it's in spec, but without knowledge of the original value it's hard to say what it should be. Perhaps those with other Fortron/Sparkle 300w units can help you better than I.

[larrymoencurly]

My 350W Fortron/Sparkle looks almost exactly the same, only R28 isn't covered with heatshrink. It's 20 ohms, 5% (red-black-black-gold), with a pink body, and 5V through 20 ohms = 1.25W, which probably explains why the heatshrink looks so bad because I was told that resistors run at 100% full rated power get very hot, and www.mouser.com indicates that this resistor is the size of one rated 1.25W. But maybe fan air flow increases the power rating enough to keep it cool (heatshrink probably decreases the power rating).

I'd remove the heatshrink, and if the resistor wasn't cracked at all or badly discolored I'd just bend it slightly away from the wires in back (the have high voltage flowing through them). Otherwise I'd try to install a 2W resistor, if there's room , or use a slightly higher resistance, like 25-30W (would give 0.83-1.0W, but I don't know if this is 100% safe for the PSU when it's not loaded with anything).

[mikeraach]

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/finbert/new1.jpg

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/finbert/new2.jpg

I finally took another look at it (been really busy) and started to get some of the crystalized heatshrink off to see what it was. While I was taking it off, some of the pink body came off exposing a metal shell (look at the highlighted yellow part in the pics).

Also there was only one stripe (as you can see) so larrymoencurly's idea of it being a resistor doesn't sound right (although with the previous pictures I thought it was a resistor).

So once again I am stumped and come to the conclusion that this don't look right.

[larrymoencurly]

I'm absolutely certain that it's a resistor in your PSU (R34, measures 19.5 ohms in mine; I had misidentified this as R28, which is nearby and rated 490.1K) because everything else in the pictures looks identical, except in mine the AC receptacle/EMI filter sits 1/4" higher and so doesn't come so close to R34, and there's no silicone rubber sealer on R25. R37, not shown in any of the pictures, is next to the vertical circuit board and is 8.2 ohms (grey black gold gold),

It's possible that despite the cracks, R34 still works and measures 20 ohms between its top lead and the case. I can't think of this component being anything except a resistor because it's certainly not a capacitor, and I don't think it makes sense to connect an inductor between +5V and ground, only in series with the +5V.