Superior PCB assembly workmanship

Ha! How is the rest of the power supply?

Strangely enough, the top side looks pretty well done! I'll take another pic in a moment.

It draws about 0.8 amp with nothing connected. The air coming out of the case smelled a little magic-smokey but not too bad...I don't see anything obviously scorched.

When you turn it on the backlit LCD meter comes up fine, and its own current meter indicates its fail.

Component side:

I like the floating diode. It appears they're using "full lead length for guaranteed specifications" or whatever that nonsense quote on replacement component bags was.

It's pretty perplexing. The layout seems to be well done, they're using what appear to be quality components and metal film resistors throughout (though who can say about the caps), the PCB appears to be well made. The SMD display controller daughterboard is fine. The display is nice and it comes in a rugged case.

Why trash it at the last minute? It's almost as if they're afraid of getting a reputation for quality.

Is that an Oscon cap on the left?

Hmm, looks hand soldered? The two underside components, of course, but the rest I mean.

Or it could've gone through wave, followed by some touch-up. Dunno.

Flux is messy as hell, of course, which I think is common for hasty Chinese production. A dip in solvent then shake it off. Looks worse than it is.

I'm a bit more worried about the cartoon figures; they aren't in a very safe place, and should probably be removed before final assembly.

Tim

Main problem is at the moment there's a fault somewhere and it's drawing a lot of current just sitting with no load attached!

Yeah, those guys can be real jerks sometimes.

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None of the electrolytics are named, but all are labeled with a stylized "G" inside a "D" or "I" maybe. Doesn't immediately bring anything to mind.

One of the pads is ripped off the board. It looks like there was some real quick and dirty repairs or rework. My first thought was water damage, not flux residue.