Hello Noel ! About thicker AC cables, Live, Neutral and Earth, MUST have the SAME exact section(diameter/gauge). Avoid rigid wire.

Yes. the 20 gauge wire on the AC line input is a fire safety hazard. Because the USA uses lower voltage, it has higher amperage to compensate, and thus lower gauge wire. 18 gauge is the minimum.

The best thing to use for the AC wiring is... wire from an AC cord :) Get some 6A (0.75MM²) flex and strip it apart for the individual wires. I don't know about Spain, but here in the UK pretty much any DIY store will carry suitable mains flex.

Yeah, as soon as you are talking about mains power, the requirements for wire gauge is a real issue.

NOPE! None of the above is a valid concern. The AC side doesn't affect current. The DEVICE draws the current it needs when powered on. Since the device is the same A500 used with the original PSU, it will draw exactly the same current it took before the PSU swap, regardless of the input AC voltage. The wire gauge is the same as that used by the original PSU and the exact same cable is used on NTSC and PAL machines so it doesn't actually affect anything. If that wire gauge was good enough to pass stringent FCC safety testing by the manufacturers it's certainly good enough now.

Yes, I've heard they have a reputation for doing that 🤣

Ouch!

Yes, I've done this many times, man is it horrible!

Think it never happens as the plugs shouldn’t be kept in the middle of the floor 😀

@@NoelsRetroLab But, at least they don't have the US reputation of the prongs bending by practically merely breathing on them. We have three electric carts at the store I work at. When they installed wall sockets they put in two sets of 4, for a total of 8, then somehow "miswired" one set, which failed, then they couldn't work out how the heck to fix it. The "working" one was 2 feet away from the farthest cart, so caused "one" charge plug to stretch too far. So.. when they did a minor remodel they tried to fix this - by removing the 2 foot away one entirely, rewiring the broken one so it works, and placing the charge plugs where #1 = too close to the ice machine, #2 is 2 feet away, and stretches the cords, and #3 is now like 4 feet away, and can only be "safely" reached by one plug, which is about a foot longer than the other two (and on an older model cart). Needless to say, all three plugs, and all three carts, are now bent all to heck, and if parked in the wrong places, at least one cart *will not stay plugged in, and charging*, since the cord literally pulls it sideways, and out of the wall socket. Sigh... I work for idiots.

Does the UK actually have any appliances that draw 32A? Here in Australia the max amperage is 10A. There is a 15A plug for special uses but it's rarely used and the only difference is slightly thicker wire and a larger ground lug so it can't be plugged into a stock 10A socket. They are used for things like AC input to a caravan where one socket provides all power to everything that uses electricity inside the caravan.

@@johnbos4637 No appliances can draw more than 13A if they are plugged in to the wall, because that is the biggest plug fuse that can be bought. We have 3kW kettles that therefore draw about 12A at a nominal 240v.

@@juliannicholls Ah, I thought maybe something had changed. When I lived in the UK from 1968 - 1971 the fuse was 13A.

You just have to use 2 BS1363 plugs wired in parallel with special "brass slug" fuses if you want to run a welder from a dual-gang wall socket. Not that I would advocate or have ever done such a terrible thing, you understand...

@@TrimeshSZ I should hope not :)

Oh thank god, theres actually people that know this :)

Right. Technology Connections had a great video about that (focusing on the US system): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gcWhYNufvrjZl4U.html

The plastic is just a mount. It doesn't actually matter as there is no force on it. Regardless, he didn't actually say what it's made of so how do you know he didn't use PLA+ or ABS? ;-)

@@johnbos4637 It does matter as the mount can melt or disform with minimal heat. I know because I am a smart ass who does a lot of 3D printing.

Not true for earthed plugs. Live should be on the right and neutral on the left. There are socket testers available that will tell you if your sockets are miswired.

@@Nibb31 At least in Sweden earthed plugs can be plugged in both ways. Edit: Germany also has earthed non-polarized plugs along with a bunch of other European countries. In fact it's the most common plug in Europe called the CEE 7/4 plug. It's earthed and can be plugged in both ways.

@@Nibb31 In Germany und many other European Countrys, the earthprongs a made to allow the plug to connect in both ways. So its Nonploarized even with earthconnection. there is not even a "best practice" for the side of the phase.

@@MermaidSystem totally right. Actually this also means, that you need to use a two pole switch at the AC side (instead of the former 1 pole) two cut both wires. As I read from Wikipedia the usual plugs in Spain are not polarized, so you should consider this ;-) Otherwise you may have life on the power supply board, when expecting it to be all neutral.

@@Hadrian2002 you dont NEED to use a dual pole switch unless you require isolation. For a simple on/off switch it is enough to break one conductor.

@Mr Guru yes the current draw to the Amiga will be the same on the DC load side but on the AC supply to the PSU if the voltage level changes from 220V down to 120V to keep the power the same the current will increase. For example 100W PSU will draw 0.45A at 220V but a 120v supply will draw 0.83A.

@@kevinhowie2704 Sure but like I said in another comment.... it doesn't matter. I own over 50 Amigas. The same AC cable is used on all models in all regions. The only difference is the plug shape and the input voltage on the PSU. You said yourself a 1mm wire can take 10A without issues and the cable used is at least that. The Amiga only takes 3A-4A so well within the limits. If it was good enough to pass FCC safety regulations in 1987 it's fine now.

@@johnbos4637 true I believe you that the dc circuit supplying the Amiga is 3 to 4 amp but we are discussing the AC supply which current will be alot lower.

Maybe you're unaware of the contraction of "you are" and how it has an apostrophe and an e. 😉 Maybe you're also unaware that your final sentence should read: But it's (it is) also good for devices that don't have its (kudos here for the correct possessive pronoun) own fuse, e.g. (an abbreviation so punctuate it!) table lamps.

What are the typical failure points? That electrolytic cap was obviously botched in Noel's unit, but I doubt that was the only thing wrong there.

@@VioletGiraffe The psu he swapped, didn't have a lot in it. the one with bad cap had a far more complicated design.

@@AmigaofRochester The old one is exactly the same, just runs at a lower frequency and with slightly worse efficiency, plus as it is self oscillating it will likely not start reliably on 115VAC supplies. New good quality 105C capacitors all round, a resolder of the transformer and power semiconductors, and it will work fine for another 2 decades no problem.

@@SeanBZA He showed two old psus, one more complex than the other. One with a blown cap, one without. The one without the blown cap yes, I'd just rebuild with new 105c caps. I'd do the samething with the blown cap one. Just like I do with apple psus.

Yes, I was ready to adjust the voltage under load at the end when I realized this model didn't have an adjustment like the 50B. I wonder why. At least it worked fine without any tweaking, so that was great.

@@NoelsRetroLab Costs money and space to put the pot in, and makes it less reliable. You just have to use 1% resistors for the reference divider, and use the 1% TL431 IC, to get the overall accuracy of the 5V rail within 2% at worst case, which is from 4V9 to 5V1, and in most cases within 50mV of 5v. I just made a fixed resistor for a 12v battery charger, as the original uses a pot, which is a little touchy to adjust. Measured it, and looked for a parallel selection of resistors to make the same 350R resistance. a parallel combination of 2 820R resistors and a 2k5 resistor got me within 1R of the correct value, plenty close enough.

I think some of the Meanwell supplies regulate on the 12v rail rather than the 5. I know that's been a problem for some people as the 12v isn't getting a load sufficient to achieve the right level on the 5v. I misremembered my problem, it wasn't the Gotek I had problems with, it was a usb mouse plugged in with an adapter. Not a problem if you're using real mice.

Aha! That's some in-depth classification of PSUs right there. That's great. I'm saving that info for future reference. Thanks!

Actually i've never seen that Liton one that you show with the exploded capacitor either :) The key thing is, all of these power supplies were subcontracted regionally - none were designed by Commodore themselves other than the look of the casing. They simply specified that they wanted a supply capable of supplying +5, +12 and -12 with minimum current specs. How the subcontractors did it was up to them. Most of the supplies were cost optimised and were dreadful. Especially that ISMET switching one.

Close, but the RDP-60A is also wrong. It doesn't have -12v. I believe he meant the RPT-60B, which has the +5v, +12v, AND -12V the Amiga needs.

Thanks! And as a bonus, they're easier to store since the power cord comes off.

@@NoelsRetroLab Very true, I always wished the two cables were on the same side, and the switch facing out. just for desk usage.

Agreed. They're not bomb-proof, but for the money they're great and they will usually not destroy what you're powering with them 😃 And yes, I'm leaving the linear PSU alone. Those seem to be OK. It's the lightweight ones that tend to have issues.

@@NoelsRetroLab Yes but the lightweight ones are easy to repair, especially if you do it before it fails, simply by replacing all those old capacitors in them. The Meanwell power supply will still fail in the same way, just after a few years, but should still be available.

"arent the best" ? They're very good. Actually look at one - well made, good quality capacitors...

@@jaycee1980 Yes, but they are not using the top of the range capacitors, but lower cost versions, that have a shorter operational life. Cost cutting, and so long as you derate them appropriately, and run them at a lower temperature they do work well. Even the top tier equipment makers use them, though there they often also have special versions for their use case, with the top quality capacitors in them, as they are willing to pay for the longer life.

@@jaycee1980 Better ones would be, Siemens, Allen-Bradley, Schneider, etc. The extra cost versus Mean Well isn't always justified in a professional industrial environment, let alone for a fun hobby at home. I've seen more Mean Well failures than the other brands combined.

This is a great idea and I see a Bulgin C14 that's perfect except its size makes 'snapping' it into the end of the case difficult it's not flat. Now I want to 3D print a case to suit, with screw bosses in the correct place for the Mean Well. See what you've done (but thanks for the tip!) :D

Thanks! 👍

Dang! I wish I could take credit for that one. I need to start thinking about puns more often 😃

Surely schuko is directional? There's an earth pin hole, admittedly if it's a two pin outlet it's not directional.... Never mind i forgot that schuko uses the edge connectors not the pin and so you're quite right.

@@TheErador You are half right though. There are variants like the French Type E that has a earth prong in the socket instead of the normal side connectors. There are however only a handful of countries in Europe that do not use Type F.

@@v4lgrind Poland seems to use the type E, which is where I've been quite a bit with work, easy to forget that sockets are not entirely unified across Europe.

Thanks! I think the thickness is fine given that it's 220V AC, but it wouldn't hurt to have something thicker for sure.

What model of power supply you use for the IIgs ??

@@joseluisarenasperez3855 Meanwell RPT-60B

Other option would be to connect the ground to those two new screws. Leaving them like they are now would make the psu technically unsafe. The original screws are considered safe because their metal parts are not exposed inside the case when it is closed.

The screen capture is wrong, the correct reference is: RPT-60B. This one (T instead or B) has the expected voltages.

It's a common thing and well documented. I've been doing exactly that for 20+ years.

@@johnbos4637 Well good for you :-) Me? I haven't been doing that for twenty years, so... SNARF!

@@CheshireNoir I had to look that up..... it has different definitions depending on use. "SNARF: To expel fluid or food through the nostrils accidentally, usually while attempting to stifle laughter with one's mouth full.". Obviously this isn't the one you meant LOL ;-)

By the way, it see it also could works for Spectrum +2AB/+3

Countries in Europe generally don't use ring topologies like in the UK, so a surge would only affect the "spoke" of wires from the appliance to the distribution box.

@@bufordmaddogtannen I won't claim to understand that fully, but that doesn't mean a power surge wouldn't happen?

@@richards7909 my understanding is that to be able to have sockets (and lights) arranged in a circle you need to be able to push 30Amps/7000+ KW worth of power through the wires. With a star arrangement the requirements are lower, therefore the damage should be contained. Besides most households in Europe are capped at around 4KW total as heating and cooking is done with gas. In the case of an electrical heater malfunctioning, this can affect other appliances on the same ring.

Oh, it's pretty light! Probably similar in weight to the light PSU I pulled out. Maybe a tad bit lighter.

I hate to be "that guy" - but BS1362 is the spec for the fuse, BS1363 covers both the plugs and the sockets.

@@TrimeshSZ damn!

+5V to run the main logic. +12V for a) the floppy drive motor, b) the serial port, c) the audio opamp. -12V for a) the serial port, b) the audio opamp

That's why I had to use the soldering iron along with the desoldering gun probably, but yes, they came out really nicely. You can see the specific tools I'm using here: noelsretrolab.com/tools.html

Going through the Meanwell catalog, I think I have found an error. In his video he refers to the model rpd-60 (3:33) when in reality the reference of the triple voltage source must be RPT-60 + 12v + 5-12v. Maybe a catalog change? In any case. Very good video. I was unaware of this small model of power supply

@@santiagog.6160 I think it's just an error on the video - the last letter in Meanwel PSU part numbers is the output configuration; "S" = Single, "D" = Dual, "T" = Triple. So if you have a "RPD" model with 3 outputs it's presumably a fake one (yes, there are fake Meanwell PSUs).

Yes, you're right. My non-electrician background showing up 😃 I added a comment about it pinned to the top. Thanks!