Antec Basiq BP500U Power Supply Review

Primary Analysis

On this page we will take an in-depth look at the primary stage of Antec Basiq BP500U. For a better understanding, please read our Anatomy of Switching Power Supplies tutorial.

This power supply uses one GBU806 rectifying bridge in its primary, which can deliver up to 8 A at 100° C. At 115 V this unit would be able to pull up to 920 W from the power grid; assuming 80% efficiency, the bridge would allow this unit to deliver up to 736 W without burning this component. Of course we are only talking about this component and the real limit will depend on all other components from the power supply. This component is attached to a heatsink, meaning that it can really deliver what is published on its datasheet.

Figure 9: Rectifying bridge.

On the active PFC circuit two SPA20N60C3 power MOSFET transistors are used, each one capable of delivering up to 20.7 A at 25° C or 13.1 A at 100° C in continuous mode (note the difference temperature makes) or 62.1 A in pulse mode at 25° C, presenting a resistance of 190 mΩ when turned on,
a characteristic called RDS(on) – the lower this number the higher efficiency is.

Figure 10: Active PFC transistors and diode.

The electrolytic capacitor in charge of filtering the output from the active PFC circuit is Taiwanese from Teapo and labeled at 85° C.

In the switching section, another two SPA20N60C3 power MOSFET transistors are used on the traditional two-transistor forward configuration.

Figure 11: Switching transistors.

The primary is controlled by a CM6800 PFC/PWM combo controller.

Figure 12: PFC/PWM combo controller.

Now let’s take a look at the secondary of this power supply.