TAGAN IS GONE BAD.. Seriously..

[KDKPSJ]

Well.. here is my story.

I've purchased Tagan 480W from Ajump, one of the official US Distributors of Tagan. Arrived on time in good manner, shrink wrapped, no sign of open.. I was so pleased that I got European No.1 seller in my own hand. So, I opened the box, everything looked good, EXCEPT "VOID IF REMOVED" sticker was clearly cut. Interesting. But I thought "Well, who cares." They only have 1 year warranty anyway, and I've never seen well-known name PSU dies within a year. So, I believed Tagan. I put it in my main rig, and even more surprise was waiting for me. It was DOA. What a coincident, I would say.

I put an RMA request on their website yesterday morning. But no answer or RMA # yet. I'll see how everything goes from now on. But I am very disappointed with Tagan, the No.1 European PSU manufacture, no, the No.1 fraud PSU manufacture. I'll see, what Ajump does about this.

ADDED:
I guess I am not the only one. I found THIS AT SILENTPCREVIEW.

 

[Lyfer]

Who the heck is tagan?

 

[Sonic587]

I've heard of a few people having no sticker/cut sticker on Tagans recently as well. DOA doesn't shock me. Any PSU can be DOA. It's the cut stickers that worry me. What's with this quality control?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I have not idea who "tagan" is, never heard of them. But why would the mfg cut the sticker? It sounds to me more like there is something going on at a dealer/distributer level. Those tags are supposed to be affixed, sealed, by the mfg.

 

[UnTech]

Originally posted by: Lyfer
Who the heck is tagan?

 

[bomberz1qr20]

Oh great...

Hello first post here. I was about to order one of these, Ajump is local to me so it would be one day shipping.

They have them on Newegg too - (Epower/Tagan) but it shows "PFC: N/A" The units on Newegg in the pics show "115-230V" instead of "95-250" like the Euro ones. Shame.

I guess these are dumbed down models compared to the ones I've read all the great reviews for. I was going to get the 380w, it looked like the perfect unit.

I'll have to dig a little deeper on this one.

 

[bomberz1qr20]

So what I gather is they've ditched the PFC for th units in the US, although it will still auto-sense the voltage.

Pic of Euro Tagan 480w

Pic of Tagan unit on Newegg

 

[KDKPSJ]

bomberz1qr20, the one from Ajump is exactly the same one as Newegg has (Imported by EPower). It's 115-230V instead of 95V-250V and only 1 year warranty. Not sure about Active PFC, though, but I assmue it won't have Active PFC, because it's not mentioned anywhere. Just think.. We all know how Active PFC is good for PSU marketing, no matter it's useful or not. But they don't mention anything about it, which I think either they are stupid, or it doesn't have Active PFC.

I honestly have no idea who I should blame more, but IMO, both Tagan and Ajump are guilty no matter what. I'm sure Ajump already knows the problem since many people who bought sticker-cut Tagan from them complained. But it seems like nothing has been done.

 

[bomberz1qr20]

Originally posted by: everydae
bomberz1qr20, the one from Ajump is exactly the same one as Newegg has (Imported by EPower). It's 115-230V instead of 95V-250V and only 1 year warranty. Not sure about Active PFC, though, but I assmue it won't have Active PFC, because it's not mentioned anywhere. Just think.. We all know how Active PFC is good for PSU marketing, no matter it's useful or not. But they don't mention anything about it, which I think either they are stupid, or it doesn't have Active PFC.

Active PFC on a 380w PSU for $45 (Newegg) sounded too good to be true anyway!

PFC greatly enhances the efficiency, as I understand it.

What are the heatsinks like in the unit you have? Are they they burly black ano ones like in all the reviews I've read? Or did they cut these corners as well?

Too bad for Tagan - from all the reviews I've read it sounded like a real "Antec Killer".

 

[Remedy]

Another side of the coin here.

 

[PliotronX]

Originally posted by: bomberz1qr20

Originally posted by: everydae
bomberz1qr20, the one from Ajump is exactly the same one as Newegg has (Imported by EPower). It's 115-230V instead of 95V-250V and only 1 year warranty. Not sure about Active PFC, though, but I assmue it won't have Active PFC, because it's not mentioned anywhere. Just think.. We all know how Active PFC is good for PSU marketing, no matter it's useful or not. But they don't mention anything about it, which I think either they are stupid, or it doesn't have Active PFC.

Active PFC on a 380w PSU for $45 (Newegg) sounded too good to be true anyway!

PFC greatly enhances the efficiency, as I understand it.

What are the heatsinks like in the unit you have? Are they they burly black ano ones like in all the reviews I've read? Or did they cut these corners as well?

Too bad for Tagan - from all the reviews I've read it sounded like a real "Antec Killer".

PFC is not related to conversion efficiency, rather it aids in cleaning up the "power grid." It helps with the AC side and can squeeze a few extra minutes from a UPS charge, but AC-to-DC efficiency is independant of PFC usage (excess waste heat/ability to perform at higher temps).

Anyways, this is interesting. Tagans are made by Topower who also OEM's A+GPB units (AWA the OCZ Powerstream line), and they have been gaining respect amongst extreme overclockers on a budget/mission to reduce noise. This issue seems to be a new one, I hope you can get it rectified.

 

[bomberz1qr20]

So I looked around online a bit, and there are a few sellers advertising the units as having active PFC, 95-250v, etc.

http://www.aicmicro.com/productdetail.asp?id=22427

http://store.yahoo.com/str8buy/tatg480wasic.html

I might call these guys and ask them what's what.

What I really want to know is are the rest of the internals and specs for the non-PFC units (sold in US) are the same as the Euro units. If they've downgraded these, how far?

Anyone have pics of a US unit? Are the sinks the same? How's the voltages?

I am still considering one of these if the only thing missing is the PFC.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I'd be more apt to blame the reseller than TAGAN. Any goober can shrink wrap a RMA'd PSU that was probably borked by some moron trying a PSU mod. I sincerely doubt it came off the line and went through QC like that.

 

[Operandi]

Here is how I look at it....

Reseller/distributor is most likely responsible for the DOA unit and removed warranty sticker.

Tagan should make it clear that there are versions with and w/o APFC as its very confusing to the consumer..

 

[imported_Energizer]

I had read many favorable reviews of The Tagan power supplies, which led me to purchase the TG480 back in July 2004. Shortly after installing it I had a brown out and my 700VA UPS was unable to power the computer. I began to email tech support concerning the problem. I sent several emails over a 6-week period with no response. Almost two months later they finally responded telling me that the TG480 needs 685 watts or at least a 1200VA UPS. So I purchased a 1500VA UPS by Powercom, from NewEgg. UPS power still will not work with this power supply. Many emails to Tagan since, the last one being on 10\06, I have yet to receive a reply. I feel I have given them more than enough chance to make good on a defective product. Buyer beware, your on your own if you purchase anything from Tagan.

 

[bomberz1qr20]

I'm glad I backed out of this purchase now...

The 380w was probably more than I needed, so I ordered an Antec case w/ a 350w PSU, for the same price as the Tagan PSU.

I think when the case shows up I will be happy w/ my choice.