I love how neatly and safely you've done this. I've never used those crimps but I do have really similar ones that you don't crimp, they're solder in the middle and glue
Nicely done. For the slim power supply cases, the RPT-60B fits well... these do have push fit connectors on them though, but they are easily desoldered and the wires soldered into the pcb. Made properly, soldered wire joints are very strong. I tested this out once by soldering two pieces of wire together, and then standing on one end while pulling the other. The wire itself snapped before the joint did!
I wonder if using PLA - PETG and even ABS in the power supply could be a problem, I am sure you know from your electrician days plastics used with mains should be self extinguishing and the basic printer filaments are not. You can buy some filaments that are rated for this, but they are expensive and hard to find.
I work in the electronics industry - specifically, digital outdoor signage. We extensively use Meanwell PSUs and they are very reliable, even the fan-cooled ones which we need to use considering the application. It doesn't hurt that they are made in Taiwan, as opposed to the dubiously random quality products from the mainland.
Nice one Lee, and a nice shout out for CommodoreLad. Miss his posts since I left Twitter. If you do figure out how to make the older heavier PSU cases work, please to make a video. While mine is working fine for now, I would like to upgrade it to a modern PSU.
@@MoreFunMakingIt Thanks for the tip. I went to Mastodon I guess the folks that stayed on X/Twitter eventually went to Bluesky. May create an account there just to catch up with the scene again.
Great Job Lee! And by the way: I bought that Hakko desoldering gun AND tips 😀 But not to replace my ZD-915, but in addition, here in Germany we like to say: having is better than needing 😄 Greetings, Michael
Having a backup is a good idea. I have to admit there have been times I would have appreciated having both. The hakko nozzle is a lot smaller and I've struggled to clear things like modulator mounts. I might need to replace my old one after all!
Great informative tutorial as always Lee, i have one of the 312503 Power units and thankfully it is the same internals as the model you demostrated with, im going to carry ut the conversion but as i am no designer i wonderd if you uploaded the 3D Printed plate anywhere?
It would have been better to desolder the old crimp ferrules and use those in the screw down connections. Ask any electrician, good ones crimp ferrules onto bare wire for screw down connections like with RCBO's
I got a new PSU for my Amigas. It has over and under protection and a screen that shows the voltages. They cost a lot more now than when I got it. A good PSU can help alot. I might make one of these ones later are you going to up load the PSU stand offs.
personally i think if the originals are checked/serviced, theyre as good and reliable as modern ones, in some cases may be better than some cheap n nasty ones.... that A600 one you opend up uses a circuit very similar to many crt tvs in the 80s, devised by siemens, i think, and is generally very good but subject to chain reaction blow ups if a fault develops in the chopper transistor drive circuit, as for it overvolting and kiling the computer, very unlikely , those resistors that get hot are probably under rated, i have an A500plus version of this psu to service sometime, i also have a 'heavy' version with mains frequency transformer, feeding a low voltage switching step down circuit, again if checked and serviced, i'd say they'd be very reliable, certainly much better than c64 psus...
Just out of interest, did you measure the 5V rail at the A600 side? I tend to set my PSUs up a few percent to compensate for the cable drop, but I wonder what the drop is across these original cables.
What's all this then? XD But seriously, I thought C64 power supplies were bad and C128 and Amiga power supplies were ok, with the C64 failing into an overvoltage vs the C128/Amiga failing into an undervoltage?
Hmm, that linear PSU type is as reliable as you will get. Those "hot" resistors can be upgraded with ceramic one, and usually the things that go wrong with those are filter capacitors and regulators. It is cheap and simple. Also, the chances of "frying" stuff are slim to none, as these components short when they fail, meaning no power output. The PSU you are replying it with is a modern pwm type. Nothing wrong with those, very efficient, very safe... but they won't last 30 years! Nor will they be serviceable. So... not sure I'd agree to doing this to ALL old computers... "keep it original if it's not broken" may be my Approach
its not a linear, it IS a switch mode, all the Amiga ones are, even the one with the large mains frequency transformer in, it uses a step down 'buck' regulator circuit on the low voltage side, i bet they'd be more reliable than some 'modern' cheap n nasty power supplies, i've certainly seen some nasty beasts!
You need to be careful with these MW power supplies as they have a minimum expected current draw. For example, in the data sheet shown in this video it has a minimum of 0.4A for 5V and 0.2A for the 12V. While this will be fine for the 5V for an Amiga, the 12V line may not draw the 200mA. You may need to measure it. I believe the 12V line is only used for sound, floppy and RS232 serial.
You can definitely do that. They will most likely be fine. But note that some of them run very hot as I show in the video and that the cost of a meanwell replacement is so low its almost not worth the hassle of replacing all the old components in the original that might be worn out.
Great info and fab vid! There’s some info out there that suggests calibrating voltages by measuring inside the Amiga (floppy header for example… but don’t short it!) is good to account for cable losses. And I’ve found a heavily expanded Amiga needs another little tweak to be perfect, but it’s so easy to do!
Great tutorial ... you've inspired me to have a go at making one of these for myself👍
Thank you Kari! I will try really hard to get the STL files uploaded to thingiverse soon!
Well done!! Love the safety first approach. Thanks for sharing
Put simply, a great video! Naming the parts and price was a great touch, makes the project accessible to anyone.
I love how neatly and safely you've done this. I've never used those crimps but I do have really similar ones that you don't crimp, they're solder in the middle and glue
you should crimp fork connectors onto the wires that connect to the meanwell, putting stranded wires under screws is asking for trouble.
Nicely done. For the slim power supply cases, the RPT-60B fits well... these do have push fit connectors on them though, but they are easily desoldered and the wires soldered into the pcb.
Made properly, soldered wire joints are very strong. I tested this out once by soldering two pieces of wire together, and then standing on one end while pulling the other. The wire itself snapped before the joint did!
for that medium psu case, if you have a 3D printer, you could print a spacer to sit between both case sides to give some extra space to fit the board.
There's a nice 3D printable case for the meanwell on Thingyverse, I printed one for my Amiga and Meanwell PSU.
I wonder if using PLA - PETG and even ABS in the power supply could be a problem, I am sure you know from your electrician days plastics used with mains should be self extinguishing and the basic printer filaments are not. You can buy some filaments that are rated for this, but they are expensive and hard to find.
I think as long as I'm not selling these commercially that's not something I need to worry about. But it's a fair point that I'd not considered!
I work in the electronics industry - specifically, digital outdoor signage. We extensively use Meanwell PSUs and they are very reliable, even the fan-cooled ones which we need to use considering the application. It doesn't hurt that they are made in Taiwan, as opposed to the dubiously random quality products from the mainland.
Nice one Lee, and a nice shout out for CommodoreLad. Miss his posts since I left Twitter. If you do figure out how to make the older heavier PSU cases work, please to make a video. While mine is working fine for now, I would like to upgrade it to a modern PSU.
@@75slaine will do!
And commodore lad is now on Bluesky 😁
@@MoreFunMakingIt Thanks for the tip. I went to Mastodon I guess the folks that stayed on X/Twitter eventually went to Bluesky. May create an account there just to catch up with the scene again.
@@MoreFunMakingIt And I'm now following him there, as well as you of course Lee 👍
Plus the Meanwell auto-switches between 240V / 120V. Made mine nice and easy to "convert" to US power.
Great Job Lee! And by the way: I bought that Hakko desoldering gun AND tips 😀 But not to replace my ZD-915, but in addition, here in Germany we like to say: having is better than needing 😄 Greetings, Michael
Having a backup is a good idea. I have to admit there have been times I would have appreciated having both. The hakko nozzle is a lot smaller and I've struggled to clear things like modulator mounts. I might need to replace my old one after all!
😃👍
Have a look at Dave Poo's PCB that can be used to safely mount a Meanwell within the A300 styled PSUs. Gerbers freely available.
I’ve a few power supply’s I need to sort out so this was handy
Great Video!
Great informative tutorial as always Lee, i have one of the 312503 Power units and thankfully it is the same internals as the model you demostrated with, im going to carry ut the conversion but as i am no designer i wonderd if you uploaded the 3D Printed plate anywhere?
@@Retroornew I will get them uploaded and put a link in this video description as soon as that happens
Hi, great video. Where did you get the crimp connectors from please? I’m going to attempt this at the weekend.
I've just added a link to the description. Good luck!
It would have been better to desolder the old crimp ferrules and use those in the screw down connections. Ask any electrician, good ones crimp ferrules onto bare wire for screw down connections like with RCBO's
shouldn't you crimp on ring connectors for these screw terminals?
I got a new PSU for my Amigas. It has over and under protection and a screen that shows the voltages. They cost a lot more now than when I got it. A good PSU can help alot. I might make one of these ones later are you going to up load the PSU stand offs.
personally i think if the originals are checked/serviced, theyre as good and reliable as modern ones, in some cases may be better than some cheap n nasty ones.... that A600 one you opend up uses a circuit very similar to many crt tvs in the 80s, devised by siemens, i think, and is generally very good but subject to chain reaction blow ups if a fault develops in the chopper transistor drive circuit, as for it overvolting and kiling the computer, very unlikely , those resistors that get hot are probably under rated, i have an A500plus version of this psu to service sometime, i also have a 'heavy' version with mains frequency transformer, feeding a low voltage switching step down circuit, again if checked and serviced, i'd say they'd be very reliable, certainly much better than c64 psus...
If you are going to get the 5 volts perfect, I would think you would measure it at the computer end under load.
9:16 So after explaining how crimps are the ultimate solution you twist and screw the 240v wires? Crimp some forks to those mains cables please.
Just out of interest, did you measure the 5V rail at the A600 side? I tend to set my PSUs up a few percent to compensate for the cable drop, but I wonder what the drop is across these original cables.
I didn't. That was definitely an oversight.
One of theses killed my amiga 500 soo it's a must upgrade
What's all this then? XD But seriously, I thought C64 power supplies were bad and C128 and Amiga power supplies were ok, with the C64 failing into an overvoltage vs the C128/Amiga failing into an undervoltage?
Hmm, that linear PSU type is as reliable as you will get. Those "hot" resistors can be upgraded with ceramic one, and usually the things that go wrong with those are filter capacitors and regulators. It is cheap and simple. Also, the chances of "frying" stuff are slim to none, as these components short when they fail, meaning no power output.
The PSU you are replying it with is a modern pwm type. Nothing wrong with those, very efficient, very safe... but they won't last 30 years! Nor will they be serviceable. So... not sure I'd agree to doing this to ALL old computers... "keep it original if it's not broken" may be my Approach
its not a linear, it IS a switch mode, all the Amiga ones are, even the one with the large mains frequency transformer in, it uses a step down 'buck' regulator circuit on the low voltage side, i bet they'd be more reliable than some 'modern' cheap n nasty power supplies, i've certainly seen some nasty beasts!
You need to be careful with these MW power supplies as they have a minimum expected current draw. For example, in the data sheet shown in this video it has a minimum of 0.4A for 5V and 0.2A for the 12V. While this will be fine for the 5V for an Amiga, the 12V line may not draw the 200mA. You may need to measure it. I believe the 12V line is only used for sound, floppy and RS232 serial.
Cant you just re-cap the old PSU's are they all defective?
You can definitely do that. They will most likely be fine. But note that some of them run very hot as I show in the video and that the cost of a meanwell replacement is so low its almost not worth the hassle of replacing all the old components in the original that might be worn out.
Great info and fab vid! There’s some info out there that suggests calibrating voltages by measuring inside the Amiga (floppy header for example… but don’t short it!) is good to account for cable losses. And I’ve found a heavily expanded Amiga needs another little tweak to be perfect, but it’s so easy to do!
@@MoreFunMakingIt I learnt from your comment !
@@MoreFunMakingIt its only really capacitors that would 'wear out' , those 2 resistors do need increasing in wattage though