Nasty Power Supply
From time to time, I come across examples of where electronics release the magic smoke, and this page is some of them in photos, plus the odd, potentially life-endangering product.
This one requires some backstory.
A while back, there was a need for a reasonably powerful laser module, which, after some hunting around, was found on eBay, and believe it or not, at a realistic price.
So this thing arrived and is unboxed, and all looked acceptable, except for the power supply, which was very light, and rattled.
Hmmmm, not a good sign.
As expected, there was zero chance this power supply was going to get plugged into anything, let alone 240VAC, so it was screwdriver time; the results are shown below:
My first thoughts were, yuk, OMG, etc., closely followed by, where are my gloves, as touching this thing could be hazardous to health.
The question is, has this mess been underwater for some of its life?
Moving onwards, and after finding the gloves, I removed the board to look at the underside.
Nothing here to change the initial thoughts on this thing
The only thing to say about this nightmare is it's a little cleaner than the top.
And yes, there is no doubt that this is a recycled power supply, which in some cases may be ok; however, this nightmare is something that should have stayed e-waste.
Could this thing get any worse? Well, yes, just look at the above photo!!
When this thing abomination was rescued from the underwater e-waste dump, they could not even be bothered to unsolder the original AC wires. Note how what's left of them are lying, nice, and close to each other.
Should that not be enough, look at the two heat shrink-covered devices; physical damage, yes, really....
My final thoughts on this thing is that is not a power supply, it is a fire-starting and potentially lethal device. Buyer beware.....