Efficiency, PFC and Voltage Regulation
Voltage Regulation
To test voltage regulation we load the power supply to five different load scenarios that give an equal spread of load across every single rail. So that means 20% on all rails, 40% on all rails and so on. We then calculate the average deviance of each rail from its expected voltage.
Power Efficiency
Power efficiency is measured by calculating actual supplied wattage divided by the wattage drawn at the wall/plug, multiplied by 100 to give a percentage. We then compare that to the particular 80 Plus certification the company claims to see if it meets that. You can see the 80 Plus certifications below, we always test 230v power supplies.
Power Factor Correction
Power Factor Correction is the ratio of the real power flowing to the load, to the apparent power in the circuit. The aim of PFC is to make the load circuitry that is power factor corrected appear purely resistive (apparent power equal to real power). In this case, the voltage and current are in phase and the reactive power consumption is zero. The closer the number to one the better as this allows the most efficient delivery of electrical power (Source – Wikipedia).
Teapo are high quality? Things have certainly changed since the days I used them.
When I worked on the bench back in the mid 80’s to late 80’s repairing switching PSU’s was my job and Teapo were a cheap and nasty brand of cap we used to buy use because they were far cheaper than Nippon Chemi-Con and a lot easier to obtain. Generally they were good for about 9 months then they began to swell, leak and pop but those PSU’s were not PC PSU’s but heavy duty PSU’s used in large mainframes, in fact so much current ran through them that they buzzed and it was nerve wracking to to thread a screwdriver past the heatsinks and exposed coils to tweak a potentiometer.
Anyway I’m rambling on now. What I’m getting at is Teapo have been around for a long time and I guess their components have improved considerably because a lot of reputable manufacturers use their caps.