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1200xl power supply woes


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I'm hoping someone here can help me. I apologize if this has been asked elsewhere but I wasn't able to find it. Cleaning out my garage I found an old 1200 XL in the styrofoam from my father-in-law. I plugged it in and tried to turn it on and got nothing, no lights no nothing. Pulled out the multimeter stuck it on the Atari end of the power supply ... nothing. So my questions for you all are #1 is there anything I can do to try to fix the original power supply, I'm fairly comfortable tinkering with electronics/soldering etc. #2 if the answer to number 1 is nope, will this one work? 9v 2a guitar pedal psus on amazon

 

 Any help at all would be greatly appreciated , if you need any more additional information please let me know ? Here are some pictures of the original Power Supply if that helps :

 

20190706_191204.thumb.jpg.a2c6dd5f34380ff32dda8df5a95e97a8.jpg20190706_191157.thumb.jpg.87ccbb624740d63edfe7aa805ff530fd.jpg

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Important thing to look for regarding the 1200XL power supply is that it is an AC output and not the more common DC output.

 

if it is indeed a 9V 2A AC output, that should be perfectly fine for the 1200XL.

 

The power supply is also compatible with the 400, 800, 810, 1010, 1050, and XF551 if you have one for any of those. Just ensure it's not the less common 15VA version.

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I am 90% sure, but not just in case here is how I had it set:

1562472564741863158162461189915.thumb.jpg.7ff82c1de19328e408433b4f4f3c873c.jpg

One thing I thought was a little interesting was when I set it for resistance (with the buzzer) it went off when I connected the prongs... tested some other psus and they didn't do that. But not sure if that's always the case, just seemed odd:

15624727578607847234210650004514.thumb.jpg.dbaa4efbfb230b72f204209091e54b7a.jpg

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blown fuse most likely, check the rubber feet, gently see if they are the kind that hide the screws * some packs are made this way*

otherwise it becomes a matter of slowly working your way with a utility knife in the groove around the base plate and carefully prying about to separate the case and then use a soldering iron to replace the pigtail fuse on the center tapped transformer...

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Unfortunately, the one in your photo is not the kind that has screws hidden under the rubber feet.  The ones that do also say "For use with Atari 400/800 Computers".  Are you sure its dead?  The reason I ask is that one very common failure of the 1200XL over time is the poor solder joints on the power and L1 & L2 LEDs (loose connections).  The result is "no red light", but the machine still works.  Did you hook it up to a video display to verify that you also get no picture?  If not, might be worth a try.

 

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4 minutes ago, ACML said:

Unfortunately, the one in your photo is not the kind that has screws hidden under the rubber feet.  The ones that do also say "For use with Atari 400/800 Computers".  Are you sure its dead?  The reason I ask is that one very common failure of the 1200XL over time is the poor solder joints on the power and L1 & L2 LEDs (loose connections).  The result is "no red light", but the machine still works.  Did you hook it up to a video display to verify that you also get no picture?  If not, might be worth a try.

 

Thanks ACML, u fortunately I discovered that for myself when I ripped one of the feet off. I did try connecting it to a crt and got nothing.

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Since you’ve already gotten it apart to replace the fuse, go right ahead and fix it. In the absence of a lightning strike or something, that PSU is likely good for another 40 years. I’ve got at least 12 - 15 of those Atari 9VAC bricks and they’re all still just fine.

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Thanks for all your help, was able to boot it up night before last! The Help key wasn't working so I couldn't do the self test that night, but after reading some of the posts here about fixing the mylar I was able to fix it last night and everything checks out! Next I'll be working on trying to load roms from my pc using my arduino uno as a bridge, have seen several different related projects around here to get me started.

 

Thanks again!

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2 hours ago, Aaron Haskett said:

Thanks for all your help, was able to boot it up night before last! The Help key wasn't working so I couldn't do the self test that night, but after reading some of the posts here about fixing the mylar I was able to fix it last night and everything checks out! Next I'll be working on trying to load roms from my pc using my arduino uno as a bridge, have seen several different related projects around here to get me started.

 

Thanks again!

Build an SDrive-MAX. They're great. :)

 

 

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On 7/7/2019 at 7:25 AM, DrVenkman said:

Since you’ve already gotten it apart to replace the fuse, go right ahead and fix it. In the absence of a lightning strike or something, that PSU is likely good for another 40 years. I’ve got at least 12 - 15 of those Atari 9VAC bricks and they’re all still just fine.

I've got quite a few myself that I've had for years only having to replace the fuses on about half of them, which was due to surges more than likely as not all were always plugged into surge protectors like I do now and for a many years. But, I do have two that will blow their fuses as soon as I plug them in, I'm studying them now to find out why, maybe it was just sub-par fuses, as I recall an issue like that years ago and I eventually got good fuses and they work to this day. 

 

Trak drives also have the same type of power-pack as the 400/800 "universal" PSU. Watch out for Indus GT PSU's that are of equal voltage and amperage, but are DC output, not AC. I've also successfully used an Atari 1027 PSU with a 1050 for years. I had to splice in the appropriate plug, as the 1027's is too large though. It's suppose to be 10-11V, IIRC, but by the same token, my 9V universal's all read 10-11V on my multi-meter anyway. The Atari devices are tough enough to allow quite a bit of breathing room apparently, in over-powered PSU's at least.

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1 minute ago, Gunstar said:

I've got quite a few myself that I've had for years only having to replace the fuses on about half of them, which was due to surges more than likely as not all were always plugged into surge protectors like I do now and for a many years. But, I do have two that will blow their fuses as soon as I plug them in, I'm studying them now to find out why ...

With the brick unplugged, measure the resistance with an ohm meter on each side of the transformer. It's possible there's an internal short.

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  • 1 month later...

Okay, this is freaking me out.

 

I bought a 1200XL last month (#1) that came with a C018187 PSU that produces 9.3VDC @ 1.95A.  Being excited and uncritical when I received the computer I connected it up and powered it on.  Worked like a champ.  Still does.

 

I bought a 1200XL this week and received it today (#2).  I disconnected #1 and hooked #2 up in its place, using the C018187 PSU that has been powering #1.  Worked like a champ.  Then I noticed that the PSU that came with 2 was a C017945, producing 9VAC @ 31VA.  Was it the wrong PSU? ...or was the 1st one the wrong PSU?  If so, why is it working?  Measured the output of the C018187 and it is producing 14.75VDC.

 

So I start searching, and everything I find says the correct PSU is the C017945.  So, I should be using the C017945, right?  9VAC won't blow up the 1200XL?

Edited by Colleton
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37 minutes ago, DrVenkman said:

I misread your initial post, my bad! 

 

The first (9.3VAC) PSU is for the 5200. It almost certainly will work fine in a 1200XL. The rectifier won't notice that much difference, and there are two voltage regulators inside which are more than capable of handling voltage fluctuations that small as well. But still, standard 9VAC bricks are cheap and ubiquitous. Stick to that one.

 

(I've edited my initial response above).

 

What EXACTLY is the part number on your 5200 PSU? I have been looking for one.

Thanks.

 

Edit: If you are referring to this:

, then you are using a DC supply. That supply works nice on 5200's and Indus GTs, but it will overheat and damage the bridge rectifier in the 1200XL. Half of the bridge is constantly overloaded, and the other half is never loaded.

The center hole of the barrel connector is larger as well, so if you wiggle it you may lock up or reboot your 1200XL.

VERY BAD IDEA.

 

Edited by Kyle22
clarity
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21 minutes ago, Kyle22 said:

 

What EXACTLY is the part number on your 5200 PSU? I have been looking for one.

Thanks.

 

There are two 5200 PSUs (typically screwed up Atari thinking :) ). One is 9.3VDC, the other is like 11.5VDC or something. I used to have one of both but a dead-shorted 5200 board I got from a friend (didn't *know* it was dead shorted!) killed one of them - can't remember which off-hand and the other is behind a heavy CRT in the dark right now, lol! I believe BEST's site may have both listed but I don't recall for sure. 

 

I'll check tomorrow morning if you don't track down the info before then.

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11 minutes ago, Kyle22 said:

5200s are powered by DC. That's why I want to see the part number.

I don't want any damage to happen.

 

Yep, my bad! I've edited my posts above to fix misinformation on my part!(*)

 

(*)Atari had too many broadly-similar PSU's for any sane company! If you have a lot of different systems it's easy to forget stuff and conflate details when you don't look at something in awhile.

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