Atari power brick US -> EU

[Laschek]

but they are going to be smaller than 50mm diameter mostly,

So what, size doesn't matter 

[level42]

I've changed a US (yellow) wired block to 230VAC on Luc's SW cockpit as well. It's very easy to do and well worth it because it saves you a nasty step-down transformer....

BUT PLEASE MARK THE CHANGED OVER BLOCK FOR THE VOLTAGE YOU CHANGED IT TOO !!!!

Else maybe some day in the future someone might actually think it's a 120VAC one because of the wire color....


Oh, and better believe that Bob has those Big Blue's made specially for him. They are the only BLACK "Big Blue's".....and even carry that name (which another factory is _very_ unlikely to do):



By the way, the "Big Blue" on the Irish machines are not always Blue _and_ they are often a bit smaller....

I've been replacing caps as is so often suggested, and sometimes yes there are bad caps, but recently I've started to doubt if there REALLY is necessary. F.I. my Berzerk and MC machines are both un-capped (monitor & the rest of the machines) and work beautifully. I've measured ripple on Berzerk Power Supply and it was non-existent.

The real issue with old(er) caps is that the ESR starts to rise. The capacity itself is usually way over spec when the caps are new, and often still OK after a long time. You can't measure the ESR with a regular multi-meter.

I'm thinking of buying one of these:
http://www.radiodevices.ru/esr/esr4.htm

Yes it's russian, but it looks a lot more modern and professional then it's "Western" competitors.
It's also cheap and it runs on two lithium cells and uses a low power LCD instead of energy eating LEDs.

Anyway, here's the English manual:
http://www.radiodevices.info/esr/esr4_en.pdf

It also explains about ESR etc...

[petieken]

I've been looking at that tester too in the past, but where/how can you buy it?

Yeah, like you say, the most common problem with caps is the esr that increases (sometimes dramaticaly) over time. I tend to buy low esr caps most of the time when I'm replacing old ones, because there isn't much price diff with the regular ones these days.

[level42]

http://www.radiodevices.info/zakaz_e.php

[level42]

To put a little weight on the other side of the scale, I have also been thinking about replacing caps (elco's, a much better word IMHO) on vector PCB's and monitors with hi-end audio quality one's.

I know this may sound stupid, but at least the amplification stages of vector monitors are very comparable to audio amps.
However, I checked the PCB vector stages and they actually don't have any (or not many) elco's at all....
The monitors do have some of course....

If it would (further) improve the picture quality it's definitely worth trying...

[Muerto]

I've been replacing caps as is so often suggested, and sometimes yes there are bad caps, but recently I've started to doubt if there REALLY is necessary. F.I. my Berzerk and MC machines are both un-capped (monitor & the rest of the machines) and work beautifully. I've measured ripple on Berzerk Power Supply and it was non-existent.

I remember when i won the NIB hantarex MTC 900, a lot of people told me to do a cab kit, but it works beautiful and no cab replaced.

[petieken]

To put a little weight on the other side of the scale, I have also been thinking about replacing caps (elco's, a much better word IMHO) on vector PCB's and monitors with hi-end audio quality one's.

I know this may sound stupid, but at least the amplification stages of vector monitors are very comparable to audio amps.
However, I checked the PCB vector stages and they actually don't have any (or not many) elco's at all....
The monitors do have some of course....

If it would (further) improve the picture quality it's definitely worth trying...

In my amplifier restores I mostly used the Matsushita/Panasonic FC series (for the elco's). These have low impedance and thus they are great for audio purposes, and they are affordable too . Unless you want to upgrade to the really expensive audio specialty brands of course. I looked into these for my restores but I figured the price was too high, take maybe 5x more expensive for 1.5x quality gain. I was still on a student budget so it had to be relatively cheap Although I still would buy the FC series now if I could it all over again. I'm very happy with their performance. If it was a tube amp I would go for the expensive stuff.

I also replaced a lot of polyester caps with polypropylene. I know these don't dry out like elco's, but they have more gentle characteristics. Which is great for audio

[level42]

I'm aware we are completely de-railing this thread but what Amps did you restore ?

I'm looking to get a Marantz receiver in the 22 series for the game room. Will have a great retro look and of course a very good sound quality.

I checked my SW PCB again yesterday, and there are very few elco's used in the vector section (looks like only for the voltage regulators). The other caps are pretty weird looking one's. Some are ceramic some polypropylene I guess....I don't think these get worse over time ?

I actually e-mailed about this with Jed Margolin (the guy behind SW). I mentioned that sometimes f.i. letters on the screen look a bit "crooked" and he mentioned this:
It could be the integration capacitors in the Vector Generator. Make sure to
use the correct type of capacitor. (I think they are polypropylene.)

I'll see if I can make a close-up shot of the vector section so you can see what caps are used all over...
And I'll start a new thread about this....

[petieken]

Yeah, it's probably best you start a new thread where we can discuss caps.

As for the amps, I had a load of Pioneers, 2 Marantz and 2 Akai. Sold all of them except 1 Pioneer, because I didn't repair it, and after all those years, it's still not repaired . It only needs two new transistors in the preamp stage.
I also had numerous tape decks (the ones with reels), cassette decks, turntables,... (These were various brands: Sony, Pioneer, Technics, Thorens, Nakamichi, Akai,...)
Almost all was sold when I was 19 because I wanted a car....

[Blanka]

Is it evil to advise to replace it with something like this:

Comes in 12/5/-5 and 12/5/24V flavours.

[Muerto]

guess not, but if the original one is working, it´s cheaper to move a few wires around 

[level42]

Very evil !

Gotta love the hum of the original linear supply. They are also simple (in construction and to repair) and IMHO more reliable.

They are also part of the original cabinet and it's cool to keep them running that way...