How about replacement power supply for Intellivision 1, 3, Tandy, and Sears

[Uzumaki]

There's already a few subjects on replacement or alternative controllers, a possible replacement to the out-of-production Cuttle Cart, and VGA/RGB/whatever upgrade. How about the power supply.

 

I'm not going to touch Inty 2, it's a bit crammed inside and it'd probably be somewhat hard to upgrade the power board with a better one. But the large Intellivision model has a lot of room.

 

Currently it's a linear power supply which is cheap to produce back in the time but it's inefficient, takes up space, and you got to unplug it to completely stop the electric drain since the primary side of the transformer is not switched.

 

There are numerous schematic on the internet with just the power supply board like this one: console5.com File: Intellivision-I-Power-Supply-Test-Point

 

However I don't have the current, only the voltage. Is there any information that can tell me how much current it typically needs? Otherwise I'd have to rig up something to fit my meter between the board and the main board and read value on each pin. Plus my Inty 3 does not have the extra +5v lead, they are the thick blue wire that carries unregulated 5v source.

 

What I was thinking is to take out the rat nest of transformer, power supply board, and salvage the switch plus the power connector socket, use a cheap 18v laptop power supply (they should be able to fully supply power and efficiently), add the original switch from that to old Intellivision power socket and 18v out, drop in a 12v and 5v DC-DC converter, etc. The +5v unregulated can be tapped off regulated line if the total current does not exceed the converter limit.

 

In theory the power supply brick should run cooler, especially when the console's off. It should defiantly use a bit less power in the long run, and free up some space inside for other mods. Video mod, 2 controller port adapters, and whatever else we can cook up, it's going to run out of room soon.

 

Anyway here's what I got "maybe":

 

3 diodes (or a single Zener diode) would effectively raise the common ground on Intellivision side by 2.1v so there can be -2.1v to supply the 2 chips. The DC-DC converter would tap between 18v (which would read as 16 or 15.9v with respect to the "new" ground) can step down to 12v, then a 5v DC to DC converter to provide the 5v DC.

 

That is how small a DC-DC converter is. A small no frill 18v power supply, 2 DC-DC converters, and diodes, plus maybe capacitors? would be smaller easy than original power supply board + transformer. The 5v out should be fine for both regulated and on older models, unregulated 5v. Looking at the schematic it seems to be tied together at the end anyway so the extra wire is probably for extra 5v current as the main connector is very thin.

 

One quick spec off a 12v converter:

 

• Input Voltage: 15-50V DC
  
• Output Voltage: 12V DC
  
• Output Current: 3A
  
• Conversion Efficiency: 80%
  
• Input Capacitance: 50V 330uF
  
• Output Capacitance: 16V 1000uF
  
• Size (L x W x H): Approx. 2 x 1.9 x 1.2 inch / 5.2 x 4.7 x 3 cm
  

3A is far more than what Intellivision needs so it should be fine. But I'd like to find measurement or check myself before I jump into yet another mod project and end up stuck in a 4 way war of loose screws and misplaced screwdrivers.

[Uzumaki]

LMFAO I tried Google search again and this post was the second one listed in the search result...

[HunterZero]

Will the input voltage support 110V-240V @ 50~60Hz?

 

- James

[Uzumaki]

Most of the modern power supplies are auto switching 100-240 so it should work for any region easy.

[yell0w_lantern]

Whatever happened with this?

[Unstablewarpfield]

Would something like this work? I noticed my intellivision runs pretty hot and was wondering if an alternative (more modern) powersupply would reduce heat produced.

[Unstablewarpfield]

Would something like this work? I noticed my intellivision runs pretty hot and was wondering if an alternative (more modern) powersupply would reduce heat produced.

[Unstablewarpfield]

Would something like this work? I noticed my intellivision runs pretty hot and was wondering if an alternative (more modern) powersupply would reduce heat produced.

[Unstablewarpfield]

Would something like this work? I noticed my intellivision runs pretty hot and was wondering if an alternative (more modern) powersupply would reduce heat produced.

[Unstablewarpfield]

Would something like this work? I noticed my intellivision runs pretty hot and was wondering if an alternative (more modern) powersupply would reduce heat produced.

[Unstablewarpfield]

Would something like this work? I noticed my intellivision runs pretty hot and was wondering if an alternative (more modern) powersupply would reduce heat produced.

[Unstablewarpfield]

If a moderator could edit this a bit that would be nice... my connection went haywire causing the spam....

[Guest LiqMat]

If a moderator could edit this a bit that would be nice... my connection went haywire causing the spam....

 

That wasn't your connection, a subroutine in the Matrix was reset.

[Unstablewarpfield]

Ooooowwww haha. Was THAT it

[Guest LiqMat]

Ooooowwww haha. Was THAT it

 

You didn't hear it fr0m m3 #&( __#*

 

me

me

mem

me434

me

e,we()

........................

 

 

 

_

[+-^CrossBow^-]

It isn't a complete replacement, but I recently swapped out the 7805 and 7812 regulators from my sears intelly and replaced them with DC-DC drop in equivalents. The system runs much cooler overall as the only heat really produced now is where the transformer sits. Replacing that out completely would be the most ideal, but I'm not an expert in how to go about that.

[Unstablewarpfield]

Same here. I'd love to get rid of that old and bulky transformer. Just not sure if the described method here would give the -2.1V. For a small cost I gave both my coleco and videopac internal psu's. Making it a mission to do thesame with my atari 2600/7800 and thought to redo my inty as well. If anybody has some info to share that would be awesome :-)

[PinWiz69]

I'm in need of a transformer for one of the INTY's I have. Instead of trying to find a used one on ebay now, is there a replacement that can be purchased and used?

Edited May 17, 2018 by PinWiz69

[Unstablewarpfield]

Years later...

 

I decided I am going to give this a shot. I'll breadboard the needed dc/dc convertors. I will use an old laptop psu to try things out, but eventually I'd like a drop in pcb with an 18V power module and all the other components on it. It will have to wait a couple of weeks to get this started since I'm doing a new rgb mod first :-)

 

Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-N960F met Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

[Unstablewarpfield]

Ok, so doodling around a bit in Eagle with the schematic in the start of this topic gives me this as a base. (schematic not finished) I'm not too happy with that Zener. 

 

I was thinking instead of this... maybe it's possible to use a 16V AC/DC power module with a 12V DC/DC, 5V DC/DC and an isolated DC/DC converter for -2.1V 

 

I saw for example the DAC25-16, which is a nice pcb mountable power module. But I'm uncertain if a max current of 1.56A is enough to drive the console. I'll have to measure current draws on all voltage lines during gameplay to see what is going on there. 

There is the option of the DAC40-16, which delivers more power, but it also is taller and does not fit the case. I determined 25mm as the maximum height of the AC/DC convertor. This is... If I want to get all this stuff on one pcb. 

 

If I can't find a suitable AC/DC converter there is always the option of using a seperate unit that connects to the replacement pcb with the DC/DC converters on it. I just like the idea of having a one in all solution. Keeps it neat. 

 

Suggestions for improvement are most welcome ?

 

Edit: Fuse was moved to L. 

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by Unstablewarpfield

[Unstablewarpfield]

Been giving this some more thinking. Schematics above will change dramatically. As said, I plan on using a 16V AC/DC convertor, a 12V switching regulator and 5V switching regulator which will feed an adp5074 configured for -2.1V. This should deliver all voltages needed. Curious if Intv will take this [emoji846] I'll probably do some more designing this weekend. 

 

 

[Unstablewarpfield]

After a bit of tinkering this is what I came up with.

 

16V from the DAC25-16.

12V from a Traco power TSR 2-2412 switching regulator.

5V from a Traco power TSR 2-2450 switching regulator, cascading into the ADP5074, configured for -2.1V. 

 

Now to fit everything within the dimensions of the original pcb size. I started out with most components 0805. I can drop to 0603 or even 0402 if needed ?

Edited April 7, 2021 by Unstablewarpfield

[+wongojack]

Following

[waali]

On 5/25/2017 at 3:17 PM, Unstablewarpfield said:

Same here. I'd love to get rid of that old and bulky transformer. Just not sure if the described method here would give the -2.1V. For a small cost I gave both my coleco and videopac internal psu's. Making it a mission to do thesame with my atari 2600/7800 and thought to redo my inty as well. If anybody has some info to share that would be awesome ?

Fantastic work, following

[Unstablewarpfield]

Here is a first redraft of the pcb. I was able to put all components on the original size power pcb. It's not quite done yet. I'll also still have to investigate the current draw of the Intv on all 4 voltage lines. I'm hoping that the 1.56A the DAC25 delivers is enough. If not... there is the challenge of finding a more powerfull AC/DC converter within thesame dimension, or go for an open-frame converter. They tend to be lower. I do like the formfactor of a fully closed converter though. More on the AC/DC converter can be found here

Furthermore... I have read about older versions requiring -3.3V instead of -2.1V. An added jumper or two could accomodate for that so that the adp5074 has a programmable output voltage, servicing -2.1V as well as -3.3 models.