Only people with 110V power grid (USA?) suffer from PSU problems?

[Gomce]

One weird thing I've noticed is that only people from the states have PSU issues. Like blown PSU, not enough wattage to run a system etc.

Locally, we're on a 220v/50hz grid and its very rare to see someone with this kind of problems. Most of the dealers assemble configs with no-name, almost featherweight 300-400W PSUs which in reality are like 180W maybe less (generic chinese noname crap).

So, the question is,
does 110v/60Hz put a bigger strain on a PSU than 220v/50hz?

 

[jonnyGURU]

Lower voltage means higher amperage. And that higher amperage puts a greater strain on the primary side of a PSU.

That's also why a lot of the PSU's you guys get that are 230V-only APFC are only available over here as non-PFC. The high amperage through the PFC circuitry generates too much heat and cuts down the efficiency of the unit.

 

[Paperdoc]

Hold it. Lower voltage = higher amperage. True, but ONLY up to the point of the Primary Winding of the input transormer. At the Secondary windings where all the output voltages and amperages are set, they all will be the SAME for any given PSU output design. That is, if the PSU is designed to output bus voltages at +5v, -5v, +12v, etc each at the same amperages, the Secondary Windings and all the subsequent components of the PSU are the same, irrespective of the input transformer's Primary Windings. OK, so there may be a SMALL difference for transformer efficiency, but that is no biggie!

I suspect the answer on this is more like: the "data" on which you base your analysis result (more trouble for USA users than for European users) is unreliable. Biggest problem is it is self-reporting. And in that, you only hear from people with trouble. For every 50 complaints, how many people had no trouble? So, what is the defect rate per thousand PSU's? No way to tell, is there?

 

[Smartazz]

I thought it would be the other way around.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: Paperdoc
Hold it. Lower voltage = higher amperage. True, but ONLY up to the point of the Primary Winding of the input transormer.

True, but when you're talking about some PSU's with active PFC, and active PFC is required by the EU, then you're putting more current through this circuitry and this circuitry is well before the primary windings.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU

Originally posted by: Paperdoc
Hold it. Lower voltage = higher amperage. True, but ONLY up to the point of the Primary Winding of the input transormer.

True, but when you're talking about some PSU's with active PFC, and active PFC is required by the EU, then you're putting more current through this circuitry and this circuitry is well before the primary windings.

But thats not a likely point of failure is it?

 

[jonnyGURU]

No. I guess not.

And the OP was asking why 110V input failure rate is higher than 220V input failure rates and I think in reality, in an apples to apples comparison, that's probably not true.

The reality is probably along the lines of what Paperdoc explains in his second paragraph.

Also, I think that the general quality of product is better in the E.U. I mean, with MANDATORY RoHS compliance and MANDATORY APFC, you don't see many cheap PSU's "slip by."

 

[Bobthelost]

I've lost a PSU on 240V, POS so in retrospect i'm not supprised.