Cheap 4-way power packs not so cheap in the long term ...

[emboss]

If you're like me, you've probably got a 4-way power pack or so in use. I noticed that one of mine was developing a slight scorch mark on the top and was feeling rather warm in that location. Not taking any chances, I unplugged it. Unfortunately they used some wierd screws to keep the thing closed, so since I wasn't too concerned about it working any more, I grabbed a couple of the closest sharp things and attacked it: Mr power pack, meet Mr pruning saw and Mr screwdriver.

A very short time later the PCB was exposed - the culprit for the scorch mark is the current-limiting resistor for the "MOV OK" LED. The resistor was scorched to the point of being impossible to read the resistance rating off of it. The underside of the PCB was showing some heat damage as well.

Basically, it's a stupid design flaw. They cram a heat-emitting device (the resistor) into a small enclosed area, surrounded by a thermal insulator. What did they think was going to happen?!?! Although the problem is probably just cosmetic damage to the case, it's still worries me that it gets that hot. Seems to be just asking for something to catch fire.

This particular quad got replaced by something much bigger: a steel-cased, EMI-filtering monster that can take a surge over 10 times the size of the el-cheapo one. Not to mention I probably didn't need the saw, and could have just smashed the old one apart with the new one without even scratching the paint. I think it's fairly unlikely that this one will have the same issue, because the whole case will act like a massive heatsink.

The cost? Twice that of the el cheapo, but given the cheap one didn't even last a year before the scorch marks appeared, I'd say it's money well spent. I've got another el cheapo that's feeling a bit warm in the same spot (no scorch marks yet) so that one's going in the bin the next time I go shopping.

Photos of the two are attached.

[Spade]

you should do just a little more research, and add some more brands, and
do a front page article :)

you're more than capable just by reading this. or hell, even a brand comparo

[Mr.Guvernment]

yeah, good you did some work into this, i would of just tossed it and not even looked into it, perhaps now with this i can know what to look for.

[ƒÓÒl]

Huh, I just picked up a freebie surge protector for my stuff this week, but it was far from a cheapo unit.
We replaced the old Merlin system for a customer with a new Avaya IP Office unit + 6 phones, and the surge protector attached to the old stuff we removed was a Lucent 6 place protector ($73 new) with an attached RJ45/RJ11 4 line protector ($53 new).

I love getting free stuff, especially when it's excellent quality that someone else payed for. ;)

Good catch getting to your problem before your comp became a hibachi grill or something. A flaming computer makes your s'mores taste funny!

[larrymoencurly]

Every time I've measured the voltage across an old resistor and found that it was operating at close to its rated power, it was cracked or discolored. And I've noticed that lots of resistors are run at their rated power, even in quality products, like Fortron PSUs and 1980s Japanese TVs.