Atari power brick US -> EU

[Muerto]

When it come´s to electric repairs, i´m very green, so i try to listen when my brother comes over to fix/guide me...
When i received my Dig Dug i was still setup for US use, maby that´s why it wasn't working..   (and, the GND on the power wire was used instead of "0" and "N"!!!!!)

So this is basicly a 101 in turning an ATARI power block into one there can be used in Europe (in this case Denmark)

The power brick looked like this, instead of the Brown voltage selection block wire there was a yellow one:



Close up:



This what was in the machine when i received it:



And this explains it all: (if you understand it!)



So, as the schematic says this was set up with the Yellow voltage selection block (120V)
Hope some one can use this, and if someone out there have other 101 in some arcade related, please share! - ill be reading it!

[Superully]

thx michael! i was surprised though that you could actually SEE the colors of the wires because that power block is so damn dirty. strip it down and clean it, that's an order! if you don't do that, stefan won't be delivering your games ... 

[Laschek]

Bah, nevermind the dirt, but do yourself and the game a favor and change that big blue capacitor, even it works! That's more important than cleaning 
Unfortunately it seems only available in the US (Bob Roberts or arcadeshop).

And check if the fuses have the right value, often they were replaced with wrong ones because ops did not have the right ones at hand.

[Superully]

Bah, nevermind the dirt, but do yourself and the game a favor and change that big blue capacitor, even it works! That's more important than cleaning 
Unfortunately it seems only available in the US (Bob Roberts or arcadeshop).

puh, i should do that on my games as well. where's the link to the replacement caps, laschek? 

[Laschek]

Check Bob Roberts page for "Big Blue" (Atari Parts).
I should have ordered 100 and sell them to you now for a fortune 

[Etienne MacGyver]

Can someone tell me the values of this capacitor ? (i belief they also call it ""elco")

I read somewhere its 28,000uf , but i dont know the voltage of this one...  is it 240V ?

Im curious what the electronic shop here asks for these, so i want to inform at them

.. oh ans while your checking , what are the physical dimentions ? in mm. please 

[petieken]

It's supposed to be 27000µF/15V, but according to Bob Roberts anything between 27000µF and 35000µF is OK. You can also buy a higher voltage one, never lower!

[Laschek]

Originally they were 26000 uF/15VDC, but according to Bob Roberts anything from 26000 to 32000uF should work.
They are 50mm in diameter, length varies, I had some which were 80 mm, some 60.
They need screw type terminals.
Check Bob Roberts article on Big Blues:
http://homearcade.org/BBBB/bigblue.html


I doubt that you will find them in the local shop, Bob Roberts had them manufactured because they are not available anymore. Do NOT buy NOS ones, electrolytic capacitators go bad (they dry out) even if they are not in use and have been in store for years...

[Etienne MacGyver]

It's supposed to be 27000µF/15V, but according to Bob Roberts anything between 27000µF and 35000µF is OK. You can also buy a higher voltage one, never lower!

i know its not a nice smell if you use lower voltage elco's with higher voltage in them 

[petieken]

And it's really nasty when they explode, all that messy stuff everywhere


I highly doubt Bob Roberts has these specially manufactured though, electrolytic capacitors are widely available in every size, capacity, voltage, terminal type.... Even those ancient 50µF/500V capacitors for those ancient tube electronics are still manufactured today. I bought a couple of them a few weeks ago, expensive MFers

Here is one 27000µF/50V / 50 mm diameter / screw type terminal for example:
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=565-3324-ND

I also used these types regularly when I was restoring 70's audio amplifiers.

[Laschek]

"Quantity available: 3"
Hmm, how old are they?

At least that's what Bob said, I suppose, what do I know? 

[Muerto]

thx michael! i was surprised though that you could actually SEE the colors of the wires because that power block is so damn dirty. strip it down and clean it, that's an order! if you don't do that, stefan won't be delivering your games ...  

as you can see ill do anything to get my games!, so for ully and those who could not see the colors, here´s some new pics of the cleaned power supply:  



And the cleaned brown voltage selection block:

[Superully]

well done, michael! i've written you an email regarding the games from stefan. 

[petieken]

"Quantity available: 3"
Hmm, how old are they?

At least that's what Bob said, I suppose, what do I know? 

It's of course possible that Bob had them special made, I'm not questioning what he told you . It just seems weird that he had them special made when they already exist.

The caps from digikey are not going to be very old, and they are still in production (so you can order a brand new batch from the factory ). Digikey just doesn't stock up much on those uncommon caps. I ordered a few of those large can capacitors a while ago (not that type I linked to) for those old amp restores and the oldest cap was about 8 months old (date code on cap).
There are more types to be found but they are going to be smaller than 50mm diameter mostly, because over time all discrete components get smaller due to new materials, production process,..

[Etienne MacGyver]

as you can see ill do anything to get my games!, so for ully and those who could not see the colors, here´s some new pics of the cleaned power supply:  

Thats looking a lot better if you ask me