Is this homemade AC Adapter good for a 130XE AND 800XL

[zetastrike]

I have an hand-soldered AC adapter that I use with my 800XL and my 130XE. Its output is 5V, 2000mA, with a positive center pole.

 

I got it because my original boat anchor brick blew up and fried my first 800XL. It works with absolutely no issue with the 800XL.

 

I just got a 130XE last week that came with another boat anchor. I'll never use one of those again, so I was able to run it off of the homemade one. The only issue is that some colors look wrong on it, mainly some blues. The BASIC boot up screen is purple instead of blue and some other shades of blue in games look a little off compared to how they look with the 800XL.

 

Is this adapter ok to use with the 130XE? Could that be the cause of the off-blues?

[Rybags]

Should be OK. Would be a good idea to check voltage across the pins of the power plug inside the computer with it running. It shouldn't be too much over 5 Volts, not sure the exact number but 5.1 maybe tops?

 

Buzzing audio can be a sign of overvolting. Of course make sure the TV is tuned properly if using RF before checking that.

 

Wrong colours might just be the colour adjustment pot, accessable from under the computer without needing to pull it apart.

Turn it with a flat blade, preferably non-conductive screwdriver.

Enter the program here into Basic and run it. It'll generate colour bars like the picture below. You can use that as a guide when adjusting the pot. Note that screenshot is from emulation so they're only an approximate match.

10 GRAPHICS 11
20 FOR C=1 TO 15:COLOR C
30 FOR Y=C*12 TO C*12+9
40 PLOT 0,Y:DRAWTO 79,Y
50 NEXT Y
60 NEXT C
99 GOTO 99

[Paul Westphal]

Adjust the color pot to your liking. Power should not affect the output.

[Paul Westphal]

Also for color adjustment, I use joust for the Reds and yellows ( the bottom lava pit ) and pac-man for the rest.

[Rybags]

Colours going crazy have been reported as symptoms of a power supply that's under or overvolted.

But my bet would be on a simple pot adjustment being needed.

[zetastrike]

Thanks for the info. I wasn't aware 8 bits had a color pot. I always thought that was just a VCS thing. There's no buzzing noise. The adapter works just fine on an 800XL, so it's probably just the pot. I'll get on that tonight and let you know what happens.

[ApolloBoy]

Yeah, your PSU shouldn't be the problem; 2A is more than enough amperage for an 800XL or 130XE plus accessories or mods.

[bbking67]

Power supply quality matters... I personally would avoid cheap "chargers" in favour of a real PSU for a 5V device. I've had success with old D-Link 5V 2.5A adapters used with routers (my local thrift store sells these regularly for $1.99).

 

I had a couple of dubious chargers that gave me 5V but then when they had a load they dropped.

 

One charger that looks really good to me (haven't tried it yet) is the Sony PSP style charger... I like the form factor in that it's a brick like a laptop with two leads versus a power brick.