Just got my 5200 and fryed it

[Sam9938]

so I unwrapped my 5200 and my atari 400. Got the 5200 all plugged up and stuck the power adapter for the atari 400 in the switch box. Next I hear this crazy loud buzzing sound and look around, really confused and finally come to the conclusion that I put the wrong one in. Pulled it back out and oh boy it smelt nasty. Sooooooooo what are the chances that I can fix it. It wont work at all with the good power supply now.

[4Ks]

You know what that means? That really stinks, man. If you want to replace it, PM the.golden.ax and he'll sell you a new one. And he's got both models for sale.

[CGQuarterly]

You will need to take it apart, find whatever it is that you fried, and replace it. Did the console itself stink, or just the switchbox? Either way, if you are handy with a multitester and a soldering iron, this is fixable. Otherwise just buy another one and be more careful next time.

 

Chris

[Sam9938]

Just the switchbox smelled. Im opening it up now and trying to replace the transistors that poped and such

Edited December 29, 2009 by Sam9938

[shadow460]

You'd have an easier time modding the console to accept power without the switchbox, IMO. I fried my only 5200 switchbox and I never could find a replacement or troubleshoot it. When I got another 5200, I just modded it.

[GrizzLee]

so I unwrapped my 5200 and my atari 400. Got the 5200 all plugged up and stuck the power adapter for the atari 400 in the switch box. Next I hear this crazy loud buzzing sound and look around, really confused and finally come to the conclusion that I put the wrong one in. Pulled it back out and oh boy it smelt nasty. Sooooooooo what are the chances that I can fix it. It wont work at all with the good power supply now.

 

Ouch!!

 

Now I wish I had kept the one I donated to Goodwill last month. It was in sorry cosmetic shape (cracked case and all). I would have given it to you.

 

Sorry to hear about your woes. I hope you get a replacement.

 

-Lee

[Tempest]

Dont the 400 and 5200 use the same power supply?

 

Tempest

[vintagegamecrazy]

I've got a bare bones 2 port I could sell for around 20.00 or so. Let me know and I could get a shipping quote.

[kool kitty89]

It may not have been your fault, I don't know the specs for the A400 PSU vs the 5200's, but it could very well have been a bad RF box. (with a short and/or corrosion) Unless the 2 AC adaptors used the opposite polarity, it shouldn't have been damaging at all. (or would have to use radically higher voltage on the A8, but even the, nowhere near as sensitive as reversed polarity)

 

If it is reversed polarity ... that may be really bad, I did that to a VCS years ago and fried 2 games, the voltage regulator and at least one of the main chips (I removed them and have misplaced them since, but I'm pretty sure either RIOT or TIA was physically damaged -a peice of the package ruptured near the center of the chip). The motherboard is still good (swapped in chips from another unit for testing after replacing the voltage regulator), but unless there are spare RIOT+TIA+6507 chips available. (outside of canabalizing another 2600)

 

But I digress, again, I'm not sure if the A400's adaptor is the problem, it might have been the RF adaptor. I'd open up the RF adaptor to see what it looks like (ie if there's an obvious short or corrosion)

If it was just the RF unit, you could mod your system to use a separate power input port and the RF cable normally as with the VCS.

[+Mitch]

Dont the 400 and 5200 use the same power supply?

 

Tempest

 

Nope, 400/800 is AC, the 5200 uses DC.

 

It's usually not a problem to use a DC power supply with a system that wants AC but not the opposite way.

 

Mitch

[Almost Rice]

The 400 uses 9VAC and the 5200 should be 9.3v DC positive center. They have same size plug so that is why it is so easy to make the mistake. I believe the 5200 also has a 11.5v DC positive center PS.

[tz101]

DC works in a system designed for AC power, but not the opposite direction. AC into a DC console is a bad situation. This is why the NES console can be powered with a DC Genesis power adapter, but you should never use the NES AC power brick on any other game systems, as most of them are rated for DC power consumption. That is unless you wish to fry them.

[kool kitty89]

Yeah AC is bad, don't use an NES PSU with a Genesis/SMS/Sega CD/Jaguar, etc. (all of which also have the less common negative center pole I beleive)

However, I don't think it's quite as bad as using reverese polarity DC in terms of how rapidly it will kill the system (some people even got away with using an NES brick on Genesis for a while, though with a lot of buzzing -luckily they didn't do any perminent damage). I don't think my VCS would have been as badly damaged by AC power as it was by reversed DC.

 

So perhaps it's just the RF adaptor that's fried, and the internals are fine. (in which case, you can opt for the separate power input modification for your 5200)

[Sam9938]

Just got it fixed. Found the fried transistor, replaced it with one similar enough. You have to shake the switchbox sometimes but it works fine. Unfortunately but not to anyones surprise the controller they sent me dosent work but the trakball works great. All I can play on it is glaxian, missile command and centipede. Its still awesome though.

[tz101]

Just got it fixed. Found the fried transistor, replaced it with one similar enough. You have to shake the switchbox sometimes but it works fine. Unfortunately but not to anyones surprise the controller they sent me dosent work but the trakball works great. All I can play on it is glaxian, missile command and centipede. Its still awesome though.

 

Get with Best Electronics for replacement flex circuit and pots and your controller will work good as new. They are very reasonable on their prices too.

[kool kitty89]

If the flex circuitry isn't broken, the main problems are worn out buttons and dirty pots (makign control twitchy -a problem on paddles as well). Cleaning the pots and button contacts could solve that unless the button contacts are no longer conductive -on the rubber/button side, not the board. (in which case some have used aluminum foil attached -glued? but perhaps coating th rubber contacts with graphite may help as well -rubbing a soft pencil etc, those contacts do work by carbon composite as the conductor anyway)

Edited December 31, 2009 by kool kitty89

[tz101]

Actually, if you are somewhat mechanical you can repair and clean old dirty pots with little effort.

 

First, unplug the six controller wires (three for each pot) that connect to the pots, being careful to remember which colored wire connected to which pot connection point.

 

Second, remove the pots from the plastic 5200 controller housing. On some controllers this can require a little force since the pots are dlued into the controller from the factory.

 

Third, use a jeweler's flat type screwdriver to bend up the four crimped corner tabs on the pot outer housing.

 

Fourth, disassemble the pot, taking notice of how the stem and disc are oriented for later reference. You will also have to remove the rotating pot arm at this step. It is press fit over the pot shaft so may require a little force.

 

Fifth, use fine grain sandpaper to lightly polish the ends of the "feathered" metal contact that rotates within the pot, then finish cleaning it with a cotton swab dipped in 91% alcohol.

 

Sixth, Use cotton swab and alcohol to thoroughly clean the carbon pad that is on the inside of the pot's stationary housing. This carbon pad is what contacts the feathered metal connector during game play.

 

Seventh, reassemble the pot and use the jeweler's screwdriver to re-crimp the four corner tabs of the outer metal housing to capture all the internal components in their proper place.

 

Eighth, replace the pots into the controller plastic housing and reconnect the colored wires to their proper contacts.

 

Ninth, press the pot arms back over the pot stems and properly adjust the on-screen movement of your avatar/cursor. The best game for this alignment is Missile Command. With the cursor centered vertically on your TV screen the upper pot arm should be positioned at exactly the 9 o'clock position. With the cursor centered horizontally on your TV screen the lower pot arm should be positioned at exactly the 6 o'clock position.

 

Finally, reassemble the controller casing, being careful to not rotate the pot arms out of their proper positions with the plastic slider plates.

 

Plug it into the 5200 console and enjoy.