funkymonksf said:
Just a word to anyone about to order the 51x PSU kits. They are not the same parts that are offered from the 51x crew. Hopefully Ptown will do everyone a favor and list what you are actually getting in his kit. Just a word to those out there to build a high quality, top rated 511 rack and PSU.
I just don't think it's right. I am out $30 dollars on shipping because I thought I'd be getting the same parts sahib listed here..
http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=33849.0
They are not even rated the same.
Ok, here we go...
First off...I am really disappointed that you would post something slanderous and insinuating in a thread I pay for, even after I explained to you, politely at that, that your assumptions and comparisons were baseless at best AND I refunded your money. I'm sorry that we had some kind of mis-communication somewhere, but I never meant to imply that my kit contained the EXACT same parts as Sahib's. It contains the same quantity of parts, not the identical parts, and they are all rated well within the specs for this PSU. One would think that would be obvious based on the price difference. Furthermore; your definition of "high-quality" and "top rated" is totally off the mark.
funkymonksf said:
You're right I don't know what the hell I am doing. I am a newbie and it's people like me who can be swiddled so easily into buying anything based off people's word. You could at least let us know what were buying... I'm done here. Keep on keeping on.....
So, on one hand, you insinuate that my parts kit is neither "high quality" or "top rated" but then you proceed to say that you don't know what the hell you are doing, that you are a newbie and that you were swindled... That being said one would think that a self proclaimed newbie who doesn't know what they are doing probably does not possess the knowledge to make such lofty claims about something they do not understand.
You contacted me saying that you would like to return the parts because they "were not as specified" by the psu designer, to which i responded that i had no problem with accepting the return if you were not happy, but i also tried to offer you some help by asking what parts specifically you had an issue with and why. You said that "they were all under rated", and I again asked you to be specific. I know full well that every part in that kit is perfectly fine, as I did my homework, but in order to help you, I needed to know where the issue was.
You said the following
-Trimmers are Bourns copies
-Resistors do not fit
-Not all caps were rated for 105 degree
-Rectifiers we "only" 6A
-The kit contained tantalum caps instead of film
Here we go, one by one
Trimmers; yes, they are NOT bourns, unfortunately the asian supplier decided to make them look like bourns, but that does not make them any less functional. We have used them for over 5 years in many, many things, they are found throughout all my own personal gear, and there is simply nothing wrong with them. I have not had a single one fail, ever. Beyond that, if they were some nondescript, plain blue or gray trimmers, you never would have said a thing. [EDIT: Not that it matters, but the trimmers in the remaining kits are murata's now]
Resistors; Yes, they are larger than what Volker had intended, but having a larger body helps with cooling, and they do actually fit, it just takes a little finesse.
Caps being rated for 105 degrees; totally unnecessary, period. If you let you rack psu get up to 85+ degrees, you are going to have far more to worry about than a few caps. Sahib did extensive tests on the temperatures under substantial load and found that the caps run around 30 - 40 degrees http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=33849.msg487051#msg487051 I told you several times that larger numbers do not equal "higher quality", that's simply not how it works.
Rectifiers; The max amps rating on the transformer is 2.2A per secondary, 6A is almost triple that value, and if you take into account that you will most likely never see more than 1.5A with a fully loaded 51X rack completely loaded, it's 4 times the value. You claimed that Sahib "specified" the 25A part...which is untrue. It's just the part he chose to include in his kit. There's nothing wrong with using a 25A part, but it's not needed. Again, this is a case of your assumption that larger numbers mean higher quality, which is simply not the case. Both the 6A and 25A part have the same max operating temp anyway. Beyond all of that, Volker, who designed the psu, confirmed long ago that 6A is fine, as did Sahib http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=36874.msg468144#msg468144
Tantalum caps and no film; Well, here we have another case of your lack of knowledge, which for the record is fine. There's nothing wrong with making mistakes, and there's nothing wrong with being inexperienced. I would never fault anyone for that, we have all been there. For the record, there are NO tantalums in the kit, only ceramics and poly's, and poly's are film caps.
To be perfectly honest, I don't appreciate your comments in the least, and you quite obviously have not bothered to take the time to read up on any of this. I tried to help you by explaining all of these things to you before you sent the kit back, and when you wouldn't accept my advice and kept insisting that the parts were "under rated" and "low quality", i made the suggestion that you would be better off financially by simply replacing the parts in the kit that you were not happy with, even if it was all a pointless exercise. You insisted on sending it back, I said all along that I was perfectly fine with that and refunded your money, and then you come here and start talking Sh*t about me and my product.
Also, if you had taken the time to read...you would have found this http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=33849.msg508992#msg508992 which Sahib posted when there were a few complaints about the cost of the electrical parts. You'll note the comments on both the cap ratings and rectifiers...
You'll note that Sahib even mentions my kit as an alternative here http://www.groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=33849.msg495026#msg495026 and Jeff Steiger is using one of my kits for his rack.
I use my kits in all my own personal gear, with no changes whatsoever. I make sure that the parts in each kit suit their purpose and try to offer a balance between quality and affordability. That being said, if I "swindled" you by offering you a low cost kit that more than adequately suits the needs of this psu, I guess have swindled myself as well...as i am using my kit in its entirety for my rack.
In conclusion, I truly am sorry that you are unhappy with your experience with me. I do care about my customers (and people in general) which is why I tried to help you, tried to save you some time and money, and tried to educate you, but you were not interested in anything but being angry.
Next time you feel like publicly insulting someone, please take the time to make sure you are better informed.
