Are Ablecom PSU's garbage or am I just unlucky?

[Fritz]

Just had the third failure in 6 months, different chassis's. Never had a problem with a Supermicro branded PSU. Ablecom's seem to be unreliable and noisy as heck.

 

[Terry Kennedy]

Just had the third failure in 6 months, different chassis's. Never had a problem with a Supermicro branded PSU. Ablecom's seem to be unreliable and noisy as heck.

There's a dirty little secret regarding rackmount hot-swap power supplies - there are a small number of companies that make them for just about everybody. These companies sell them under their own name, various "house brand" names of the parent company, and also label them for various OEMs. Component selection and quality can vary between supposedly identical supplies labeled with different names.

Look on the label for the UL file number (E-number), which will be in tiny print near the backwards "UR" logo. Note that some companies will re-submit the part under their own E-number, so (for example) a Dell power supply might come up as Dell and not the actual manufacturer.

UL E-number lookup tool

In the specific case of the Supermicro PWS-920P-SQ, it (at least the one I looked at here) has UL file number E319022, which looks up as "Compuware Technology" and a quick web search shows the CPR-9211-1M1LF is probably the Supermicro supply. Further digging shows the efficiency reports for both the Supermicro and the Compuware which have consecutive test numbers, identical results, and were tested on the same day.

Note that it may not be possible to directly substitute the OEM supply, since the PMBus configuration is different - for example, SMCIPMITool may not detect the Compuware version of the supply.

The power supply will also have a "Factory" number, usually on the bottom of the label. This is not as precise as the UL E-number. And there is some overlap. I've seen Ablecom and Compuware labeled as Factory 1 and Factory 2. The addresses in the UL file submissions are suspiciously similar as well:

ABLECOM TECHNOLOGY INC
5TH FL 228 LIAN CHENG RD
CHUNG HO DISTRICT
NEW TAIPEI, 235 TAIWAN

COMPUWARE TECHNOLOGY INC
5TH FL 232 LIANCHENG RD
CHUNG-HO DISTRICT
NEW TAIPEI, 235 TAIWAN

Of course, that could be the address of incorporation (attorney's office) not the actual headquarters location.

Factory 7 is 3Y Power Technology.

 

[Fritz]

Thanks for the info.

I won't be buying any more Ablecoms. Guess that when your name isn't on the outside there's no need to be picky about quality.

 

[T_Minus]

There's a dirty little secret regarding rackmount hot-swap power supplies - there are a small number of companies that make them for just about everybody. These companies sell them under their own name, various "house brand" names of the parent company, and also label them for various OEMs. Component selection and quality can vary between supposedly identical supplies labeled with different names.

Look on the label for the UL file number (E-number), which will be in tiny print near the backwards "UR" logo. Note that some companies will re-submit the part under their own E-number, so (for example) a Dell power supply might come up as Dell and not the actual manufacturer.

UL E-number lookup tool

In the specific case of the Supermicro PWS-920P-SQ, it (at least the one I looked at here) has UL file number E319022, which looks up as "Compuware Technology" and a quick web search shows the CPR-9211-1M1LF is probably the Supermicro supply. Further digging shows the efficiency reports for both the Supermicro and the Compuware which have consecutive test numbers, identical results, and were tested on the same day.

Note that it may not be possible to directly substitute the OEM supply, since the PMBus configuration is different - for example, SMCIPMITool may not detect the Compuware version of the supply.

The power supply will also have a "Factory" number, usually on the bottom of the label. This is not as precise as the UL E-number. And there is some overlap. I've seen Ablecom and Compuware labeled as Factory 1 and Factory 2. The addresses in the UL file submissions are suspiciously similar as well:

ABLECOM TECHNOLOGY INC
5TH FL 228 LIAN CHENG RD
CHUNG HO DISTRICT
NEW TAIPEI, 235 TAIWAN

COMPUWARE TECHNOLOGY INC
5TH FL 232 LIANCHENG RD
CHUNG-HO DISTRICT
NEW TAIPEI, 235 TAIWAN

Of course, that could be the address of incorporation (attorney's office) not the actual headquarters location.

Factory 7 is 3Y Power Technology.

Thank you for the insight, good digging!

I just organized a couple dozen supermicro PSU and some abelcoms! I'll be sure to check for #s as I go through, record them and share