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Commander Pro - Electrical fault/failure


burnout21

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Hi,

 

Today I finally got around to unboxing the commander pro I bought back in August.

 

After finding a nice location to mount it and connecting 4x SP120's and a single temperature sensor my machine failed to post. Much head scratching and pulling and replacing of components finally resulted in a post. During all of this I pulled and re-seated the USB header of the commander. (nothing had moved location, just a pull and re-seat)

 

since I was eye balling the post status LED's like a hawk when I hit the power switch, I noticed smoke a wisp coming from that very header and pulled the commander from it.

 

The cable was very warm to the touch, and in the below photo shows the insulation on both GND wires totally melted and no fused to surrounding wires.

 

Turns out my motherboard was trying to tell me something isn't right and was preventing a post to stop the pending fire.

 

Bit miffed at this as you might imagine after spending £65 on it.

 

7ZHLDCYl.jpg

 

WiWL8Eyl.jpg

 

So what's the best way forward with this?

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  • Corsair Employee

So we'll definitely take care of that and replace your unit since it's under warranty, but have you tried plugging anything else into that USB header on your board? Is it possible it wasn't seated properly in the first place?

 

I don't want you to get another one and then have magic smoke come up again.

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I would send it in under warranty. Go to Support Ticket System and start the RMA.

 

Just tried this, and it's rejecting my actual email I used to sign up with and my forum handle.

 

Sorry been away working, and this is the first time I've turned my gaze this direction since the failure.

 

EDIT: So far I've created an account on the main corsair website using the same email address. It's stunning that the account on that page has zero functionality for RMA. It's great if you're buying but a total fail at support. Then when I try to use the support weblink it just rejects my email address.

 

So far customer support experience is pretty dam poor, and possibly overly complicated. Why sign in, to then sign in to then get no where.... wtf

 

 

2nd EDIT:

 

Created new username Burnout2125 just to get around the total mess this system is.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am now the dictionary definition of confused and angry all in one. New word "confusgry".

 

The replacement was sent to me and it arrived Monday just gone, as of this afternoon I have had another commander pro try to vaporize itself again.

 

Upon installing it I only connected a thermal couple, booted into win10 installed the corsair link software only to find nothing presented other than information from the various in built sensors dotted around.

 

Hmmmm, maybe the commander wants a fan or something...

 

So I powered down, and swapped a fan from motherboard control to commander control. Hit the power button and made the mistake of watching the post screen until my eyes were stinging and clouds of smoke were pouring from the machine. Lightening has struck twice.

 

Pulled the power plug and stared in disbelief. WTF is going on.

 

The power cable is safe and delivers power. no issues there. The USB extension cable is new this time around but it spends its days happily powering my front panel without issue.

 

Temporary placement

 

KUp8Z6Bl.jpg

 

Path of the USB cable (new this time)

 

Bewa3bAl.jpg

 

Happy go lucky SATA power cable.

 

gb3oqyal.jpg

 

The said happy go lucky SATA power cable firmly connected to the PSU.

 

yz229PTl.jpg

 

Burnt insulation, you can even see where the plastic case was resting on the cable that it melted the surface. Once again the ground pins are toast generating enough heat to burn all the insulation off.

 

teXx8f6h.jpg

 

This is completely maddening, and I am now tempted to take this to social media and beyond as the customer service response is absolutely useless with the recommendation of "can you plug it back in?"

 

Corsair can keep this piss poor attempt, and I just want my money back.

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  • Corsair Employee

Where the heck did you get that SATA cable you have plugged into the RM? That's not one of ours.

 

To be frank, the only times I've ever seen a Commander Pro burn out like this - let alone multiples - is when they were plugged into nonstandard cables and weren't being fed the correct power.

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Where the heck did you get that SATA cable you have plugged into the RM? That's not one of ours.

 

To be frank, the only times I've ever seen a Commander Pro burn out like this - let alone multiples - is when they were plugged into nonstandard cables and weren't being fed the correct power.

 

That cable is an Antec Quattro cable and it complies with the ATX standard 2.4

 

Power is power and that cable has powered many devices and still does without issue.

 

What I find deeply concerning is you've stated that these are known to burn out, just how many have burnt to a crisp?

 

Are you also stating that the Commander Pro is only compatible with corsair PSU's? Cables? etc etc etc...

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That cable is an Antec Quattro cable and it complies with the ATX standard 2.4

 

Power is power and that cable has powered many devices and still does without issue.

 

What I find deeply concerning is you've stated that these are known to burn out, just how many have burnt to a crisp?

 

Are you also stating that the Commander Pro is only compatible with corsair PSU's? Cables? etc etc etc...

 

Dude ... there is no standard for modular power supply cable connections to the PSU. Only for connections to devices.

I think what he's saying is that Corsair modular PSUs are only compatible with Corsair modular PSU cables. Which is pretty much true of PSU cables from every other vendor. And ... honestly ... sometimes different PSU models from the same vendor don't have compatible modular cables.

SATA as 3 power rails ... 3.3V, 5V and 12V. You may be "lucky" in that, perhaps, the wires for the 12V rail are the same between the two PSUs. Since most devices only use the 12V rail, you don't notice and "it works fine". Perhaps the 3.3V and 5V are reversed. Now, we have recently learned here that the Commander Pro uses the 3.3V rail. So what voltage are you feeding down that 3.3V rail? You'd need to get a multimeter and actually test the SATA connections on that plug. Or a SATA power tester.

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That cable is an Antec Quattro cable and it complies with the ATX standard 2.4

 

Power is power and that cable has powered many devices and still does without issue.

 

What I find deeply concerning is you've stated that these are known to burn out, just how many have burnt to a crisp?

 

Are you also stating that the Commander Pro is only compatible with corsair PSU's? Cables? etc etc etc...

 

Yeah they're definitely not standardized as far as modular power cables. You're lucky, I've seen at least 3 pictures on reddit in the last few weeks after black friday of people frying gpu's, mobo's, power cables from the same thing. Strongly recommend you use the standard cables.

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Yup, I'll 'third' with saying PSU cables are not standardized. If you get a cable not from the PSU company, you should use a multi meter to confirm pinouts. If they do not match OEM PSU, you can move the pins to match.

 

It is a fire hazard not to check. There is a lot of amperage and no fusing. It is capable of frying parts, overheating and causing a fire. Wire colors mean nothing when the cables come from different vendors.

Never assume.

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Yup, I'll 'third' with saying PSU cables are not standardized. If you get a cable not from the PSU company, you should use a multi meter to confirm pinouts. If they do not match OEM PSU, you can move the pins to match.

 

It is a fire hazard not to check. There is a lot of amperage and no fusing. It is capable of frying parts, overheating and causing a fire. Wire colors mean nothing when the cables come from different vendors.

Never assume.

 

Exactly! Try wiring up the same car stereo for a chevy and a VW based solely on color, you'll start a electrical fire real quick (just ask my brother).

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  • Corsair Employee

Yep. Don't use Antec cables with Corsair PSUs. Don't use Seasonic cables with SilverStone PSUs. Don't use Andyson cables with Enermax PSUs.

 

"ATX standard" applies to the cables that plug into your motherboard. Not what plugs into your PSU. You're lucky if you didn't fry anything else.

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Good morning,

 

After last nights confused anger, and reaching out to various communities, the shear wall of responses that came in overnight prompted me to reach for the multi-meter.

 

My findings below.

 

W5BWgAEl.png

 

It would appear in using the antec cable I have flipped the polarity on the 5v supply, which would result in the unhappy ground supply at the USB header. Frankly I am amazed the fiery death halted there...

 

 

So I offer a most humble apology as I believe any and all damages would be my fault in this case, however the service support could do with improvement.

 

I am spending this morning updated where I have posted, informing that I am responsible.

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