28.5 watt ColecoVision compatible power supply (The best quality PS every made for the ColecoVision)

[Greg2600]

4 minutes ago, MrPix said:

If you used a ColUSB,do you still have it? If so, does the problem go away when you use it?

It melted on him!

1 hour ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Having said that, I did just notice something odd on my composite modded unit I've never noticed before. With both supplies my initial picture through RF is black and white until I plug in the composite cable and then color comes through on the RF. My guess is that it has something to do with the composite being tied off the composite video from the RF modulator as all the composite mods require along with the ground and +12 from the same points. So there is something odd with the composite mod taking too much of the signal or causing a voltage drain on the RF modulator it seems that I've not noticed before. I will have to look at that in more detail but I wonder if all the comp mods might do this? They are all based off the same designs near as I can tell.

 

No, my Yurkie mod works the same with RF and AV plugged in alone or the same time.  That said, yours might be wired a tad different like you mentioned. 

[HDTV1080P]

13 minutes ago, MrPix said:

To be fair, while it does filter out transient spikes, it doesn't filter out changes in level of say 11.8 to 12V...

Personally, I'd be looking at if moving the power supply and video cable relative to each other changes the nature of the interference. Hearing the console was extensively recapped a couple of years ago is reassuring.

If you used a ColUSB,do you still have it? If so, does the problem go away when you use it?

The Mean Well power supply is FCC certified and should not be causing the interference. Moving the video cable makes perfect sense since some have bad shielding. I think he said his Col USB plug was destroyed fried when the Apple USB charger fried it by sending too much voltage.  

Edited June 22, 2020 by HDTV1080P

[MrPix]

1 minute ago, HDTV1080P said:

The Mean Well power supply is FCC certified and should not be causing the interference. Moving the video cable makes perfect sense since some have bad shielding. I think you said his Col USB plug was destroyed fried when a the Apple USB charger fried it by sending to much voltage.  

FCC certification means the item was compliant for RF emissions for a given load. If the given load falls below the minimum tested, which it could easily do with a CV, the buck regulator circuit will be 'on' less and less until the ferrites and capacitors can no longer condition the signal. Technically, this would still be FCC compliant because FCC compliance is for EMI. In this case, the interference might be directly induced on the power line, and not through EMI.

Mean Well also tends to do CE certification, and use the harmonization procedures to self-certify FCC compliance. CE standards are higher, but are more dependent on use cases than FCC regulations. That said, I'm confident that isn't an element of what is happening here.

I just want to see this guy get to the bottom of his problem so he and you can learn from it and be ready for the next time it happens.

Personally, I'd love to get an oscilloscope onto that CV to see where the noise is being introduced.

[HDTV1080P]

15 minutes ago, MrPix said:

FCC certification means the item was compliant for RF emissions for a given load. If the given load falls below the minimum tested, which it could easily do with a CV, the buck regulator circuit will be 'on' less and less until the ferrites and capacitors can no longer condition the signal. Technically, this would still be FCC compliant because FCC compliance is for EMI. In this case, the interference might be directly induced on the power line, and not through EMI.

Mean Well also tends to do CE certification, and use the harmonization procedures to self-certify FCC compliance. CE standards are higher, but are more dependent on use cases than FCC regulations. That said, I'm confident that isn't an element of what is happening here.

I just want to see this guy get to the bottom of his problem so he and you can learn from it and be ready for the next time it happens.

Personally, I'd love to get an oscilloscope onto that CV to see where the noise is being introduced.

So far the original ColecoVsion power supply and most third party power supplies have not been powerful enough to power the Expansion Module #3 ADAM computer. Besides ATX power supplies, only the COL USB plug with a 17 watt USB charger and this Mean Well power supply is powerful enough to power the expansion module #3. I tested many ADAM games and ColecoVision games with this Mean Well power supply and they all worked flawlessly from my systems. Sometimes on the Col USB power supply solution I have seen a small amount of RF interference while using the Roller Controller with slither, but perfect picture quality using Slither and the Roller controller with this Mean Well power supply. 

 

Thanks for all your suggestions, an oscilloscope is a nice tool to have.   

Edited June 22, 2020 by HDTV1080P

[+-^CrossBow^-]

4 hours ago, MrPix said:

To be fair, while it does filter out transient spikes, it doesn't filter out changes in level of say 11.8 to 12V...

Personally, I'd be looking at if moving the power supply and video cable relative to each other changes the nature of the interference. Hearing the console was extensively recapped a couple of years ago is reassuring.

If you used a ColUSB,do you still have it? If so, does the problem go away when you use it?

I tried moving the power supply to different sides of the console and even plugged it into a completely different outlet from another room with an extension cord and no change.

 

No the ColUSB died on me about a month or so back. I was using an iPad charger with with a 12w rating and forgot to unplug the ColUSB from the charge cable so it was just sitting on my work bench plugged into the iPad charger that was still plugged into the power strip. Few hours later I noticed the housing on the ColUSB was warped a bit and the entire thing was very hot to the touch. Naturally...it no longer worked. Near as I can tell, the iPad charge was feeding too much into it and without a load on the ColUSB since it wasn't plugged into anything, it burned out the VRs inside it.

 

Anyway, I got the black n white only on RF issue resolved with the main CV. I took out the older Yurkie composite board and put in one of the Retrofixes boards I have on hand. Didn't change the video interference but my RF is actually a bit improved on that console now as compared to how it used to be..so there is that I guess?

 

And actually I do have a scope...where you do you want me to measure from? Just connect it off the composite and compare the waveform between using an original vs the meanwell? Or look for something else in the signal?

 

 

 

[HDTV1080P]

I spent most of the night testing the 28.5 Watt Mean Well ColecoVision compatible desktop switching power supply on several different ColecoVision systems. After many hours of testing again, excellent picture and sound quality over RF. Plus works perfectly with composite video modification. Some third party composite video modifications use 5 volts DC while others use 12 volts DC.

 

I even had during my tests the Expansion module #3 ADAM computer connected with many expansion items attached. I also had the Adamnet keyboard, and Microfox SD Floppy Drive emulator attached. The ColecoVision picture and sound quality was perfectly fine using the ADAM and also I played ADAM supergames. Also the Roller controller was attached while the expansion module #3 ADAM was connected. The 28.5 watt Mean Well Power supply powers everything except of course for the Digital Data Drive which can only be powered from a dedicated ADAM power supply using the ADAM DB9 style wire harness.

So all my ColecoVision systems have no problems with this Mean Well power supply. Therefore it would have to be someone's ColecoVision that does not work correctly or a incompatibility issue with a third party component video modification when a switching power supply is attached (or a rare Mean Well power supply that is defective and is causing interference issues, but not likely since everything is inspected for a few minutes on a working ColecoVision system before shipping ).

 

I know some people do not like any other ColecoVision power supply except for the original transformer based 1982 style ColecoVision power supply. However even if someone were to engineer a new transformer based power supply for the ColecoVision that was the same quality or better quality when compared to the original, it would be illegal to sell in the United States because no transformer based DC power supply meets the required energy efficiency level VI law that was put in place back in Feb of 2016 by the Department of Energy. We are lucky that Mean Well makes a couple of different high-end switching desktop style power supplies that are compatible with the ColecoVision system. Gone are the days of external transformer based DC power supplies due to the level VI energy efficiency requirement. So the 3 choices in ColecoVision power supplies to go with are the Mean Well switching power supply, or go with the Col USB plug with a attached level VI USB power solution, or to stay with a working original 1982-1985 ColecoVision transformer based power supply. One other choice is to purchase an Expansion module #3 ADAM computer and use a dedicated ADAM computer power supply that will also power the ColecoVision videogame system.

 

I have heard of many positive comments regarding this Mean Well power supply from people purchasing it on Amazon and EBAY. I am sorry if there is a incompatibility with your modified ColecoVision videogame system. Again you have up to 60 days to return it if you would like a refund.

Edited June 23, 2020 by HDTV1080P

[+-^CrossBow^-]

5 hours ago, HDTV1080P said:

I spent most of the night testing the 28.5 Watt Mean Well ColecoVision compatible desktop switching power supply on several different ColecoVision systems. After many hours of testing again, excellent picture and sound quality over RF. Plus works perfectly with composite video modification. Some third party composite video modifications use 5 volts DC while others use 12 volts DC.

 

I even had during my tests the Expansion module #3 ADAM computer connected with many expansion items attached. I also had the Adamnet keyboard, and Microfox SD Floppy Drive emulator attached. The ColecoVision picture and sound quality was perfectly fine using the ADAM and also I played ADAM supergames. Also the Roller controller was attached while the expansion module #3 ADAM was connected. The 28.5 watt Mean Well Power supply powers everything except of course for the Digital Data Drive which can only be powered from a dedicated ADAM power supply using the ADAM DB9 style wire harness.

So all my ColecoVision systems have no problems with this Mean Well power supply. Therefore it would have to be someone's ColecoVision that does not work correctly or a incompatibility issue with a third party component video modification when a switching power supply is attached (or a rare Mean Well power supply that is defective and is causing interference issues, but not likely since everything is inspected for a few minutes on a working ColecoVision system before shipping ).

 

I know some people do not like any other ColecoVision power supply except for the original transformer based 1982 style ColecoVision power supply. However even if someone were to engineer a new transformer based power supply for the ColecoVision that was the same quality or better quality when compared to the original, it would be illegal to sell in the United States because no transformer based DC power supply meets the required energy efficiency level VI law that was put in place back in Feb of 2016 by the Department of Energy. We are lucky that Mean Well makes a couple of different high-end switching desktop style power supplies that are compatible with the ColecoVision system. Gone are the days of external transformer based DC power supplies due to the level VI energy efficiency requirement. So the 3 choices in ColecoVision power supplies to go with are the Mean Well switching power supply, or go with the Col USB plug with a attached level VI USB power solution, or to stay with a working original 1982-1985 ColecoVision transformer based power supply. One other choice is to purchase an Expansion module #3 ADAM computer and use a dedicated ADAM computer power supply that will also power the ColecoVision videogame system.

 

I have heard of many positive comments regarding this Mean Well power supply from people purchasing it on Amazon and EBAY. I am sorry if there is a incompatibility with your modified ColecoVision videogame system. Again you have up to 60 days to return it if you would like a refund.

It works as advertised in that it does provide power and allow my CV to function. Yes there is added noise on the video that wasn't present before as compared to using other solutions, but for the price I'm not going to complain since it does work otherwise. 

 

I will try tonight when I get home from work to see if I can get video of what I see, but I'm all for attaching my scope onto it as well if it would help to isolate an issue in my CV that I'm simply not aware of? I would also be interested in +5 composite mod kits as the only ones I've ever found that are available use the LM318 on them and attach to the +12 inside the RF modulator. When I installed the retrofixes kit last night into my personal CV, the only wiring changes I had to make was routing the audio straight from C88 (Or is it C38?) the ceramic disc cap near the rear center of the board to the audio RCA jacks. The Yurkie version of the board actually has you route audio into that board and then there is a separate audio out from it to your connections. And I didn't wire the ground this time inside the RF modulator but instead to a ground rail that runs down the middle of the CV main board just to the left of the BIOS as I've done with my client installs over the past few years.

 

[HDTV1080P]

The goal of this project was to make the best quality ColecoVision compatible power supply either from scratch or an existing compatible design from a power supply company like Mean Well. This 28.5 watt Mean Well ColecoVision compatible power supply is not only the best quality CoelcoVision adapter on the market but also the cheapest energy efficiency level VI ColecoVision adapter on the market. Sometimes one can have both the best quality and the best price for a power supply. The only prior third party solution was the Col USB adapter plug. The Col USB adapter plug when bundled with a high-end USB charger and cable cost around $84.99 on EBAY. The 28.5 watt Mean Well ColecoVision power supply solution for $49.99 on EBAY is an excellent price (Engineered in the USA by Mean Well and made in Taiwan).

 

The high quality around 10 inch gold plated ColecoVsion power cord uses UL recognized material and was engineered in the United States and made with high quality materials in China with the help of automated machines.  It can cost up to several thousands of dollars to make a custom high quality molded 4 pin gold plated connector. The manufacturing cost on the cable not including the mold charge is around $10 each and sales for around $15 on EBAY for those that want to use their own Mean Well ColecoVision compatible power supply. Once one adds the 20% to 25% Amazon and EBAY/PAYPAL fees one is only making around $2.50 on each ColecoVision compatible power cable. In the future with inflation the price of the power cable might increase in price.

 

The 28.5 watt Mean Well Power supply is UL listed, FCC certified, and has a massive amount of safety certifications for around the world. While the high quality 10 inch third party Colecovision compatible power cable uses UL recognized material, the cable has not been submitted to get UL listed since it costs around $13,000 to get a custom cable UL listed. The maximum estimated demand for this ColecoVision power cable under ideal conditions is around a QTY of 500. Getting the cable UL listed would raise the manufacturing price of the cable from $10 each to $36 each (Not including the one-time mold charge that was already paid). Now if there was a demand for 10,000 ColecoVision power cables then the manufacturing costs for UL listed is only raised from $10 a cable to around $11.30 for a cable.     

 

So in summary this high quality ColecoVision compatible power cable uses UL recognized material, but since it would cost $13,000 to get the cable UL listed (also called UL certified), it most likely is not going to happen since one needs to sell over 10,000 cables to make it cost effective to get a cable UL listed. Currently UL listed is an optional certification in the United States and is not required. If the law is every changed and UL listed becomes required and the price remains at $13,000 then many small companies would stop manufacturing cables and only companies that manufacturer a minimum of 10,000-50,000 cables for each product could justify their cable being UL listed.     

Edited June 23, 2020 by HDTV1080P

[Falonn]

Just another data point: my Mean Well-based PSU arrived a couple days ago and I'm also impressed by the build quality and reassured by it being from a "real" manufacturer with all the various UL certifications, etc.  It seems like it will be less likely to go up in smoke the way CrossBow's ColUSB did, especially by removing the third-party USB adapter wildcard.

 

I was very happy to measure 5.165V on the 5V rail, which is much closer to the OEM power supply than the 5.00V measured from the ColUSB.  So it should be less likely to have any brown-out problems once it makes its way through the spidery power distribution network.

 

I haven't tested as thoroughly as CrossBow, but at least through the new RGB mod (TMS-RGB v2), I didn't see additional noise of any kind.  Granted, I only tested through the Framemeister, which already does a phenomenal job of cleaning everything up...

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Disregard my comments. Turns out it is something with my Extron 7SC that is picking up this noise. I connected my composite modded CV directly into the composite video input on my flat panel TV and the noise patterns are no where to be seen. In fact, it produces a better quality image this way vs going through my Extron which is then converted to VGA 640x480 into my OSSC. 

 

So yeah...appears to only appear when running the CV through my Extron and doesn't happen on a direct connection to the TV.

 

 

[HDTV1080P]

1 hour ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Disregard my comments. Turns out it is something with my Extron 7SC that is picking up this noise. I connected my composite modded CV directly into the composite video input on my flat panel TV and the noise patterns are no where to be seen. In fact, it produces a better quality image this way vs going through my Extron which is then converted to VGA 640x480 into my OSSC. 

 

So yeah...appears to only appear when running the CV through my Extron and doesn't happen on a direct connection to the TV.

 

 

Electronics is complicated especially when dealing with classic videogame systems that are almost 40 years old. I am glad the 28.5 watt Mean Well power supply is now working perfectly with your ColecoVision videogame system.

Edited June 24, 2020 by HDTV1080P

[zaphro72]

Is it only sold through eBay? The shipping to Canada on this is killer

[HDTV1080P]

3 hours ago, zaphro72 said:

Is it only sold through eBay? The shipping to Canada on this is killer

It is offered on both the EBAY and Amazon website for just the power cable or the complete Power Supply with cable.

[zaphro72]

8 hours ago, HDTV1080P said:

It is offered on both the EBAY and Amazon website for just the power cable or the complete Power Supply with cable.

Amazon and Amazon.ca?

[HDTV1080P]

3 hours ago, zaphro72 said:

Amazon and Amazon.ca?

Amazon has a total of 14 global websites around the world, however at this time the product is only listed on the Amazon USA website.

[Greg2600]

16 hours ago, zaphro72 said:

Is it only sold through eBay? The shipping to Canada on this is killer

Seems like it's 20.99 USD plus 5.93 USD for import duties, and that's for International Priority via Global Shipping Program.  I'm not sure if the seller can offer another shipping option though, as this thing probably weighs a lot. 

 

18 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Disregard my comments. Turns out it is something with my Extron 7SC that is picking up this noise. I connected my composite modded CV directly into the composite video input on my flat panel TV and the noise patterns are no where to be seen. In fact, it produces a better quality image this way vs going through my Extron which is then converted to VGA 640x480 into my OSSC. 

 

So yeah...appears to only appear when running the CV through my Extron and doesn't happen on a direct connection to the TV.

 

Good to hear.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

2 hours ago, Greg2600 said:

Seems like it's 20.99 USD plus 5.93 USD for import duties, and that's for International Priority via Global Shipping Program.  I'm not sure if the seller can offer another shipping option though, as this thing probably weighs a lot. 

 

Good to hear.

No...it is actually very light. It is a switching PSU so it isn't nearly as bulky or weighty as the original. Then again I'm in the states so shipping was very reasonable as I received mine in just a few days after ordering from ebay.

 

[HDTV1080P]

I always try and ship things out using the cheapest method when requested. Blu-ray discs and other media are shipped media mail. Electronics if they are 13 oz or under can be shipped first class mail (Amazon and EBAY have a agreement with the Post Office that allows one to ship first class mail up to 16oz). Since the shipping weight for a QTY of one 28.5 Watt ColecoVision compatible power supply is around 1 pound and 8 oz, the item has to be shipped by Priority mail. So current shipping is around $9.99 to all 50 states on EBAY by Priority mail with a estimated 2-3 day delivery time. The item is also shipped out using EBAY’s global shipping program by EBAY and rates vary depending on the location in the world the package is going too.

 

That is one advantage of the Col USB 17 watt USB-C kit. It was no more then a 1 pound in weight including cable and charger and could be shipped out for around $5.99 by first class mail.   

Edited June 24, 2020 by HDTV1080P

[Swami]

On 6/22/2020 at 5:15 PM, -^CrossBow^- said:

I'm curious and holding out for the new RGB board since I believe part of the plan is to offer an additional board that would provide a new composite and s-video output from the CV. For sure I plan to pick one of those combos up.

 

And you are correct in that composite should look better than RF in all cases. But this CV has always had a crappy RF picture from it regardless of adjustments made to it. In fact I don't think I had video at all when I first got it and was only getting snow until I adjusted the tuner on it many many years ago. 

 

But that still doesn't explain why my other CV that is still stock still shows additional interference through RF when using this new MeanWell supply setup? I understand you don't see it on your systems, but then you and I live in different parts of the country and we don't have the same AV setups in use I would assume?

 

I will look more into the composite mod on my daily driver but I believe I've also used a few other composite video solutions on it in the past and they all produce the same results on the composite. I hadn't noticed the issue with the RF only being in black n white until I plug in the composite lead until today though.

 

I’m curious about the ColUSB power supply burnout since I have three of them. Did you discuss it on this forum? If you can link to that discussion, I would appreciate it. 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

2 hours ago, Swami said:

I’m curious about the ColUSB power supply burnout since I have three of them. Did you discuss it on this forum? If you can link to that discussion, I would appreciate it. 

No real indepth discussion no. But after talking with Dragonbox about it via email I was advised that some chargers have fast charging modes on them (Including most Apple chargers apparently), and that what can happen is they can overdrive the regulators in the ColUSB and possibly burn them out. This is why it is printed on the small manual with the ColUSB to make sure you unplug the ColUSB from the power adapter you are using when not actually in use. That tells me that the regulators are always doing their thing and without a load off them, they can start to build up heat it seems. That is what happened with mine. Again, I was using a nearly brand new Apple iPad 12w Charger that came with the iPad itself as I figured that would be a good high quality adapter to use as it is marked to output 5v at about 2A. I normally unplugged the ColUSB in the past from habit, but this one time while working on a few CVs sent in for service work, I unplugged the ColUSB from the CV but left it and the charger adapter plugged in to the AC power. Came back to it a few hours later and noticed the housing on the ColUSB had begun to separate badly and was warped even. It was also quite hot to the touch overall. I unplugged everything, set it aside to cool off before checking it out. The housing did reform a bit back into shape, but never as it was originally and even once cooled, the ColUSB did not work after that. All I get from my ColUSB now is +12. The -5 and +5 are not producing so those two regulators near as I can tell were the ones that burnt out from leaving it plugged in without a load on it.

 

Aside from this, I had never had an issue with it before and was previously using my Lenovo tablet charger adapter. But I had this Apple charger and didn't need it currently since I have other Apple chargers at work I can also use and decided I would dedicate it to the ColUSB. That was honestly the first time I think I had used an Apple charger with it.

 

But this is derailing the topic of this thread and that wasn't intended so my apologies to @HDTV1080P for that.

 

[Ruggers Customs]

I don't buy the colusb power supplies anymore unless a system just doesn't have a power supply and the customer specifically states that's what they want.  I prefer to just rebuild the OEM power supplies as it's only about 10 minutes worth of work.  I've rebuilt many and they still work perfectly to this day.

Edited June 25, 2020 by Ruggers Customs

[MrPix]

Interesting, as I have been considering designing a much improved PSU based around the ColUSB idea. The buck regulators I have in mind can accept up to 25 volts, and I would require USB3 and negotiated power delivery. The higher voltage means lower current which is much safer. 
 

I also have access to injection molding equipment, so I have that advantage too. 

[Ruggers Customs]

20 minutes ago, MrPix said:

Interesting, as I have been considering designing a much improved PSU based around the ColUSB idea. The buck regulators I have in mind can accept up to 25 volts, and I would require USB3 and negotiated power delivery. The higher voltage means lower current which is much safer. 
 

I also have access to injection molding equipment, so I have that advantage too. 

That would be really nice.

[HDTV1080P]

10 hours ago, Ruggers Customs said:

I don't buy the colusb power supplies anymore unless a system just doesn't have a power supply and the customer specifically states that's what they want.  I prefer to just rebuild the OEM power supplies as it's only about 10 minutes worth of work.  I've rebuilt many and they still work perfectly to this day.

I am glad to hear that you repair the original ColecoVision power supply. I wish they would have made some screws on the power supply like other systems. One has to break or pry the glue open and then re-glue the plastic case shut again once the power supply has been repaired. 

[HDTV1080P]

10 hours ago, MrPix said:

Interesting, as I have been considering designing a much improved PSU based around the ColUSB idea. The buck regulators I have in mind can accept up to 25 volts, and I would require USB3 and negotiated power delivery. The higher voltage means lower current which is much safer. 
 

I also have access to injection molding equipment, so I have that advantage too. 

The ColUSB is a very popular power supply solution that is still being sold by some dealers when they can get stock. I like your idea of making an improved version that accepts up to 25 volts DC and requires USB 3.0. The latest USB chargers can output 20 volts at 5 amps (100 watts).

People are attractive to USB power supply solutions for their ColecoVision and just because it is USB it might out sell the Mean Well power supply. Personally I prefer bypassing USB power supplies completely.  

Edited June 25, 2020 by HDTV1080P