CD32 SX32 Pro questions

[amigadave]

What is the estimated power draw of  the SX32 Pro with a 50mHz 030 & FPU w/2.5" HD?  Is an A500 power brick enough to run it?  The A500 PSU provides about twice the output of the original CD32 PSU.

Also, checking the pins on the CD32 I can easily identify the +5volt, +12volt and Ground pins, but I cannot figure out what the 4th pin is, so I can switch the CD32 connector and wire to the A500 power brick, which has an extra 5th pin.

Any help or advice welcome.


Edit: Is there a way to network a CD32 w/SX32 Pro?  Yeah, I feel extremely lucky to have found one of these last year and I am just now getting around to setting it up. :-D

[amigadave]

The two PSUs are open and the CD32 lead is removed and ready to be attached to the A500 power brick, the soldering iron is hot and I just haven't been able to find the schematics for either PSU to make sure I connect the right wires from the CD32 lead to the ones in the A500 PSU.

I am sure one of you knows, or knows where to find the information.

I am anxious to try out this SX32 Pro before the next NBA playoff game starts this afternoon.

Anyone?

[zyphoid]

by networking, do you mean connecting it to another amiga, if so yes,(sernet and aux)) if getting it hooked to the internet yes by way of the serial port.

[Stedy]

Amigadave,

I have all the answers on my website here:
 http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/amiga_hacks/Amiga_Power_supplies/amiga_power_supplies.html

An A500 PSU, including the lower power, heavyweight one, will work fine as the CD32/SX32 draws 2.19 Amps. Just read what is printed on the underside of the PSU.

Ian

[CLS2086]

Hi,
bigger is better !
I blow 1 A500+ PSU (65W) with an A1200 with similar options (B1230/IV/FPU/SCSI/256Mb/hdd) after a few hours...

[amigadave]

Well, I found my Archer Kit Volt/Ohm meter that I put together in High School 35 years ago (okay, I am an old fart so don't make fun of my alzheimer moments, at least I was able to find it!), put a new battery in it (glad I had the smarts to take the battery out when ever I put it into storage years ago) and checked the continuity of the wires with the pins on the CD32 lead and this is what I found out:

Black Wire  = Ground
Red Wire    = +5 Volts
Brown Wire  = +12 Volts
Yellow Wire = +5 Volts

I did not get any voltage from one of the pins on the CD32 connector with the PSU plugged in to the wall socket and thought maybe it was -12 Volts and I couldn't measure it right with the meter I was using, even though I tried reversing the test leads on that pin and the ground ring on the outside of the connector.  But when I checked the continuity of the wires, I found that both the Red Wire and the Yellow Wire were connected to the upper left pin of the connector when looking at it head on with the dimple on top.
After checking the A500 PSU, I know that I can check for -12 Volts, so there must not be any supplied to the CD32.

I really don't want to fry my "Brand New" never been used CD32 with the SX32 Pro that I bought last year installed into it and my 2.5" HD that I removed from the SX-1 I just sold (thanks to all buyers in my recent thread).

There are all the same colored wires in the A500 PSU and they seem to have the same uses except there is an extra wire that is colored White.  The White wire is connected to the PCB in the A500 PSU and is marked -12 Volts.  The Red and Yellow wires are connected to the +5 Volt pin of the connector and the Brown Wire is connected to the +12 Volt pin just like in the CD32.  The other difference is that the A500 has a shielded Ground Wire which is Green with a Yellow Stripe under the Black sheathing that is connected to one pin of the A500 connector and the outside square metal of the connector. The regular black wire is another ground wire.

Well, not seeing any answers from the experts, I have completed the soldering of the CD32 connector cable to the A500 power brick PSU and I am about to test it out.  I just soldered the same colored wires together and did not use the shielded ground or white -12 Volt wires from the A500 PSU.

Wish me luck! :-o

Edit: Took me too long to write this as I was doing three things at once.

[amigadave]

CLS2086 wrote:
Hi,
bigger is better !
I blow 1 A500+ PSU (65W) with an A1200 with similar options (B1230/IV/FPU/SCSI/256Mb/hdd) after a few hours...

Great site, thanks for the tip.

[amigadave]

CLS2086 wrote:
Hi,
bigger is better !
I blow 1 A500+ PSU (65W) with an A1200 with similar options (B1230/IV/FPU/SCSI/256Mb/hdd) after a few hours...

I have much less RAM and no external devices, just the tiny internal 2.5" HD (300mb I think, it was Jim Drew's and has some source code from his Mac emulators on it, as I bought my old CD32 w/SX-1 from him and he left all his files on the HD)

I can't believe that the 030/50mHz and 68882/50mHz will use more than twice the electricity than the stock 020/14mHz of the CD32?

What symptoms will I see from the CD32/SX32 Pro or the PSU if it is not supplying enough "juice"?  Am I risking damage to the CD32 and/or SX32 Pro?

[amigadave]

IT'S ALIVE!  Well not literally, but I didn't get any manual with the SX32 Pro, so I don't know how to access the HD.  I'm off in search of a manual I can download for it.

[leirbag28]

@amigadave

 The SX32 boots like a regular Amiga......just add the haddrive with Workbench on it and it will boot.......unless someone changed the jumpers.

It can take up to a 128mb 72 pin simm.

Mine worked fine for a while with the regular CD32 power. I even had a DS8 Plus, a floppy,  modem and a genlock connected and it all worked fine with a basic CD32 PSU...I later upgraded it.

By the way..you missed Stedy's response..he gave this link here how to make your own CD32 PSU and the pinouts:

http://www.ianstedman.co.uk/Amiga/amiga_hacks/Amiga_Power_supplies/amiga_power_supplies.html

[amigadave]

Actually, I did not miss it, I just quoted the wrong post when I thanked him for the link.

I have it running, but have not connected a VGA monitor to it yet, only the TV via the composite out through a VCR's input #2 and when started without a CD in just shows the standard startup for any CD32.  When I attach a mouse and hold down both mouse buttons at startup it does not go to an early startup menu, but that may not be part of the CD32 Kickstart ROM.  I have been playing a game of BattleChess to test it for heat from the 030 and the PSU with the PSU cover off and I can barely feel the heat from the 030 through the top of the CD32 case and the PSU is not giving off any heat.

I think I will be okay for a while with this PSU setup, until I start adding things like Floppy drives, Sound digitizers, DCTV, etc.  

I can't remember how much RAM the last owner said it had on the SX32 Pro, but I think it is 32mb.  I had read online that it could only take up to 64mb, are you sure it can take 128mb?

[omnicron10]

That was almost 8 months ago when you bought that thing from me. I am glad to see you finally got around to hooking it up.  Really makes the CD32 a nice device.  I have a Ethernet to serial PPP adapter you can use on it to get on the net. It is actually a Palm Pilot ethernet cradle but the pinout is RS232 and the device takes an Ethernet connection and makes it a serial PPP connection.  Very nice for devices like A500 and CD32 that had no good Ethernet options.

[amigadave]

omnicron10 wrote:
That was almost 8 months ago when you bought that thing from me. I am glad to see you finally got around to hooking it up.  Really makes the CD32 a nice device.  I have a Ethernet to serial PPP adapter you can use on it to get on the net. It is actually a Palm Pilot ethernet cradle but the pinout is RS232 and the device takes an Ethernet connection and makes it a serial PPP connection.  Very nice for devices like A500 and CD32 that had no good Ethernet options.

Hey Tim, you are still around here on A.org.  Haven't seen you post any messages lately.  I would love to get a device to put the CD32+SX32 Pro on my home network, but it sounds complicated.  What is needed to set up a serial PPP connection?

I want to have an Amiga get together Barbeque in Big Bear Lake at my house in June or July (since I was not ready for a Spring meeting), do you think you will be able to make it?

The CD32+SX32 Pro started making some noise that sounded like rattling shielding over the CD32 mobo, so I switched it off real quick and took it apart again.  I didn't see any damage but it made me worry about the way it is mounted, or should I say not firmly mounted.  The only thing that holds it in place is the card edge connector and it rests on the plastic cover for the battery at the other end with the slots keeping it from moving side to side.  Seems to me that there should have been a better mounting method, but since I have no manual, I don't know.  I am putting it back together right now to test again.

[omnicron10]

You make a PPP serial connection with Miami just like you would dial up an internet provider over a modem but no phone number is needed and no user name or password.

I have the device, I just need to find it and I will post the information.

The mounting method is normal. I don't know about the noise you stated.  It should have a bolt that holds it on the back of the unit.  The instructions that I had were only a few pages of badly photo copied information I got from Transnational in Anaheim, CA. I don't think I have it any more since I had given all the information and magazines I had to you last time you came down.  

I would love to come down to your house for an Amiga meeting.

[amigadave]

I'll have to look through all the stuff in the box I got from you.

Do you want to sell the device, or are you still using it for something?

(See invitation for group meeting at my place in another thread)