Commodore Service and Restorer - Commodore 64, 1541/II (1581) floppy drive is today's modern power-supply
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Commodore 64, 1541/II (1581) floppy drive is today's modern power-supply

replacing or not replacing?
Who wouldn’t have wondered if these 30-year-old power-supplies can still be used for Commodore computers? What happens if these power-supplies go wrong along with our computer?

Very good questions and I have to bitter everyone that yes if the power supply goes wrong, the computer crashes too.

The power supplies of the Commodore 64 and 1541/II (1581) floppy drives have very simple electronics, and the problem is that they don’t have any protection. They have a so-called +5V DC and/or +12V DC stabilizer IC. If these go wrong +12V can go up on the +5V branch, and 14-16V can go up on the 12V branch.

(You can read more about this problem here): CommodoreSzerviz)

Since our computer is designed to take the voltages directly to every IC, an overvoltage can immediately destroy them.

In the case of the Commodore 64 the screen is black, there are times when the LED lights up, and in many cases no video signal go out. The computer can be saved, but only at a very high cost… almost all ICs need to be replaced.
In the case of the Commodore 1541/II floppy drive, both LEDs light up and the motor is continuously running. The situation is better here because it only destroys the DOS PROM and it is easily replaceable.
If such an incident happens we recommend checking the voltages of the power-supply first before trying it out with another computer.

but then what can we do?
Buy a modern switching power-supply! Such power-supplies are available here: c64psu.com
keelog.com

(We do not make a difference between the Commodore 64 Bearbine, C, and G /Plus 4/ models, all of them use the same 1,5A or 1,7A power-supply. The power-supplies for the Commodore 1541/II floppy drive are 700mA or 1A. The latter is for the 1581 floppy drive.)

Both teams produce Commodore 64 and Commodore 64 – 1541/II (1581) combinations. Everyone can decide which one they want to buy in terms of appearance and price. However, there are two things you need to know about these products.

These power-supplies use the so-called RPT-60B compact switching power-supplies, which are protected against +5VDC (short circuit, overcurrent, and overvoltage). For the Commodore 64, this is sufficient, but the 1541/II (1581) floppy drive requires both +5V DC and +12V DC, and the last one is not protected against any overvoltage.
Another such problem is obsolescence. How long will they work? For 2, 3, 4 years? Nobody knows. If they go wrong, will the +12V DC branch hold 12V, or will 14-16V go out on them again? Because in this case, we are in the same situation as with the Commodore factory power-supplies.

One thing is sure, these are still more reliable power-supplies than the originals. Despite the theoretical problems above, we encourage everyone to use them.

pros and cons
Overall, it is worth replacing the old, more than 30 years old C64 power-supplies with a modern one. Maybe that can’t be an issue.

Which one should we choose from the brands above? It doesn’t matter, as they’re both equipped with the same electronics. We don’t know why it is worth spending more money on a power-supply with a display. This is because if there’s already a difference on the screen, then either the protection is already working or the power-supply has already killed our computer… in this case, it is certain that our computer won’t start anymore.

By the things written above, everyone can choose between sparkle and pomp, or simplicity. In terms of power-supply, you get the same in both cases.

c64psu.com Commodore 64 és 64-1541/II (1581) power-supplies

c64psu.com Commodore 64 tápegység
c64psu.com Commodore 64-1541/II (1581) tápegység

keelog.com Commodore 64 és 64-1541/II (1581) power-supplies

keelog.com Commodore 64 tápegység
keelog.com Commodore 64 és 64-1541/II (1581) tápegység


Commodore Service and Restorer Hungary | Commodore 64, 1541/II (1581) floppy drive mai modern tápegységek


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