Atari 5200 Four Port SVideo UAV & Power Mod

+ZeroPage Homebrew · November 25, 2021

Atari 5200 Modding Adventures

It's time to mod my Atari 5200 Four Port! I'll be installing TBA's UAV mod, Console5's Switch Bypass and Console5's Cap Kit

Part 1: Checking out the pieces

The Plan: I have three Atari 5200's, two of which are two ports and one is a four port. I wanted to mod the four port system so that I can use it on the stream to play four person games on it.

If you don't know, the Atari 5200 has a VERY unusual way to power the system. Both the video signal and power are combined and carried over the coaxial cable and then separated out at either end. If you plug in the cables in the wrong order you'll get a frightening spark, which I've actually done it accidentally myself! The Switch Bypass will thankfully fix this issue! In the later two port systems they removed this combination power + RF.

I also want to install the UAV mod to output s-video from the 5200 so I can get a really nice clean picture. It worked really well with the 7800 and I'm happy with the clarity of the video so I thought I'd give my 5200 the same treatment. I didn't have too much trouble installing it myself on the 7800 so I thought I'd give it another go on the 5200! ?

The Box: The four port Atari 5200 was stored in the below box. I'm not fond of boxes as they take up a lot of room and this goes double for the beast of a console that is the 5200! The serial number on the box is A1 2006894 305 and doesn't match the four port system that's contained inside, which isn't a surprise as the picture on the box is of a two port console. The serial number on the box is for a 2 power console assembled in Taiwan for the Atari Corp in the 30th week of 1985 and matches one of my two port Atari 5200's I have. The box also only has one foam side so the 5200 kind of just leans while it's inside. It's also kind of beat up and has a bunch of packing tape all over it. I doubt it's worth anything to any one so I *may* get rid of it, but we'll see. Looks like it was bought locally from Richmond (a city about 30 mins from Vancouver) sold from a company that no longer exists as of 1993 that was founded in 1892!

Atari 5200 Four Port Console: The console itself is in really good condition! There is some sticker residue on the controller flap at the top two corners but that'll clean up easily. There are no cracks, discolouration, missing parts or anything. The only thing I can see that is an "issue" is the sticker on the bottom of the console where somebody wanted to make a commentary on where the console was made. They underlined and put a "?" beside "MADE IN U.S.A." and then wrote "ASSEMBLED IN USA" with a check mark above it. The serial number of the console is 185312 EP 213. Apparently the EP stands for El Paso, Texas where the units were assembled and my unit was assembled in the 21st week of 1983. This appears to makes it one of the very last 4 port units put together in the El Paso location.

Inside the Atari 5200: The inside of the machine is also quite clean and it doesn't look (so far) that there have been any modifications done to it. I don't need to remove the RF shielding for the power replacement so I won't be opening that up just yet. The RF modulator has the date of 83.5.16-2 on it, most likely referring to Mar 16, 1983?

The Upgrade Parts: Here are the parts from Console5 that I'll be using to upgrade the power for the unit. The video from Ivory Tower Collections makes it look fairly simple to install with not too much fuss (thanks so much for that @-^CrossBow^-)! It's been a while since I bought all of this but I assume you can use the same power supply that comes with the system to power the console after the modification (C018187 11.5v DC 1.95 Amp)?

Next Update: A bunch of desoldering and soldering!! Wish me luck!

- James

+-^CrossBow^- · November 25, 2021

Yes you still use the same PSU just now you will be plugging it directly into the console instead of into the switchbox...you know? Like a normal game console LOL!

Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the process of things!