Seasonic PSU failed big

sol1109

Posts: 44   +2
My Seasonic S12 E+ 650W PSU failed suddenly this morning without warning with smoke sending the UPS into overload mode. After removing the supply and plugging into wall outlet it blew the circuit breaker as soon as I turned it on. It's two years old with a five year warranty.

1. Anyone had this happen?
2. What are the possibilities of damage to devices connected to the output?
3. Anyone dealt with the Seasonic RMA system? What is the turn around time?
 
I've never had a PSU bigger than 430 watts, and never had one go up in smoke. Since that's just my individual experience, I can't adequately answer for "anyone". Sorry

There's at least a 50/50 chance of the board or such being damaged, since what you're describing is a catastrophic failure. I'm sure that a big Seasonic PSU has circuit protection in place, just hope it didn't either break, or fail to kick in in time. And we're both aware that you won't know until you substitute another PSU anyway. A rhetorical question maybe?

This is a wild guess, but it would likely take at least a month round trip for an adjustment under warranty. Part of that is dependent on if you're shipping coast to coast, or fifty miles away. That could add, up to six days to the total.
 
Thanks for the response captaincranky. I kind of thought it could take about 4-6 weeks so I have decided to get a new one and use the RMA as a backup or future build. Decided not to wait for shipment from Newegg and go to Microcenter in Cambridge MA and get a OCZ MOD X STREAM-PRO 600 they have on sale. (System is back up and running with no further damage) I will let everyone know how the RMA works out.
 
I don't know if you're aware of this, but Newegg has a warehouse in North Jersey. I again have no experience with the North Jersey / New York to Massachusetts shipping corridor, but in Philly, USP Ground in guaranteed overnight delivery from that location.

Anyhow, just something to check out, next time you order from Newegg. They have most stuff in North Jersey, but sometimes a mobo or some blank media comes from Tennessee. And little goofy things like lighted computer feet come from CA.

Anyway, glad you didn't break anything else in the explosion, and you're up and running.

Microcenter has great prices on many things, certain items are even lower than Newegg's prices, particularly on the few CPU models they carry, and many sale items. Cheers.
 
I usually order from Newegg and your right their shipments are here within three days on the standard shipping. With the blizzard hitting us just as this happened I figured it would be faster to run over to Cambridge. The Microcenter store is right next to MIT so its only about a 15-20 minute drive for me and when you consider overnight shipping the retail price is fine.
 
With the blizzard hitting us just as this happened I figured it would be faster to run over to Cambridge.
Oh, you mean that "little storm", that the weathermen were telling us was going to "go out to sea", almost all week. Yeah, we got a touch of that too.

Next time you do order from Newegg, check the point of origin. It's, fairly early in the order process, I believe at the point when you enter your zip to see what the charges will be.

Speaking about driving a few miles to go computer parts shopping, we had a CompUSA about 20 miles away in Delaware. It was great fun to shop their Sunday Ad online very early in the AM, then buzz down there for the bargains tax free in DE. Too bad they went under. Although, I might be the only person that feels that way.
 
I had a CompUSA one town over and have similar feelings. But to be tax free I need to drive 20 minutes to NH or buy online from the right merchant. It was not a little storm here. About 15+ inches and hurricane force wind gusts for 24 hours.

Thanks for the discussion.
 
The fact that It sent your ups into overload and tripped a circuit breaker is actually a verry good thing that means that mostlikely the failure took place on the primary side of the PSU. The primary is the part that initially filters and converts line voltage AC to DC. The seccondary side then regulates the voltage used for individual rails which go to components. Failures on the seccondary are what can damage components. Failures on the primary are oftain more spectacular since it handles 120VAC oftain having smoke, sparks, pops, etc but they are usually absorbed by the seccondary and the damage is contained to the PSU itself. Although most good PSUs (is. brands like seasonic) have protection circuits that will protect against most seccondary failures as well.
This is why it is inportent to get a good PSU, any PSU can fail but good qulity ones fail less oftain and generally do less damage when they do.
 
I thought Seasonic was a good brand? Anyway, just got an email that they are shipping something to me. No information if it is a repair or someone else's referb, probably the latter. Expected to arrive Tuesday which will make it under two weeks for RMA service and I would say that is very good.
 
I thought Seasonic was a good brand? Anyway, just got an email that they are shipping something to me. No information if it is a repair or someone else's referb, probably the latter. Expected to arrive Tuesday which will make it under two weeks for RMA service and I would say that is very good.

Seasonic is a good brand. The coment to get a good brand was more of a warning to others not to go cheap since even good brands can fail but they don't generally do as much damage when they do, nor do they fail as oftain. It was not intended as an attack on seasonic's quality.
 
Seasonic sent a refurbished replacement. I shipped the old one to them on 12/28 and they received it on 1/4 and the replacement arrived on 1/11. Since I purchased a replacement locally this will be a backup or used for a future build.
 
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