crazzywolfie Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 (edited) was wondering if building a replacement power supply for a colecovision is as easy as using a 7905 and 7805 voltage regulator and then using a 12v power plug? my power brick is dead. putting out no voltage at all and i see it costing more to fix it than it is worth. plus the thing is so massive. i figure a couple voltage regulators and a bit of metal installed inside the console would be pretty easy job and not add too much weight and would not take up that much space. plus it would not cost an are and a leg. Edited March 18, 2014 by crazzywolfie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikrananka Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Perhaps something like this? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecrypticodor Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Perhaps something like this? DSC07447.JPG That supply is this one http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=CFM40T-01virtualkey14670000virtualkey418-CFM40T-01 and it's like $40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikrananka Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 That supply is this one http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=CFM40T-01virtualkey14670000virtualkey418-CFM40T-01 and it's like $40 Yep - it is expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Could you use a power supply from an old PC? I know that the PC supplies have various output voltages. That wouldn't make it any smaller, but I'd always thought I could cut the connector and wire up the appropriate pins from a PC supply to get what I need. Interested to hear if anyone has tried that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazzywolfie Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 i could use a pc power supply but it takes up about the same space as the stock power brick. that is how i currently have it setup to test the system. Perhaps something like this? DSC07447.JPG i have seen that a couple times and don't really want to spend that much on a power adapter. i think it would be more cost effective to do the ram upgrade than buy one of those. i just figured a couple voltage regulators, some wire and a plug would be like $5. plus i think i could install a couple voltage regulators and build them a heat sync. couldn't be much harder than replacing cab supports on my truck or building new stainless steel gas tank straps. got lots of bits of aluminum or stainless steel that would make great heat sinks kicking around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 i could use a pc power supply but it takes up about the same space as the stock power brick. that is how i currently have it setup to test the system. i have seen that a couple times and don't really want to spend that much on a power adapter. i think it would be more cost effective to do the ram upgrade than buy one of those. i just figured a couple voltage regulators, some wire and a plug would be like $5. plus i think i could install a couple voltage regulators and build them a heat sync. couldn't be much harder than replacing cab supports on my truck or building new stainless steel gas tank straps. got lots of bits of aluminum or stainless steel that would make great heat sinks kicking around. Regarding the PC psu, how do you have it hooked up to the Coleco? Can you send me a pic or a schematic or something? You can get various thicknesses of copper plate online. I bought some from a place called something like smallparts.com. You can also find thicker aluminum and copper foil at a hobby/craft store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazzywolfie Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 butchered one of the power sockets and plugged them into the terminals according to the video i saw on you tube about testing the power supply. i am not worried about what i use as a heat sink. the aluminum i have should be more than good enough to keep things cool along with some thermal paste Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Seems like an easy enough project to try. I'm thinking you could maybe use one of those 90w laptop supplies (that are ubiquitous) and add the regulators to give you 3 outputs. The worst outcome would be you have a power supply that gives the right output, but maybe doesn't work for some reason. Plenty of testing you can do before you actually plug it into a Coleco to be sure you are on target. I'd be interested to see how it comes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazzywolfie Posted March 18, 2014 Author Share Posted March 18, 2014 i don't see why you would have to use a 90w laptop power supply. there are so many cheap and easily found 12v power adapters. i got a old router plug that put out 12v and 1.5 amp or something like that which i think should be more than enough to power the colecovision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiLic0ne t0aD Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 I wonder what ones swapfile was using.. He had a few internal modded CV's for sale then bounced out of here.. Too bad he never revealed the source for parts. I wouldn't do the zip tie thing though, doesn't look professional.. I'd use pop rivets or something before resorting to that.. Those power supplies at Mouser are out of stock at the moment to, bummer.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazzywolfie Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 zip ties? no one mention zip ties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 i don't see why you would have to use a 90w laptop power supply. there are so many cheap and easily found 12v power adapters. i got a old router plug that put out 12v and 1.5 amp or something like that which i think should be more than enough to power the colecovision. Because I have a box full of them but yeah 12v adapter would make more sense. I suppose I was thinking that you'd probably want to regulate the 12v line anyway, so you could make it compatible with a higher watt supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazzywolfie Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 (edited) i was actually thinking about using a 12v voltage regulator just in case of possible voltage spikes Edited March 19, 2014 by crazzywolfie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecrypticodor Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Those power supplies at Mouser are out of stock at the moment to, bummer.. They have plenty of these. http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Artesyn-Embedded-Technologies/LPT24/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvAvBNgSS9Lqq57M0Wa%252byDO They're too big to fit inside a ColecoVision. So you'd have to make an external brick with it. I have one I got cheap and it will work. You just have to ground both heat sinks together with a piece of wire or you'll get a ton of noise in your video. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazzywolfie Posted March 19, 2014 Author Share Posted March 19, 2014 i figure there is no point in going back to the brick. if i am going to do this i am going to go smaller and internal. otherwise i would be better off to cut the brick open and try fixing it. it is most likely just some bad solder points Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiLic0ne t0aD Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 That's pretty cool! Hmm, slightly more expensive though. I'd consider it if all my bricks crapped out. There's got to be other sources than mouser.. I found a couple but will look into it tomorrow. I'm off to sleep! If all else fails, Yurkie is the man to talk to for his power mod services. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pseudo_intellectual Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Just curious: has anyone gone about using the relulators-inside-ColecoVision approach that the original poster is proposing? I'd like to do something similar. I am missing the original brick but I have a fairly powerful 12V external SMPS I think I can use if I can get the additional 5V and -5V sources the ColecoVision requires. Is the 7805 and its equivalent -5V (7905?) regulator up to the task? What kind of load should I expect the ColecoVision to put it under, and how warm should I expect the regulators to get? I see that this site has power ratings: http://www.colecovision.dk/technical.htm But there is a decimal discrepancy between the adapter photos and the schematic, so I'm not entirely sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pseudo_intellectual Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 In case anyone cares, I did eventually manage to find a solution using a switching 5V regulator and a charge pump inverter for -5V. I particularly like the switching regulator since it is rated for 1.5A and it emits no detectable heat. It also only cost about $4.20. Since my 12V power supply is already regulated, it goes right into the board. Once I figure out why the I am getting no video (a problem this particular ColecoVision had to start with), I'll make a small hole for the power supply connector. Anyway, if someone happens to have an external 12V supply floating around, making use of it appears to be quite workable. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omf Posted April 20, 2014 Share Posted April 20, 2014 i have or am testing a all regulator power supply, im using a 16v laptop power supply as source power, as you can imaging this will generate quite a lot of heat so a fan will be needed. also it seems that negative voltage regulators output -5 in this case on the screw hole plate and positive regulators output GND. so they cant be attached to the same heat sink directly, i have found a solution to this however inside a old pc power supply work still needs to be done but it is looking promising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegamezmaster Posted April 22, 2014 Share Posted April 22, 2014 Would be nice to have a cheap alternative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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