Atari 7800 power connector is not proprietary: found a few donors

[SenorRossie]

Hi,


With a bit of 'afro engineering' I made a 2600->7800 converter cable (or vice versa, depending on how you look at it):

I bought a couple of XH2.54 2pin plug cables and a couple of female 3.5" jack connectors (see images below) and soldered the jack connector to the wires of the XH2.54 plug (checked polarity first). Then, as the holes in the XH2.54 plug are square and the pins on the 7800 connector are round, used a small drill to make the holes round.

It is still a tight fit getting the plug into the 7800 power connector, at least I don't have to worry about it falling out in the middle of a gaming session.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the result, the 7800 we used for the Atari Invasion is back in storage.

[CZroe]

Great advice! That should ensure there is always a no-cut, no-solder plug option for anyone who wants to hack up a cable.

 

I recall reading some reports of people saying that their Atari 2600 PSUs worked fine with 2600 games but didn’t have the juice for all 7800 games. Did you try a game that has a Pokey chip?

Edited March 6, 2018 by CZroe

[Shawn]

Great advice! That should ensure there is always a no-cut, no-solder plug option for anyone who wants to hack up a cable.

 

I recall reading some reports of people saying that their Atari 2600 PSUs worked fine with 2600 games but didn’t have the juice for all 7800 games. Did you try a game that has a Pokey chip?

 

2600's power adapter doesn't have the voltage or amperage to run the 7800 properly. I would strongly advise against doing so.

[SenorRossie]

 

2600's power adapter doesn't have the voltage or amperage to run the 7800 properly. I would strongly advise against doing so.

Then perhaps someone should update the 7800 FAQ: https://atariage.com/7800/faq/?SystemID=7800#cat1_2

 

I haven't checked the power supplies, as most of the gear we used during the event is back in storage, but our European - aftermarket - PSU's worked absolutely fine: We didn't experience any issues (the 7800 was running games off of a Mateos' Multicart with a POKEY fitted).

 

In case of concerns regarding the 2600 PSU, one could always add a barrel connector instead of the jack connector and use a different PSU (remember to check polarity!).

 

The biggest issue I believe was a finding replacement for the 7800 side of the connection, which the XH2.54 connector seems to be, albeit with some help of a small drill.

 

 

Kind regards,

Senor Rossie

[CZroe]

I see it on Console5’s site now complete with pics and “units on hand: 400” but it also says “Out of Stock” for some reason. Weird.

 

Guess he secured 400 of them for people who end up needing them after the eBay source dries up. That’s probably a lifetime supply!

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I see it on Console5’s site now complete with pics and “units on hand: 400” but it also says “Out of Stock” for some reason. Weird.

 

Guess he secured 400 of them for people who end up needing them after the eBay source dries up. That’s probably a lifetime supply!

 

I noticed this last night as well. Maybe he doesn't quite have them ready for sale yet and he has that up as a placeholder? I doubt he would have already sold 400 of them, unless someone bought them from him with the intention of using them to create their own PSUs to sell for a larger markup?

 

I could see that happening...maybe Atariguide got wind of this and ?

[+slx]

Hi,

 

I tried to buy some of those chargers but wasn't able to finish the deal due to EBay Global Shipping not accepting Austria as a destination (for this type of merchandise it seems) and the seller being unwilling to send them directly.

 

If anyone lucky enough to get some connectors would be willing to cut it off the wall brick and sell it to me and mail it to Austria (envelope should be sufficient I'd very much appreciate (living in 220V country I can't use US adapters).

 

Thanks,

slx

[SearsRoebuck]

For me, the problem I always had with the 7800 AC wasn't the rarity of the type of connection, but the flimsiness of the actual cord. I can't even recall how many of them I have broken over the last 20 years with minor nicks to the wire. I just wish there was a 'donor' out there with a thicker cord to insulate it from that kind of damage.

[SIO2]

Not sure if I ever posted these pics before but, I did this once and it worked out:

 

 

 

 

 

[DarthLister]

Hi all. Coming in a bit late to the thread, but

https://www.ebay.com/itm/272995976672?ViewItem=&item=272995976672

 

Dunno if this is the same seller. I think it is, as the sale specifies the plug is compatable with the 7800, even if the adaptor isn't.

 

Rich

[CZroe]

Hey, guys. Thought I’d revisit the thread with some new info about where this connector can be found. I was helping my friend move a few months ago and I was given the task of boxing up his satellite equipment to send back to the provider (DiSH Network). I noticed that his “Joey” box (works with “The Hopper” DVR) used a latching variant of this same plug.

 

 

 

Probably not useful for salvaging since it’s leased equipment, but now we know that Delta Electronics can make a PSU with this connector.

 

...and, yes, the latching variant fits:

https://youtu.be/A1ii1bcujzM

 

I shared this in Facebook months ago (Console Modder Mods and Repair group) and somehow forgot to come back and share it here. Oops.

Edited September 16, 2018 by CZroe

[CZroe]

Hi,

 

I tried to buy some of those chargers but wasn't able to finish the deal due to EBay Global Shipping not accepting Austria as a destination (for this type of merchandise it seems) and the seller being unwilling to send them directly.

 

If anyone lucky enough to get some connectors would be willing to cut it off the wall brick and sell it to me and mail it to Austria (envelope should be sufficient I'd very much appreciate (living in 220V country I can't use US adapters).

 

Thanks,

slx

Did you try Luke/Console5.com? If he can’t help and you still need some, let me know.

 

Not sure if I ever posted these pics before but, I did this once and it worked out:

IMG_20160831_160241.jpg

 

IMG_20160831_161234.jpg

 

IMG_20160831_164933.jpg

 

LOL! Me too. Earlier in his thread, you might see where “0078265317” said this:

And for people like me with no soldering skills.

Well, his adapter was broken and required the same fix. He sent it to me and I documented it here:

https://youtu.be/08dturvJQDU

 

Could’ve sworn I talked about it in this thread but I guess not. [emoji20]

Edited September 16, 2018 by CZroe

[SIO2]

I try to stay away from that liquid electrical tape. I make such a mess with stuff like that. I just glued the plug and put heat shrink tube around it.

[SIO2]

The following is for discussion purposes only. Don't try this at home.

 

So interestingly, I ordered one of the Delta power supplies described above to mess around with. What I received instead was a LiteOn brand AC adapter model PB-1180-6ES1. It has the same gray plug with a latch, 12V DC output (metered 12.15v) polarity reverse of what we need for the 7800.

 

The AC adapter case was easy to crack open and inside I found that the output wire that has the gray plug on one end is connected to the circuit board inside the AC adapter with a two prong keyed connector. So, with a little creative trimming from my flush cut pliers I was able to turn the plug around and get the polarity the way the 7800 likes it. I also snipped off the latch clip on the gray plug.

 

I put the adapter back together then plugged it into my 7800. Currently it is running Ball Blazer. The plug fit great and so far, everything seems fine.

 

I paid about $10 bucks including shipping. So, don't let folks hold your feet to the fire for a 7800 power supply.

[CZroe]

The following is for discussion purposes only. Don't try this at home.

 

So interestingly, I ordered one of the Delta power supplies described above to mess around with. What I received instead was a LiteOn brand AC adapter model PB-1180-6ES1. It has the same gray plug with a latch, 12V DC output (metered 12.15v) polarity reverse of what we need for the 7800.

 

The AC adapter case was easy to crack open and inside I found that the output wire that has the gray plug on one end is connected to the circuit board inside the AC adapter with a two prong keyed connector. So, with a little creative trimming from my flush cut pliers I was able to turn the plug around and get the polarity the way the 7800 likes it. I also snipped off the latch clip on the gray plug.

 

I put the adapter back together then plugged it into my 7800. Currently it is running Ball Blazer. The plug fit great and so far, everything seems fine.

 

I paid about $10 bucks including shipping. So, don't let folks hold your feet to the fire for a 7800 power supply.

Great work!

 

I recently did something similar to make a Neo Geo CD PSU from an HP SDD018 adapter. Took me days of research to find that plug and, strangely, only about two-thirds of them have the right connector (others use DIN). Switching the wires around internally worked great but I have since moved the leads to an arcade PSU as part of troubleshooting something else.

 

 

The Sharp Famicom Titler and multiple MSX computers from Sony and Panasonic also use that plug (different specs/pinout).

Edited October 6, 2018 by CZroe

[CZroe]

On 3/6/2018 at 11:10 PM, CZroe said:

I see it on Console5’s site now complete with pics and “units on hand: 400” but it also says “Out of Stock” for some reason. Weird.

 

Guess he secured 400 of them for people who end up needing them after the eBay source dries up. That’s probably a lifetime supply!

Well, they did eventually become available but I was dead wrong about "lifetime supply!" I was kinda quoting Luke (Console5) from our email exchange when he said...

"Heya, looks like I'll have a lifetime supply of 7800 power pigtail cables!  OK, maybe not a lifetime but a substantial supply anyway"

 

I'm bringing it up again because here we are a couple years later and he's down to 79 of the original 400. Yikes! Looks like someone ordered about 150-200 all at once and is planning a small run of adapters or something. With Best Electronics having made his replicas I figured demand would be down.

On 3/7/2018 at 10:02 AM, -^CrossBow^- said:

 

I noticed this last night as well. Maybe he doesn't quite have them ready for sale yet and he has that up as a placeholder? I doubt he would have already sold 400 of them, unless someone bought them from him with the intention of using them to create their own PSUs to sell for a larger markup?

 

I could see that happening...maybe Atariguide got wind of this and ?

Maybe someplace like AtariGuide did finally get wind of it since Console5 is suddenly down to 79!

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I've ordered about 15 over the past year or so. 10 of those I did make adapters with barrel jacks on the end of them and sold there here for $15 shipped a few months back. At the time I ordered those they still had about 300+.

 

So yeah someone ordered up a bunch. I believe that same group that offers the blacked out HDMI converted consoles might have done it, because I did notice about a month after I sold my adapters, they were now offering the exact same thing through ebay and I suspect that is where they might have got to.

 

Found them...yeah...same guys that offered up the HDMI 7800s a ways back.

 

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Atari-7800-Netzteil-Adapter/254347183672?hash=item3b38460638:g:X44AAOSw8j1da8u~

 

My only issue with this one they have made is that they didn't apply shrink about the barrel jack metal end. That is the + voltage on the jack and could short again something if that metal isn't covered up. That is why I had the shrink wrapping on the ones I was selling. Wasn't to hide anything or hold the barrel jack on better, it was to cover up the exposed outer metal ring on the barrel jack and I figured it was easier to just shrink the hole plug uniformly vs just that upper section of it.

 

But my guess is this is where the bulk of them went? Not too bad a price but with shipping to the states what it is, it would end up costing more than I was selling them for.

 

[CZroe]

I've ordered about 15 over the past year or so. 10 of those I did make adapters with barrel jacks on the end of them and sold there here for $15 shipped a few months back. At the time I ordered those they still had about 300+.
 
So yeah someone ordered up a bunch. I believe that same group that offers the blacked out HDMI converted consoles might have done it, because I did notice about a month after I sold my adapters, they were now offering the exact same thing through ebay and I suspect that is where they might have got to.
 
Found them...yeah...same guys that offered up the HDMI 7800s a ways back.
 
https://www.ebay.de/itm/Atari-7800-Netzteil-Adapter/254347183672?hash=item3b38460638:g:X44AAOSw8j1da8u~
 
My only issue with this one they have made is that they didn't apply shrink about the barrel jack metal end. That is the + voltage on the jack and could short again something if that metal isn't covered up. That is why I had the shrink wrapping on the ones I was selling. Wasn't to hide anything or hold the barrel jack on better, it was to cover up the exposed outer metal ring on the barrel jack and I figured it was easier to just shrink the hole plug uniformly vs just that upper section of it.
 
But my guess is this is where the bulk of them went? Not too bad a price but with shipping to the states what it is, it would end up costing more than I was selling them for.
 

That's awesome! Though I never found out who makes them or what they are called or what component manufacturer you could order them from, my ultimate goal was to make sure people would always have alternatives to overpriced originals and such. Your product definitely helped people with that.

It's too bad Luke/Console5 couldn't get all of them from the guy selling 2,000 Brinkmann chargers, since it seems he could've used a lot more than 400. Of course, had that one big buyer not made a move he'd probably be thinking the exact opposite (that 400 was too many).

[CZroe]

 
It was AtariGuide that did a run of new 7800 power supplies a while back. Best might have had NOS ones but I think they are gone. As for Best getting these things and soldering up some 7800 power supplies? It's not like it would be some engineering marvel. So him asking you to stay quiet about whatever means nothing really. A little too self important for my likes.

I don't think I ever followed up once it was OK to talk about it, but the initial response from Best Electronics was that they were out of stock but working with a supplier on a new replacement with a totally new connector they had to create themselves (they couldn't source the originals either). He thought my inquiry was purely about stock or ordering one for myself and didn't realize at that moment that I had stumbled across something that somewhat undermined the investment he was making. The least I could do was honor his request and not mention what he was up to.

[CZroe]

I made another last night salvaging the plug from a Shark vacuum adapter I found a year ago ($2 at Goodwill).

 

http://imgur.com/a/GjtPM5W

 

I also saw this post from someone in another thread where he found another set top box from the same ODM as the Dish Network Joey. Instead of Delta or LiteOn, his adapter says "NetBit."

 

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/271045-anyone-know-of-a-source-for-7800-power-supply-connector/

 

Here's a quote:

 

I ordered an AirTV OTA network receiver a few days ago.  Arrived yesterday and the first thing that caught my eye was the plug in its (12V) AC adapter.  It's a perfect match for the 7800 AC plug (well, except for the clip to hold it on the AirTV). 

 

Bit surprised to see this plug on a new device considering that outside of the 7800 I've never seen it elsewhere in all these years.

 

Just figure it should be recorded here too.