Are the Drive PSU as unreliable as the Computer PSU's?

[JohnMcD348]

I was an old time OG C64/1541 user and I'm working my way into getting back to it again. I have a new power unit for my C64, but it got my wondering about the internal supply on my 1541. Other than maybe needing to be recaped, as I plan to do with my C64, are the internal power supply units prone to failure and circuit board damage also? I never went to the C64c and later drive variants, but remind me, did the newer Drives come with external power supplies? Are they as Unreliable?

Thanks,
John

 

[Ruud]

AFAIR I never any problems with any of the power supplies of my C64s and 1541s. Regarding the C64, I always used the white brick, if possible.

 

[RobertB]

JohnMcD348 wrote:

> ...are the internal power supply units prone to failure and circuit board damage also? I never went to the C64c and later drive variants, but remind me, did the newer Drives come with external power supplies? Are they as Unreliable?

I never liked the 1541's getting so hot. I always elevated them off the tabletop so that more cool air could come through the bottom vents. Sometimes I would even put a tube on the top vents to act as a chimney to evacuate the hot air out of the case. On 2 of my 1541's, I had Ray Carlsen replace the old p.s. components with modern, cool-running p.s. components. Those drives do run cooler and are much lighter in weight (due to the old, heavy components being taken out).

Truly,
Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group - http://www.dickestel.com/fcug.htm
Southern California Commodore & Amiga Network - http://www.portcommodore.com/sccan

 

[Timo W.]

The PSU of the old 1541 is pretty reliable, as it is just a transformer and two linear voltage regulators. They can run quite hot, but that only happens after hours of use and will make the drive start producing read-errors. Once cooled down, it will work as normal again.

Note, however, that depending on the country you are in, you might want to rewire the transformer, as mains voltage was probably lower back then (in e.g. Germany, it is a good idea to rewire it from 220v to 240v, as using 220v devices with the current 230v grid is no longer safe).

You can also replace the linear voltage regulators with modern ones. But that's not really needed. Unlike with the C64 PSU, I never saw one of those used in the 1541 go short.