I lost my repsect for Enlight as a power supply brand

[NeoPTLD]

Two weeks ago, my generic power supply died(and it took my motherboard with it 🙁 )and I replaced it with an Enlight, because I believed it to be a respectable brand.

Spec wise it is a 300W ATX power supply with all the connector ATX power supplies should have plus 4pin molex connectors and a fan monitoring connector. The fan monitoring connector connects to your motherboard fan header so you can monitor the fan inside the PSU from software.

I could not locate the fan monitoring connector and I thought this unit was assembled wrong. I looked at the fan to discover it only has two leads coming out. There was no third wire used to sense fan's speed. There's the answer. Enlight decided to cut corner and reduce cost by using a fan that doesn't have the sensor output, yet maintains the same model # and includes non existant feature on instruction manual.

Enlight was a brand I thought to be making a quality product, but I lost respect when they decided to cut corners behind our back. If they're cutting cost by using a non sensor output fan and dropping a feature that is listed on manual, who knows where else they're cutting corners on? Fortunately I don't use fan monitoring and this doesn't matter, but it's an alert warning me of possibility of other corners(from important parts of the power supply) being cut to reduce cost.

New revisions nowadays means cutting corners where we aren't likely to notice, sometimes as drastic as dropping a feature that can be found in the instruction manual that nobody hardly uses.

 

[ReiAyanami]

u've been enlightened...

 

[KF]

I've bought several Enlight cases over a period of a couple years, although not recently, because I liked the mounting system, the sturdiness, and the amount of room, and the fact that everything lines up and fits. They all had the same basic model number (which now escapes me.) They were all different. One had a switch on the PS, which I rather like, the others didn't. One had a removeable mobo tray, the others were not. Etc. None had a plug to monitor the PS fan. None had a manual; they had an exploded diagram, with a few notes. If they now have some instructions and a PS fan speed monitor, that is welcome, only it seem they may not actually have the speed plug!

The usual "manual" I have gotten with a case, Enlight or not, is an exploded diagram. They generally have numerous things diagrammed which my actual case does not have, but I wish it did. (But they often come with extra mounting hardware whose function is undocumented, and is still unknown to me.) As near as I can tell, a distributor can order a case with or without virtually anything on the diagram. When he sells it, the distibutor will list it as a certain model -which is true enough- but that does not mean it is identical to some other case with the same model number. In all likelihood you can get a case with a PS fan speed plug or without, just as you can get one with a 250W or 300W power supply. At computer shows I have seen cases for sale which appear to be the same from different vendors, but the details are slightly different. Some cases which are very popular have "knock offs" or " clones." Generally vendors do not claim it is a certain brand, but it will nevertheless appear to be. Some brands are not manufacturers, but an umbrella company that distributes case of its own choosing or design made by others, and the manufacturer may change over time.

So which case did you get and who did you get it from?

 

[Confused]

Originally posted by: NeoPTLD
I could not locate the fan monitoring connector and I thought this unit was assembled wrong. I looked at the fan to discover it only has two leads coming out. There was no third wire used to sense fan's speed. There's the answer. Enlight decided to cut corner and reduce cost by using a fan that doesn't have the sensor output, yet maintains the same model # and includes non existant feature on instruction manual.

My Enermax 350W (£65 when I got it) has fan monitoring, and that only has 2 wires also, the ground, and sensor wire. It pulls the 12V from within the PSU itself, not off the mainboard header. That's why that was only 2 wires.

Compare it to another fan, with 3 wires. Which one is missing? The one for speed sensoring, or the one that provides the power?



Confused

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Confused

Originally posted by: NeoPTLD
I could not locate the fan monitoring connector and I thought this unit was assembled wrong. I looked at the fan to discover it only has two leads coming out. There was no third wire used to sense fan's speed. There's the answer. Enlight decided to cut corner and reduce cost by using a fan that doesn't have the sensor output, yet maintains the same model # and includes non existant feature on instruction manual.

My Enermax 350W (£65 when I got it) has fan monitoring, and that only has 2 wires also, the ground, and sensor wire. It pulls the 12V from within the PSU itself, not off the mainboard header. That's why that was only 2 wires.

Compare it to another fan, with 3 wires. Which one is missing? The one for speed sensoring, or the one that provides the power?



Confused

I agree, that's how the Antec TruePowers are set up as well. The two-wire cable sends ground and RPM so the motherboard can monitor the fan (although it turns so slowly that some motherboards crash, stall or just read 0).

 

[NeoPTLD]

Originally posted by: Confused

Originally posted by: NeoPTLD
I could not locate the fan monitoring connector and I thought this unit was assembled wrong. I looked at the fan to discover it only has two leads coming out. There was no third wire used to sense fan's speed. There's the answer. Enlight decided to cut corner and reduce cost by using a fan that doesn't have the sensor output, yet maintains the same model # and includes non existant feature on instruction manual.

My Enermax 350W (£65 when I got it) has fan monitoring, and that only has 2 wires also, the ground, and sensor wire. It pulls the 12V from within the PSU itself, not off the mainboard header. That's why that was only 2 wires.

There should be black(-), red(+) and yellow(sense) coming out from center of the fan. I know what fan monitor connector looks like and the connector itself should only have two wires. It only needs +5 or 12V fed through a resistor for reference voltage and a signal terminal which is open collector.

The signal wire is simply directly wired from fan's yellow signal wire and the other wire is the reference. If the fan itself doesn't have signal output, it is not theoretically possible to produce fan signal, so if there's no monitor connector provided and the fan's missing third wire, it's safe to assume that they dropped the feature.

Compare it to another fan, with 3 wires. Which one is missing? The one for speed sensoring, or the one that provides the power?Confused

I have seen the 340W Enlight and it had a two wire monitor connector and the fan itself had three wires. Yellow, red and black.

My 300W doesn't have sense connector and the fan only has black and red.

 

[mechBgon]

Hmmm... so it's power and ground, then? My guess is that Enlight is providing the external power connector for the reason that Enermax FC-serise units have it: so the motherboard can power down the 80mm exhaust fan on the power supply when you put it in standby mode.

 

[Cirinde]

I can't speak for the newer models, but I have an Enlight 250W psu that I've been using daily for almost for 4.5 yrs now - no problems whatsoever. For my upgrade, I was looking into the 460W model, but I think I'll do a bit more research..

 

[Jhhnn]

I wouldn't sweat the small stuff. As was mentioned, there seems to be some variation in their supplies over time, but nothing to indicate that the performance or reliability is truly suspect. While they're not the best, they do the job, and hold up reasonably well. Not Junk.

The ATX specs don't demand the fansensor wire at all, check it out at www.formfactors.org....