Atari 400 power supply advice.

[sidney]

An old friend of mine had an Atari 400 when we were small and recently I had the urge to track one down to relive the fun of Pacman and Donkey Kong which were particularly enjoyable for me.

I have seen one for sale for £80 minus a Psu.

Is it easy to get a psu for? Will a universal one do or does it have to have the original or risk frying it?

I have seen an Atari one for £50 but frankly £50 for a psu verses £80 for the machire is not something I'm keen to do.

Advice please guys!!

Edited June 17, 2018 by sidney

[+DrVenkman]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/800-810-1050-XF551-Power-Adapter-Orig-Atari-New-No-Box/141871377524?hash=item2108316c74:g:nJ8AAOxymiVQ-xeM

An old friend of mine had an Atari 400 when we were small and recently I had the urge to track one down to relive the fun of Pacman and Donkey Kong which were particularly enjoyable for me.
I have seen one for sale for £80 minus a Psu.
Is it easy to get a psu for? Will a universal one do or does it have to have the original or risk frying it?
I have seen an Atari one for £50 but frankly £50 for a psu verses £80 for the machire is not something I'm keen to do.
Advice please guys!!

 

An Atari 400 needs a 9V AC (!) power supply. Most generic PSUs you can buy are DC. While there are non-Atari 9VAC power supplies out there, just go ahead and get the correct power supply. They're relatively cheap and very reliable.

 

Atari 9VAC Power Supply

 

This seller is one of the two remaining Atari-focused retailers left in the world (the other being Best Electronics). His stuff is top-notch.

[Rybags]

Get an XL, a 64K one at least.

 

I've not kept up with the market like I used to but 80 units of currency for a 400 without PSU in just about any country is a ripoff, especially the UK.

[sidney]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I think that it probably is best to go for the real Atari psu but £50 is too steep in my view and alas as I'm in the UK a US psu is no use to me. £80 for the system doesn't seem awful to me as the system wasn't common place in the UK but I take your point. The XE/Xl may be the way to go.

[+slx]

While the 400 has a very distinctive futuristic 70's style it might not be the best choice for casual gaming as it will need a 48K expansion for many games and a new "video out" solution depending on your type of display (many new LCD displays don't have analog antenna tuners any more).Both are available, even two solutions for video, but they'll set you back another 50 EUR.

 

Further it isn't compatible with games written to take advantage of the extra bank-switched RAM in the XL/XE machines, which means many modern games.

 

If you only plan to play early cartridge games on a CRT or a little older LCD, all of this should be of no concern.

 

If you decide to tackle a 400 anyway, Amazon usually carries suitable AC PSUs which seem to be used for music equipment (guitar amps). The one I found was 8.50 quid.

Edited June 18, 2018 by slx