A1200 Additional power via floppy connector

[Hodgkinson]

Hi there,
After rebuilding my A1200D, I’ve recently begun having issues with the A1200 PSU coughing out and restarting the system whenever additional devices are powered up (These devices draw power from the A1200 via the floppy drive power connector).

As a result, I’ve had to convert an ATX PSU for the A1200, and im wondering whether there is any detriment to feed power into the A1200 from both the normal PSU connector and the floppy header?
Even though I’ve now rewired all the additional devices to be powered directly from the ATX PSU, I've noticed that the voltage drop across the A1200 from the power connector to the floppy connector is fairly large considering the normal voltage operating range for TTL devices, and im wondering whether adding a second supply path might just help bring the voltage within the A1200 up a little.

Hodgkinson.

[Hodgkinson]

Ooops, sorry, I didn’t mention that the ATX PSU is already converted to power the A1200 via the conventional power socket. The original A1200 PSU is no longer used.

Im just wondering whether connecting the PSU to power the A1200 via two different paths would be safe to do - With the aim being to reduce the supply resistance to the A1200 and boost the supply voltage a little.

Hodgkinson.

EDIT: The independant devices include commercial devices such as a printer, frame grabber, USB desk lamp, and barcode reader pen. Im trying to arrange for everything to be powered from the same source - Its much neater, more efficient on sockets, and reduces the risk of devices being blown up at power on if devices arn't powered up in the correct sequence.

[Hodgkinson]

True...But when AT or ATX PSU's go bang they have a habit of destroying themselves rather than the computer that they're connected to...Just take a look in a blown up PSU and you'll know what I mean...

As I was saying, is there any detriment to feeding the A1200 with power, from the same power supply, via two different paths?

EDIT: I don't acutally have any plug-in PSU's for the additional devices anyway, so I need to power them from somewhere...

[Hodgkinson]

Thanks for the advice!

I’m not actually experiencing problems with voltage drop; I just thought it might be a good idea anyway. I'll have a think about the circular rail problem and the effects it might cause.

Re running hardware directly from the PSU, that's exactly what I've been doing. All the additional devices (Except for 2.5" HDD) have now been retrofitted to be powered directly from the PSU, and If I ever get a Blizzard SCSI controller for the 1230IV (Hint...), all the SCSI HDD's and CD-ROMs slung outside of the case will draw their power directly from the PSU.

Hodgkinson.

[Hodgkinson]

But it appears only in high current/high frequency devices (like peecees, nowadays).

And this method alleviates the current inside the motherboard, even with the cycling power issue.

Agreed. I think I'll give it a try - Reducing the power flowing through any one part of the motherboard can't be a bad thing.
Now all I have to do is to make a female-female molex connector (Has anyone seen these for sale in PC shops? :crazy: )

Regards,
Hodgkinson.