Cracked PCB repair - is this safe?

mond · Post by **mond** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 1:02 am

I recently bought a NSK3480 with the EarthWatts380.
Opened it up yesterday to swap the fan, and was just about finished when I discovered that two of the PCB corners had cracked off.

I can't imagine that this happened while opening the unit, but the shipping box looked like it had some rough treatment.
Anyway, the warranty is obviously void now, so my question is whether my repair is safe enough?

From the looks of it I am guessing that the circuit in the corner has the purpose of grounding something to the PSU chassis.
It could even be there just to reinforce the mounting.

Am I totally off here?

Since the unit was apparently working fine, I tried to fit the corner with some tape and an extra washer, just to hold the PCB in place. This seems to work quite well and the mount seems solid, although I will off course need to be careful with handling.

Anyway,
can anyone tell me whether this is safe?
What are the circuit traces for?

By the way, just for the record the Nexus swap is a dream.
Connected to the built in fan controller it starts every time and is running extremely quiet

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 2:04 am

Hi,

A little glue would go a long way! Since you already voided the warranty by replacing the fan, and since it still works -- I'd just go with it...

mond · Post by **mond** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 2:43 am

Hi Neil,

That's a good idea, thanx. Didn't think of it last night, probably because I didn't have anything suitable at hand. Will do it when I have to take the PSU out.

Anyway glue, tape or similar will do nothing to reconnect the traces, which is why I asked for suggestions about their function.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 4:54 am

Hi,

I'll bet that the traces are there to ground the PCB -- can you solder them after gluing the piece back on?

thepwner · Post by **thepwner** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 4:56 am

Since it was just ground over there and nothing else like power lines or something, I would say you're completely fine. I wouldn't worry about a thing.

mond · Post by **mond** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 5:06 am

It should be no problem to solder if I can get the PCB out. From what I remember it looked like that might be a bit of a hassle though.

Alternatively I could run a wire from the broken off corner to the chassis and then glue the corner on afterwards.

However, if it turns out that the two intact corners are also grounded, would it be safe to assume that all components connect to the same grounding circuit on the PCB? So that strictly speaking only one corner needs a chassis connection...

I have very limited knowledge of electrical engineering stuff like this

What are the possible consequences of insufficient grounding? Static build up or something?

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Thu Jun 04, 2009 5:26 am

Keep an eye on that Nexus fan starting up--I put one in my Eartwatts 430 and it usually won't start from a cold boot.

mond · Post by **mond** » Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:39 pm

psiu wrote:Keep an eye on that Nexus fan starting up--I put one in my Eartwatts 430 and it usually won't start from a cold boot.

Mine starts consistently, but perhaps dust or wear can change that. I will keep an eye on it, thanx.

Oklahoma Wolf · Post by **Oklahoma Wolf** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:56 am

It's a chassis ground. The PCB is very likely grounded elsewhere, so I wouldn't worry about it. I'd be more concerned about the PCB flexing enough to short out, but as long as it seems sturdy it should be ok.

Ch0z3n · Post by **Ch0z3n** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:31 am

Too bad you aren't in the US or Canada and bought it from Newegg, they'd more than likely replace the PSU.

mond · Post by **mond** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:37 am

With the fan wire cut off?
And I thought we had good consumer protection laws around here....

Thanks Oklahoma Wolf.

Ch0z3n · Post by **Ch0z3n** » Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:54 am

Newegg just has awesome customer support. If you search the forums you can find a thread where I was replacing the fan in my EA500 that came with a Sonata III. After I opened it up I realized it looked really different than it should so I did some research and found out that Antec had changed the OEM of the power supply. After chatting with an online customer support guy he credited me for the cost of a new EA500 on my next power supply purchase.

I couldn't RMA the case and PSU since I had already sent out a MIR.
Couldn't RMA just the PSU.
He couldn't confirm the OEM of any of their EA500s in the warehouse so I didn't want him to just send me another one made by Delta.