Intellivision 2 fried my 5200 adapter

[Oneinchbiceps]

Hello everyone as mention above I have a Intellivision 2 that fried my 5200 adapter. You can see the video here https://youtu.be/zbbmGGQW0W4  on my channel. I read on here that the 5200 adapter would work and I believe the problem was I have a 4 port 5200 and I think the 4 port uses 9 volt adapter that hooks to the RF box. I think the other version of the 5200 adapter uses 12 volt that everyone recommends on here. https://atariage.com/forums/topic/10392-intellivision-ii-power-supply/

 

I wish I knew that at the time cause I really hate that I killed my 5200 adapter on this project. 

 

Anyhow I since purchased an official Intellivision 2 adapter from ebay and I really don't want to burn it up. Do you guys think I should try to add 1 amp fast blow fuse in between the adapter and the PCB to protect the adapter? I know the fuse inside the int2 is 2 amp. Would 1 amp not be enough for the adapter? Adapter says it does little under 1 amp. 

 

On another note I've done a cap kit and new power contact for the power button to make sure that stuff good before attempting to power on again.  

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I've been using a 4-port adapter in my Intellivison2 for several years now. My Intelly2 isn't used that often but on more than one occasion it was powered on using one of my 5200 PSUs for over 8hours during the day. The ONLY time I've lost a 5200 PSU was because of shorting it due to not being careful with my probes when testing etc. Luckily there is a fuse in the 5200 PSU and that is all that likely needs to be replaced out. But the voltage on the PSU doesn't matter here. In fact the original 4port units provided the +12 and the newer 2-port supplies were the 10v ones. Honestly that doesn't even matter because I've measured both types multiple times and they still put out 13.5 - 14.5 output without a load on them. 

 

Watched your video, so you don't know if the Intelly2 actually works or not then? It could very well be an issue with the Intelly2 itself that caused the 5200 PSU to short out and blow the internal fuse in it. Again, the Intellivision 2 uses an AC output adapter, but there is a rectifier inside on the power board along with a small transformer to convert that AC to DC as needed for the system to operate. Using a DC power supply works because it just passes through the rectifier as is. In fact I didn't video it, but I had an intellivison2 that I was recapping and noticed that it buzzed quite a bit with its actual AC adapter, but did NOT buzz when using a 5200 PSU with it.

 

So again, I would look more towards there being an issue with the Intelly 2 causing the issue and verify that first.

 

[Bruce Tomlin]

One thing to keep in mind is the polarity of the adapter. The 5200 used negative-tip, but almost everything else in the world uses positive-tip. (Yeah, I know, the Inty uses AC, but the 5200 is still a snowflake. And anybody designing new stuff to use negative-tip post-2000 is basically being an asshole.) I'm surprised the power brick would blow out, but yeah, it's probably got a cheap fuse in it. I've seen old power bricks that literally had a single strand of copper wire soldered to a header as a fuse.

Usually you can use a DC brick to power an AC device, but not always. It still shouldn't blow the power brick's fuse. That would only happen if it had an insufficient current (amps) rating.

And as for 9v vs 12V, both were used as inputs to 7805 regulators, but 9v is better because there's less heat from those old linear regulators.

If you really want to be sure, get an external power supply with current limiting. Refusing to provide more current is much better than a fuse.

Edited September 27, 2020 by Bruce Tomlin

[+-^CrossBow^-]

17 hours ago, Bruce Tomlin said:

One thing to keep in mind is the polarity of the adapter. The 5200 used negative-tip, but almost everything else in the world uses positive-tip. (Yeah, I know, the Inty uses AC, but the 5200 is still a snowflake. And anybody designing new stuff to use negative-tip post-2000 is basically being an asshole.) I'm surprised the power brick would blow out, but yeah, it's probably got a cheap fuse in it. I've seen old power bricks that literally had a single strand of copper wire soldered to a header as a fuse.

Usually you can use a DC brick to power an AC device, but not always. It still shouldn't blow the power brick's fuse. That would only happen if it had an insufficient current (amps) rating.

And as for 9v vs 12V, both were used as inputs to 7805 regulators, but 9v is better because there's less heat from those old linear regulators.

If you really want to be sure, get an external power supply with current limiting. Refusing to provide more current is much better than a fuse.

Actually the 5200 is center + but uses a larger 2.5mm x 5.5mm plug vs the more common 2.1mm x 5.5mm like what was used on the Genesis model 1, Jaguar...and the NES. In any event, I still think something is wrong internally in his Intelly 2 if it blew the fuse in the 5200 PSU. I replace the burnt out ones in mine with 3A 250v Slo-blow buss types. 

 

 

[Oneinchbiceps]

6 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Actually the 5200 is center + but uses a larger 2.5mm x 5.5mm plug vs the more common 2.1mm x 5.5mm like what was used on the Genesis model 1, Jaguar...and the NES. In any event, I still think something is wrong internally in his Intelly 2 if it blew the fuse in the 5200 PSU. I replace the burnt out ones in mine with 3A 250v Slo-blow buss types. 

Thank you guys so much for the help and watching my video. I'm so relieved the 5200 power supply has a fuse and I didn't fry it. I just got the 5200 power supply open to see if it was blown or not and it was. I'll replace it with a 3 amp slo blow fuse.

 

I'll check into the voltage regulator on the Intellivision 2. Bad news is I know somebody else has been into the system cause it has a fuse holder solder in place where the logic board fuse was. It has a 2 amp fuse in place like the logic board calls for. 

 

Also the thermal fuse or whatever been bridged and removed from the power supply board on the Intellivision 2 I believe. 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Logic board fuse? You mean the small pico fuse that is in front of the RF modulator connections? I've blown those before when not being careful with my meter probes when checking stuff out so I've got a small batch of them on hand. SegaCD and I think the SNES uses the exact same type or at least very similar.

 

[Illtiger1]

I've been using a four port 5200 adapter from on my Intellivision II for many years with no issues.

[Oneinchbiceps]

Yeah now I'll say the title of this topic is incorrect. My bad.  I replaced the fuse and powered on my Intellivision 2 with the 5200 adapter and it came on. So it's one of two things I think, it had a power issue from a bad cap that cause the Atari 5200 power adapter fuse to blow or the Atari 5200 power adapter fuse was going bad due to age. 

 

Only bad thing is I still have an issue with the Intellivision 2. All I get is a blank screen when it comes on. I've cleaned the cart and contacts of the console and I can't get a game to load. So the logic board still has issue. I'll have to double check all the pins on the power to make sure it's still good. 

 

Any suggestions on where to go from here? I seen on the schematics it does have test points for oscilloscope signs. I do have a mini scope I could use to test these points. If I found a circuit that isn't matching the signal on the schematic I'm not even sure if I can find the part it'll need to fix it. Most likely it'll be a chip. Did the Sears Super Video Arcade use the same chips? I got two of those that are not working. I'm having real bad luck finding a working Intellivision.

 

 

[mr_me]

Of the gi chipset only the exec rom is different.  Other chips should be interchangeable between intellivision ii and regular intellivisions.

https://console5.com/wiki/Intellivision

 

Spares of most of those chips can found from the guys here.