PSA: My bench power supply died mid-test and I found a bad solder joint on the regulator board

So I was working on a Garmin G5 install last Friday, testing the power draw on the bench, and my old HP power supply just clicked off and went dark. No lights, no output, nothing. I figured the main transformer gave out, but when I cracked it open I found a cracked solder joint on the voltage regulator heatsink. A quick reflow with my iron and it fired right back up. I guess these older units get heat cycled so much the joints just fail over time. Has anyone else had a bench supply die from a bad solder joint instead of a component failure?

3 comments

3 Comments

angela58718d ago

Wait, @emmaclark are you sure yours was a loose wire and not a broken trace on the board? I found out the hard way that heat cycling can also crack the solder mask and create intermittent shorts that are almost invisible until you really look. It's wild how much thermal stress these things take before something finally lets go.

the_ruby18d ago

ugh YES this is so real. i literally had a psu die on me once and it was a hairline crack in a solder joint that you could only see if you held it at the right angle under a bright lamp. i spent like two weeks blaming the wall outlet and swapping cables before i finally looked close enough. thermal cycling is a beast, it'll get you every time if you're not paying attention.

emmaclark18d ago

cracked solder joint on the voltage regulator heatsink" oh man, I felt that one. My bench supply died once and it turned out to be a loose wire I probably kicked while tripping over my own air.