amiga 2000 power supply unit

[amiga2000]

anyone have a suggestion for a US Amiga dealer that sells or can custom make a 300 or 400w power supply unit for an Amiga 2000? I want to have one that has multiple 3.5 power connectors (rather than the 2 or 3 that come with the original a2000 psu).

well - I have one that blew out that is being looked at by mr hardware in ny, but it is taking a long time, so I just wanted to see if there were any other options. I do not think I am skilled enough to make one myself unfortunately, although if there are any good instructions for making a custom a2000 psu from a PC psu, let me know -- I just did not want to take the risk of blowing up the computer.

thanks.

[BoingBoss]

The original Amiga 2000 power supply should have been good enough.  Now if you are stupid enough to tax the power supply then yes it will over-heat and burn up.  Just what the hell are you trying to do with your Amiga 2000 anyway?  I have 4 of these computers, each one fully loaded, and I have NEVER had any problems with them.  Why would you need a 300 or 400 watt power supply for an Amiga 2000 computer?  Are you on an ego trip or what?!     :-o

[Morley]

@Boingboss

That probably helped him solve his problem... :inquisitive:

[EdKing]

The main difference between the A2000 power supply and a PC power supply is the Tick signal. The Tick signal is used for timing, and is basicly a 60hz (USA/NTSC) reference signal derived from the 120v AC from your wall socket. There is a jumper on the 2000 motherboard that allows you to get this timing signal from the video circuit.

Taken from The Big Book of Amiga Hardware webpage

J200
    This jumper determines the time base used for the 50/60Hz CIA timer chip. In the normal posistion, the 50/60 TICK clock, based on AC line frequency, is used as a time base. In the alternate position, the verticle sync pulse from the video section is used. The system will not operate properly without one of these clocks.

I have never tried this, so I can't verify if it would work.

Some options to think about are putting some of your devices in an external box, or getting splitters which turn a single 3.5 connector into 2 or more 3.5 connectors. These are available at most larger computer stores.

I hope this helps,

Ed King

[X-ray]

@ Ed

(A dumb question maybe) On the subject of PSUs, can I take out my A4000T PSU and simply cut the mobo connectors off and solder those onto a PC PSU? How would you go about replacing an A4000T PSU with an uprated PC one?

[patrik]

@X-ray:

I am pretty sure that the A4000T PSU already is an AT PSU so you shouldnt have to do any soldering - just get yourself another AT PSU. I must ask though, are you having problems with the standard one?


/Patrik

[Gopal]

This might help:
http://polarboing.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=3

Text is in norwegian, but the pictures might help.

This sentence
"14 Trenger ikke mere. Bytt om jumper 300 (J300). "

means

14 (You) Don´t need it anymore. Change jumper 300 (J300)."

[orange]

I have A2000 with broken PSU, too. I took it to 5 or 6 service mans (that know how to repair ATX PSU and PC motherboards) with no luck. One of them even didn't put back all the components, so its probably "caput"(dead) now  :pissed:

Anyhow, some nice dude send me his reverse-engineered schematics of A2000PSU. The problem is that mine was different model, and there are several of them.
I've uploaded them here:

http://qrange.150m.com/a2k/A2kPWR-SupyA.png
http://qrange.150m.com/a2k/A2kPWR-SupyB.png
http://qrange.150m.com/a2k/A2kPWR-SupyC.png

Here is the text from his email to me:
"BTW, I've noticed I've scrawled some messages in red across
some of the images in a clear space.... they probably don't
mean much now....notes to myself at the time.  I should clean
them up ....


I should note that this is the PSU that my first A2k came with.
It has a case top and front that is punched with holes all over
it.  Later versions (from other manufacturers?) had less
ventilation.  

Overall the A2K PSU is a very good design, far in advance of
that used in PeeCees.  You'll find that the +12V lines are
fully regulated and do not droop as those in PeeCee PSUs do.
There are other nice features in the design as well.

The A4k PSU was rubbish in comparison; and maybe the A3k wasn't
any better although I've not seen an original of those.

--
seeya

Michael

"

[EdKing]

X-ray wrote:
@ Ed

(A dumb question maybe) On the subject of PSUs, can I take out my A4000T PSU and simply cut the mobo connectors off and solder those onto a PC PSU? How would you go about replacing an A4000T PSU with an uprated PC one?

Sorry, I really can't answer that, my Amiga experience is limited to the A500 and the A2000. The Big Book of Amiga Hardware web page lists the pinouts for all models execpt the A4000.

Sorry,
Ed King

[Morley]

The A4000T PSU is a standard AT PSU.  :-) One of the wisest things C= ever did in fact.

[x56h34]

@Morley:

Indeed. The A4000T motherboard is of AT form factor as well.

You can get an ATX to AT converter and install a quality ATX power supply in your A4000T tower, such as Enermax for example. ;-)

[X-ray]

Thanks dudes...

I was initially confused because two people who I previously asked gave me conflicting info. So I can use standard AT or convert an ATX.

@x56: is the converter just a pinout block converter that the AT plugs fit into, and then the converter goes to the mobo?

@ patrik: I'm mainly interested in securing this Amiga's future by identifying things that will be difficult to replace in a few years time, if I still have the Miggy then. Also I intend to pack this A4000 with stuff and I don't reckon I should labour the 250W PSU. I'll probably get a brand new 350W or better. I suppose I can't lose, only gain by it.

[whabang]

@Boingie
I dunno, but modern harddrives can draw quite a lot of power. One fully packed A2k, with two 7200 RPM-drives, and the PSU would be on it's knees.

[BoingBoss]

Hi whabang,

I dunno, but modern harddrives can draw quite a lot of power. One fully packed A2k, with two 7200 RPM-drives, and the PSU would be on it's knees.

Actually, modern hard drives use less power then older hard drives.

My own Amiga 2500 has the following inside it:

A2320 Amber board
A2630 68030 board with 4 megs of NEC memory
A2091 SCSI Controller board with 2 megs of NEC memory
GVP EGS Spectrum Video board with 2 megs of ram
GVP Multi IO board
Fujitsu 1.2 Gig SCSI hard disk drive
Two Chinon 800K Disk Drives

All this stuff inside and the original 210 Watt power supply still runs nice and cool.  This is because once a year I remove the top cover of the power supply and blow out all the dust with a can of compressed air.  Every 3 years I replace the fan with a new one that is made in Germany or Japan.  DUST is the number one killer of power supplies, so it is very important to keep them clean.  It is especially important to keep the fan blades clean.  If you can not clean the fan then replace it.  The new fan MUST be a high quality fan.  The best fans are made in Germany and Japan.  Do NOT buy one that is made in China or Mexico.  Make sure that the new fan has ball-bearings not sleeve-bearings and that it has a rating of at least 32 CFM air flow.  Remember that this is the main fan that has to cool the entire inside of the mighty Amiga 2000 computer by sucking air from the inside of the computer, thru the power supply, and then out the rear of the PSU.  So this fan MUST be high quality.  After you read this then you can see why I never have problems with any of my Amiga 2000 Series power supplies.  I take good care of them and they in turn take good care of my Amiga 2000 Series computers.  
 :-D

[whabang]

That's to exagerrate a bit.
I know for sure that my old 320 meg  drive uses far less power than my 80 gig drive.