help troubleshooting Teradak PSU requested

[Niko]

Hi folks,

 

one (SATA HDD) plug of my Teradak 380W PSU, used to drive my music PC, stopped suddenly working. This already happened once a couple of weeks ago, and by the time i checked the hdd and other components, it was back to life. Unfortunately, it didn't happened this way this time.

 

I opened the case and found no short circuit or burning evidence. Everything seemed to be ok. No overheating either. I checked the DC output pins and their voltage was around 1V for each pin, PSU on and 2,8V PSU off, but plugged. 

 

As I have no knowledge at all in electronics, i would have to use the services of a professional and ship the unit within the country or abroad, which could quickly turn out to be expensive. Therefore, i would appreciate if someone could help me troubleshoot this PSU a little bit further, before to proceed. If something would have burnt, i guess this would have happened the first time already, right ? Maybe it's just the cable, but how to know ? 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Nico

 

 

[davide256]

Can you be a bit more specific? Did you check voltage at the cable pin outs or at the PSU itself. Have you tried another SATA

disk device and checked in BIOS to see if it was recognized?

[Niko]

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Did you check voltage at the cable pin outs or at the PSU itself

 

both:

First at the PSU (outside)

and at the cable pin end now, where i got 0.761 PSU on and 1.961 PSU off. Then i turned if off and on again and i got 0.866 this time.

 

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Have you tried another SATA disk device and checked in BIOS to see if it was recognized?

 

Yes i tried to power up another sata drive, which didn't work either.

With another PSU, The initial SATA drive works fine and is recognized in the bios, even though, the bios drive boot order got swapped randomly as couple of times recently. But this latter point has probably nothing to do with the PSU.

 

[kelvinwsy]

Do you have a multimeter. There are only 4 leads going into the SATA plug. I DIY a lot of my PC cables. You can google Sata connector PinOut. 2 are Ground - GND, one is 12V plus and the other is the 5 V plus. Use your multimeter, set it to 20v or whatever is Higher than 5V output into the Sata connector. Negative (black usually) prong of the multimeter into the GND pinout of the Sata Connector and Red prong into the 5V multimeter and you check the multimeter readout. It should say 5 V and is a steady readout.

Any other findings then something is wrong.

Kelvin

[Niko]

My previous measurements were wrong, because my multimeter was set to AC...

So i started again, and this time i strangely got 0.525V. I then compared it with the working molex connector and this time i got 12V on one side and on the other 0.525V as well...

 

If i would have got 5V instead of 0.525V, i would pretty confident that the problem comes from the sata plug, with seems to be damaged, but i have to admit that those readings confuse me.

[Niko]

I think i found the source of the problem.

 

 

 

I'm hesitating to build a sata cable myself, using the end of a regular sata plug and twist (with a little bit of solder around it) its wires together with the Teradak's ones. Do you guys believe that such a DYI could degrade the SQ ?

 

 

[davide256]

5 hours ago, Niko said:

I think i found the source of the problem.

 

 

 

I'm hesitating to build a sata cable myself, using the end of a regular sata plug and twist (with a little bit of solder around it) its wires together with the Teradak's ones. Do you guys believe that such a DYI could degrade the SQ ?

 

 

More of a binary question, work/not work. Be careful to use a fine solder point and use a solder holder, the kind with 2 alligator clips and swivel joints. Use electrical tape or shrink wrap over your exposed solder points when done. As long as you match wires up correctly all should go well

[Niko]

That's good to know, thanks.

[sandyk]

On 10/5/2020 at 11:50 PM, Niko said:

My previous measurements were wrong, because my multimeter was set to AC...

So i started again, and this time i strangely got 0.525V. I then compared it with the working molex connector and this time i got 12V on one side and on the other 0.525V as well...

 

If i would have got 5V instead of 0.525V, i would pretty confident that the problem comes from the sata plug, with seems to be damaged, but i have to admit that those readings confuse me.

Are you sure that it wasn't  05.25V which although a little high is acceptable, and may drop a little when loaded ?

 

Power Supply Voltage Tolerances (ATX v2.2)

PSU Tolerance Table
Voltage Rail	Tolerance	Minimum Voltage	Maximum Voltage
+3.3VDC	± 5%	+3.135 VDC	+3.465 VDC
+5VDC	± 5%	+4.750 VDC	+5.250 VDC
+5VSB	± 5%	+4.750 VDC	+5.250 VDC
-5VDC (if used)	± 10%	-4.500 VDC	-5.500 VDC
+12VDC	± 5%	+11.400 VDC	+12.600 VDC
-12VDC	± 10%	-10.800 VDC	- 13.200 VDC

 

[Niko]

Well, my voltmeter reads 0.525. But can't select the base voltage, it's done automatically. But the funny thing, is that, on the molex, it reads on one side 12v, and not 1.2v...

[sandyk]

10 hours ago, sandyk said:

I then compared it with the working molex connector and this time i got 12V on one side and on the other 0.525V as well...

That is the giveaway. The other part about reading 12V instead of 1.2V would be due to a different range being automatically selected.  You appear to need a better quality DVM.

 If both the working molex and the other molex read the same, then you need to look further, especially the SATA plug itself as you mentioned previously .

 I am also assuming that when you checked both molex connectors that nothing was plugged into them.

 

 P.S. 

 If the problem is as suspected, the plug itself, an easier repair may be to re-terminate it's wires to a 4 pin female molex plug and use a short 4 pin male molex to SATA power lead from ebay etc.

 Solder type SATA power plugs don't appear to be so easy to come by either.

[Niko]

Thanks for the infos.

 

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I am also assuming that when you checked both molex connectors that nothing was plugged into them.

Correct.

 

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 If both the working molex and the other molex read the same, then you need to look further, especially the SATA plug itself as you mentioned previously .

 

You convinced me.

 

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re-terminate it's wires to a 4 pin female molex plug and use a short 4 pin male molex to SATA power lead

I will first ask Teradak about the price of a new cable set. If the price is too high, i will then follow your DYI advice.