Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Atari XL/XE
Power Supplies:
A Hardware Mystery Solved
Exploring similarities and differences of the four major types
of XLIXE supplies and how you can repair them
By Benjamin Poehland
I
f you're a serious Atari XL hard-
ware enthusiast, you probably
keep a copy of the 800XL Field
Service Manual close by your ma-
chine. Perhaps you've even pur-
chased a copy of the recently released
Sams Computerfacts for the 800XL.
As good as these references are for
troubleshooting and repairing a mal-
functioning 800XL, neither contains
information concerning the power
supply, which is very prone to fail-
ure. Replacement of a defective pow-
er supply will cost you 30070 or more
of the price of a new 800XL at
today's discount prices. Of course,
you can return an out-of-warranty
power supply to Atari directly for re-
pair. However, you'll pay for this
Fig. I. Pictured here are thefour major configurations ofpower supplies supplied
and you won't have the use of your
with A tar! XL computers arranged from Type I through Type IV left to right.
computer during the turnaround .
Given that the power supply is a ma-
jor component of the computer and
is absolutely essential to its opera- of power supplies that have been others are made in Taiwan). Type II
tion, it's doubly mysterious that the shipped with 800XLs. (Considering supply appeared in 1984 prior to the
available hardware manuals virtually the many changes Atari has under- Tramiel takeover. It seems to be the
ignore it. The reason may be that gone since the introduction of the XL most frequently encountered. It's
there are at least four different types machines, there may be still others also the heaviest, hottest and ugliest.
of power supplies shipped with the not covered in article.) The units are Type III was encountered by chance
800XL! This being the case, let's ex- arranged and numbered roughly in in a shipment of 800XLs containing
amine each and determine what, if the order of their appearance. Type I the most recent (Type IV) power sup-
anything, can be done if it fails. on the left was shipped with early plies. Although black in color like the
production 800XLs until about the Type II it has the stylish appearance
winter of 1984. It is the prettiest of of the Type I and is the only one of
A Plethora of Supplies the power supply boxes and is the the group specified for use with both
Figure 1 shows the four major types only one made in Hong Kong (all the the 600XL and 800XL. The newest
Fig. 2). Any of the four power sup- ry is accomplished by first removing
No plies described in this article (and the four rubber feet from the bottom
connection
only these four!) should provide suf- (they may be held in place by soft
GND--+O o--'~--+5V
ficient current to operate a 600XL, glue, so pull hard). Under each foot is
800XL or 130XE computer and asso- a screw that can be removed with a
GND--t--o o-t--+5V ciated peripherals without difficulty. Phillips screwdriver. You can then
remove the top cover.
GND--........-o <>-;f--- +5V
Type I: The Beauty Queen Figure 3 is an interior view of this
If your computer was furnished with supply, while Fig. 4 is its schematic
this type of supply, count yourself diagram . The component most likely
Fig. 2. Pinout descriptions for lucky. Not only is it the most power- to fail in this circuit is the miniature
XL I XE connector on cable that goes ful and aesthetically pleasing, it is 3-amp fuse. (You can get it inexpen-
to the computer. also repairable. Access to the circuit- sively from Radio Shack as an "in-
12.2Vdc
Cl05 -C l0B ~ O.Ol I1 F 1--_-_--'Yrn....__~ + 5.1BV dc
Ll0l
CR101-CR104 ~ lN5400 FERRITE
Rl0l BEA O
Cl04 100
Fuse 10,0001l F 5%
3A 16V '/z W O.lI1F
FAST -BLOW 9.8 Vac
(Not e 21
5%
NOTE S: ~----------~~~--------------4----------4--~GND
1. May not be in all units or may be a different valu e.
2. Tac k so ldered to foi l side of PC board. May not be in all un its.
3. Voltage measurements made under no- load conditi ons.
Fig. 4. This is the schematic diagram of the Type I power supply. Component designations in all schematics corre-
spond to locations screened on pc boards.
(276 1101)
1N5400 (276 1770)
IN
7805
OUT .... +5V
(270 1270) (Note 2)
II (272 135) G ND < (271 012)
FAST - BLOW
(272 " 131)
r= 100
117vaC ~11
0.1"F
O.01"F
(272 135
60HZ ~ ~ (272 131)
F .1 "F
(272 1022)
0.01"F (271 1301) (271 1301) ?' (271-1301)
(273 1515) IL ':F 4700"F 10 1 10 10
18VCT 35V
2A -"- GND
(2761101) NOTES:
1N5400 1. Numbers in parentheses are Radio Shack catalog numbers.
2. Must be attached to large metallic ungrounded therm al radi ating surface
using silicone thermal t ransfer compound (276 1372).
Fig. 6. Shown in this schematic diagram is all the circuitry needed to build a replacement for the Type II power supply .
All components are readily available.
External wall-transformer type ac adap- -many are now available at reasonably by Radio Shack, some local parts stores
ters are now powering home computers low cost. and many mail-order houses.
and peripherals. The reason for this is If your project's- power demands Low cost and safety make ac adapters
that electrical equipment that connects aren't in the "heavy-duty" category, the ideal alternative to home-built proj-
directly to the ac line must be "certi- you might want to use a less-bulky, gen- ects with built-in transformer power
fied" before it can be approved for con- eral-purpose ac adapter like those sold supplies.-R.L.L. Hu
sumer use. But certification is costly
and time-consuming, which can cut
profit margins. To minimize losses,
many manufacturers are now obviating
the need for certification by eliminating AC Adapters Used With Popular Home Computers & Peripherals
direct connection of their products to Model Input Output
the ac line. Using external power sup-
plies, puts the responsibility for certifi- Apple JIc 25 W 15 V dc, 1.2 A, IS W
cation on the manufacturer of the sup- Atari 130XE 25W 5 V dc, 1.5 A (7.5 VA)
Atari 4OO/ SOO and 1050 disk drive 50W 9 V ac, 31 VA
ply. Everyone benefits-even you!
Atari 520ST 49 VA 5 V dc, 3 A
Depending on the power needs of + 12 V dc, 30 rnA
your project, you can use any of a num- -12 V dc, 30mA
ber of plug-in ac adapters instead of Atari 600XLlSooXL 40W 5 V dc, 1.5 A
building in a transformer. The table lists Atari 1027 printer 60W 9.5 V ac, 40 VA
a number of heavy-duty adapters used Colecovision Video Game 250 rnA + 5 V dc, 900 rnA
with home computers and peripherals - 5 V dc, 100 rnA
and includes input and output specifica- + 12 V dc, 300 rnA
tions. Note that output power ranges Commodore 16 16W 9.5 V dc, I A
from 7.5 to 56 volt-amperes (VA) with Commodore 64 and VIC-20 (new) 40 VA 5 V dc, 7.5 W
9Vac,6.7VA
these adapters. This should be sufficient
Commodore 12S 70VA 5 V dc, 4.3 A
for the modest needs of most home- 9 V ac, I A
built electronic projects. Commodore VIC-20 (old) 400 rnA 10 Vac, 30 VA
All adapters listed are UL or/and IBM PCjr 70mA 16.7 V ac, 56 VA
CSA approved and are designed to be Texas Instruments 99/4A 300 rnA IS V ac, 22 VA
operated from a 117-to-120-volt, 60-Hz 7.5Vac,IVA
ac line. If you decide you need any of Timex/ Sinclair TSlOOO/ ZX-SI 15W 9 V dc, I A
these adapters for a current or your next Timex/Sinclair TS206S 26W 15Vdc, I A
project, look through the mailorder ads Note: Input is manufacturer's rating at 117 V ac; "de" Output is pulsating de; all ratings are nominal.
low parts count and simple layout, output voltage is a little low, it can be circuit board is densely packed with
this looks like the power supply Atari raised merely by snipping out one or many components. The relative com-
should have furnished with all XL two resistors such that the remaining plexity of the circuit is fully revealed
machines from the beginning. Why combination yields the desired volt- in the Fig. II schematic.
they didn't is anybody's guess. age within a range of seven values The "brain" of this supply is the
An interesting voltage trimming from 1.8% to 8.2%. 14-pin 723 low-power voltage regula-
feature in this supply compensates tor . This chip regulates the output
for slight differences in the output of voltage very precisely but by itself is
individual 7805 regulators. The com- Type IV: The Peanut not husky enough to deliver the cur-
bined value of R2, R3 and R4 is 1.8 If the Type III supply caused Atari's rent demanded by a 130XE comput-
ohms . Together with RI, they pro- power supply designer to sweat a lit- er. To overcome this problem the
vide a 1.80/0 boost in output voltage. tle, the Type IV must have given him 2SD613 external power transistor is
It is possible that in some Type III a whopping headache! In the Type used to pass the heavy current that
supplies, one or more of these resis- IV, the elegant simplicity of the Type, provides the' 'muscle. " This is really
tors will be missing. This circuit has III has been completely abandoned. two power supplies in one. Hefty rec-
been cleverly designed so that if the As you can see in Fig. 10, the small tifier diodes D3 and D4 provide the
02
1N5400 + 12.7V dc INI louT
7805 +5.2Vdc
+
C1
4700 /l F
I I R1
C3
9 .3Vac u GNO
> 100
C5 16V C2 2% ~::: 1/l F
120vac ~11
5A .047 /l F ~" 1/l F ' /2 W
50V
~' BL OW 50V C6
~~ 22/lF
60HZ~ C4 R4 R3 50V
R2
.047/l F 8.2 5.1 3.9
9.3V ac 0.01 % ~ 0 .01 % 0.01 %
'/2 W ' /2 W ' /2 W
, GNO
01
1N5400
- NOTE:
Vol tag es measured re lat ive to circuit ground under no - load conditions.
Rl
2S~:1:g5~3V
+20.0Vdc 100 B +S.68V 723 PIN VOLTAGES
1 = 5.68
Dl C5
. Cl 2 = 4.68
L,
lN4003 O.OlJ.1F R8
l000J.lF 3 = 5.13
R7
25V 470 4 = 4.00
R2 470 723 '4 NC
2200 5 = 4.00
r.
2 6 = 7. 10
5A
Sl~ - BlOW
D3
lN5401 . C2
4700J.lF
16V
3
4
11
r-
r---
7 =0
8=0
9 = 0.28
D4
+ 10.0 V d c R4
5
C3 ,o t - - -
10 = 5.68
11 = 19.40
430 .001J.1F
lN5401 12 = 19.40
1% 6 9 NC
13 = 6.98
R6
r- 7 Bt-- 14 =0
R3 3300
0
D2
C6 - 100 1%
R9
O.OlJ.1F R5
lN4003 2S D613 0.22
4300
5%
1%
2W
NOTES:
1. All resistors are 5% , 1/4 W unless noted othe rwise.
2. A ll vo ltages measu red re lative to circuit ground
11J
TRANSISTOR
LEAD 10
D5
lN4003
C4
22J.1 F
50V
. +5. 1~Vdc
Atari XL/ XE Power Supply Characteristics computer, it will "fry" your comput-
er. Though such a disastrous condi-
Characteristic II III IV
Aesthetic appeal superb rotten nice so-so
tion is unlikely to occur, the possibil-
Interior accessibility easy impossible easy difficult ity does exist.
Ease of repair easy impossible easy tedious
Output Rated Amperes 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5
Volts 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0
Measured Amperes 1.44 1.15 1.29 0.93 In Conclusion
Volts 4.90 4.90 4.90 4.90
By now, you should know what type
of power supply your Atari XL or XE
computer has, what its circuitry
Q )0
Q.
0
0
z
DI looks like, whether or not it's repair-
~ Q.
3 3
~
CD 'tI CD able, and the supply's advantages
ell DI
ell :::J
'<
and disadvantages. In the Table is a
Z
DI 3'c summary of the major features of the
3 ~
FREE INFORMATION SERVICE different power supplies we've dis-
CD
tT iii For further information on products, dealers, or literature cussed and a comparison of output
CD
n
ell
c in t his issue, circle the appropriate numbers below. Be sure
specifications versus actually mea-
..
0 CD to in c lude your name and address before mailing.
I 3 Q.
sured test conditions. Despite the
-
'tI 1 2 3 4 5 8 1 8 9 10 11 12
ii 13 14 15 18 11 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 wide variation in ability to meet their
-
VI
:r
& CD
~
25 28 21 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 38 full output specifications, all four
CD
0 CD 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 48 41 48
types of supplies do a good job of de-
3'
-
'tI 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 58 51 58 59 80
l
g 0
livering the "juice" to your comput-
.!!..
:::J 81 62 63 64 65 68 81 68 89 10 11 12
~ 13 74 15 16 n 18 19 80 81 82 83 64 er. They also appear to be fairly rug-
85 68 8; 68 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 95 ged and reliable in normal use. Hope-
:c
;; .
.:3-
97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 108 101 .108
109 110 111 112 113 114 115 118 111 118 119 120
fully, you'll never have occasion to
121 122 123 124 125 128 121 128 129 130 131 132 put the material contained in this ar-
133 134 135 138 131 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 ticle to use. WE
145 148 141 148 148 150 151 152 153 154 155 158
157 158 159 180 181 182 183 164 165 168 181 1.
169 110 111 112 113 114 115 118 In 118 119 180