Atari 800xl power supply

[Frankie]

I picked up another 800xl today. It has some mods done to it. One I hadn't heard was replacing the power supply. It came with a modern, light weight, I can't beliieve it replaces that 5 pound thing, plug-in power supply. It was then I realized the Atari only need 5 volts. My question was how many amps does it draw? The new power supply provides only 1 amp max. The old one I have supplied up to 1.5 amps. I didn't know if this would be a problem.

 

Frank

[sloopy]

usually .5-.7 amps, depending on config... some XEGS's came with a 1A supply... and no it isnt a problem, unless the machine is sucking down the juice...

 

sloopy.

[Rybags]

Put enough add-ons and you can exceed 1 Amp... PBI devices, SIO-attached devices that leech power, cartridges, even some stuff that plugs into joystick ports.

 

Internal addons, RAM included.

 

You're often talking in the 5-50 mA range for an addon, but it all builds up.

 

On the other hand, some of the older common PS models have a real bad reputation for failing and allowing excessive voltage through which can kill a machine. So it's probably better to have a reliable PS that you might outgrow rather than one that can do the job but might fail and take out your hardware.