Corsair Issues Recall for Recent SF Series Power Supplies
by Ryan Smith on June 4, 2020 9:15 AM EST
Following an unexpected uptick in RMA requests, Corsair has initiated a limited recall for some of the manufacturer’s SF series of small form factor PSUs. The SFX power supplies, which were most recently revised in 2018 with the introduction of the SF Platinum series, have quickly become some of the most popular SFX power supplies on the market due to their high quality as well as Corsair’s reputation for support. The latter of which, as it turns out, is getting put to the test, as the company has discovered an issue in a recent run of the PSUs.
As noted by the crew over at Tom’s Hardware, Corsair has posted a notice to its forums alerting users of the recall. According to the company, an investigation of RMA’d PSUs has turned up an issue with PSUs made in the last several months. When in an environment with both “high temperatures, and high humidity”, the PSUs can unexpectedly fail. The fault is apparently a highly variable one – Corsair’s notice reports units failing both out of the box and later on – but thankfully seems to be relatively benign overall, as the problem is on the AC side of the transformer, well before any power is fed to PC components.
Ultimately, while it’s not an issue that Corsair believes will impact every SF series PSU, it’s enough of an issue issue that the company has initiated a voluntary recall/replacement program for swapping out the affected PSUs. According to the company, the issue is only present in PSUs manufactured within the last several months – from October of 2019 to March of 2020 – with lot codes 194448xx to 201148xx. PSUs manufactured before that window are unaffected, as are PSUs manufactured afterwards. The lot codes can be found on the PSU’s packaging, or if you’re like a certain editor-in-chief who has thrown out their box, it can be found on the PSU sticker itself.
Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that as part of the recall program, Corsair is offering to ship out replacement PSUs in advance. And of course, shipping costs in both directions are being picked up by Corsair.
All told, it's extremely rare to see a recall notice put out for power supplies, and particularly high-end units like Corsair's SF series. Which, if nothing else, makes it a notable event.
The full details on the program, including how to identify affected PSUs, can be found on Corsair’s forums. Affected users can then file a ticket for an advance RMA over on Corsair’s support website.
Source: Corsair (via Tom's Hardware)
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PeachNCream - Thursday, June 4, 2020 - link
Sure beats the 2GB USB stick Acer sent me as compensation for the faulty NV 8600 GPU that took a class action lawsuit to only barely remedy. Good on Corsair for getting out in front of the problem and doing the right thing.hopearhodes30 - Thursday, June 11, 2020 - link
I was without work for 6 months when my former Co-worker finally recommended me to start freelancing from home… It was only after I earned $5000 in my first month when I actually believed I could do this for a living! Now I am happier than ever… I work from home and I am my own boss now like I always wanted…Everytime I see someone like that I say START FREELANCING MAN! This is where I started. WWW. iⅭash68.ⅭＯⅯmooninite - Thursday, June 4, 2020 - link
It's telling that part supplies for a product can change in the middle of a product's life without a model number change or any other type of notification to distinguish the difference.DanNeely - Thursday, June 4, 2020 - link
A bad batch of components from a supplier, or a faulty assembly machine on the production line could cause a batch of bad products with no reason to change a model number or even a revision code. I tend to suspect the former in this case because it would be a self-rectifying problem without Corsair or their production company having to do anything to have made the issue go away with more recent production.eek2121 - Thursday, June 4, 2020 - link
It wouldn’t hurt to tweak the revision code or model number slightly. Look at the current WD lawsuit for reasons this should be regulated.Lord of the Bored - Thursday, June 4, 2020 - link
Changing the model number with every part delivery would render the model number useless.This is why there's a lot number. So you can identify which of several identical devices were made with the batch of defective transformers or counterfeit capacitors.
dromoxen - Friday, June 5, 2020 - link
The WD issue (all HD makers) is far different, there was no fault involved.. they simply labelled a class of drives inaccurately and for a purpose for which they were not intended(NAS rather than archive). And for anybody who thinks there isnt a cabal on pricing etc , isnt it amazing that all the mfrs did the same thing? Does this go on elsewhere? Dram, ?DigitalFreak - Friday, June 5, 2020 - link
Pretty sure it does go on in the RAM market as well. Didn't Samsung or someone else get sued / fined for doing that a few years ago.mariush - Friday, June 12, 2020 - link
From what I read...The problem was caused by a bad batch of insulator sheets (like those thermal pads you see on video cards) that sit between a high voltage component (the PFC diode) and a heatsink.
That insulator sheet absorbed humidity over time from air and started to not be conductive near a hole through which a screw went and locked the part the heatsink.
So it's basically that bad batch of thermal transfer/ insulator material coupled with excessive torque of the screwing tightening the component too much (squeezing the insulator material) that causes the insulator to break and conduct electricity.
When this happens, the AC shorts and you get the fuse blown but nothing bad happens on the secondary side, the components are never at risk.
RMA is easiest because being a SFF power supply everything is compact, hard to reach and people don't have soldering skills to replace diodes and insulators and heatsinks to fix their power supplies.
If I were in Corsair's shoes, I'd probably just replace the psus with new SFF power supplies and repair the returned units and then use those repaired units as replacement parts for other modes sent to service.
zmeul - Thursday, June 4, 2020 - link
yes yes ... high qualityso high that you have to RMA to fix it