Keelog Power Supply

[+-^CrossBow^-]

No new email replies to me, but I did receive a DHL notification for a shipment headed my way from Keelog. So I'm guessing they already have figured out what they needed to address and correct for it and are sending me a new PSU it seems. I will find out once I receive it. I also told them I was okay with soldering in a new replacement wire harness so I don't know yet what I have coming from them. I will update here once I've received it and let everyone know.

 

[Ikrananka]

@-^CrossBow^- Thanks for keeping us informed.  I'm holding off on ordering until I see your evaluation of their modified plug. 

[xdurable]

I just received my Keelog power supply - 4 days earlier that DHL had indicated .. I can confirm it has the correct plug - it fits snugly but the Pins do line up - haven't tested the power aspect yet.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Well my replacement PSU from Keelog arrived this afternoon. First the important part is that the plug does indeed now fit. It is quite tight and snug but I'd rather have that than not fitting at all. The voltage readings from the PSU itself appear to be pretty much dead on with the +5 reading at a steady 5.05v, -4.91, & 11.91 directly from the pins. I've been using it now for well over 2.5 hours now and no issues. I also have not seen any noticable noise from it through the RGB I just installed on a CV here. I need to move it to the game room to test it on my daily driver which has shown pretty severe noise through composite and RF outputs with other switch mode PSUs. For those curious, I've not taken it apart, but I've seen where others have and these are basically meanwell supplies in a different external housing and with the fancy OLED screens they install. The touch sensor is kinda finiky but all it does is change the display from showing current power output and current runtime since powering on, total runtime during life of the PSU, and the logo for whatever system the PSU is for. The atari one will show the Fuji, while the CV PSU here will say Coleco on it. Kinda cool and the voltage output reading on their display was bang on what my Fluke was telling me so it seems accurate.

 

I need to contact Keelog and let them know the replacement arrived and to thank them for their prompt attention on this.

 

As I'm doing quite a bit to a CV currently, I will continue to keep it up in the lab area where it will get some serious use.

 

[Greg2600]

@-^CrossBow^- wait a minute, did you say Mean Well PSUs inside?  eesh, given that I tried one of those on my CV, and the signal noise was awful on both AV modded CV and a stock RF CV.  that's a tad concerning, granted I could not prove the specific Mean Well I received was "faulty" because the seller wouldn't offer a replacement so I returned it.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

36 minutes ago, Greg2600 said:

@-^CrossBow^- wait a minute, did you say Mean Well PSUs inside?  eesh, given that I tried one of those on my CV, and the signal noise was awful on both AV modded CV and a stock RF CV.  that's a tad concerning, granted I could not prove the specific Mean Well I received was "faulty" because the seller wouldn't offer a replacement so I returned it.

I don't know this for sure but I watched a video on these from someone over in Europe who stated they were using a Meanwell supply in them. But they did NOT take it apart in the video to show that and I haven't cracked mine open. But since they sent me an entire replacement, I suppose the one they sent before that didn't fit could be opened up as I'm sure the rest of the internal guts are the same.

 

[nick3092]

Keep in mind saying it's bad because it has a meanwell psu and you had issues with a meanwell in the past is not apples to apples. Meanwell makes a lot of PSUs. Each is going to have different levels of filtering based on whatever it was designed for.

 

Keelog may also have contracted them to make a psu specific for them, to their specs (both electrically and physicaly to fit their plastic cases). That would have different performance/filtering than an off the shelf supply made by meanwell.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Was using this new supply extensively last night and decided to break out my o'scope on it to check for ripple. Near as I can tell it averages about 18mV of AC ripple on +5 and -5 voltages directly from the PSU itself while plugged into the console with it turned on and running. In fact I have to zoom in on the timescale quite a bit on my old scope to even begin to see the wave forms instead of a fuzzy mess. The +12 input might be a little higher at about 22mV average. While plugged in with the console on and running I was getting the following input DC voltages from the power input pins, +5, -4.96, 11.97.

 

The console I was working with last night didn't seem to show any interference through the RGB or composite outputs but I still need to take it all to the game room to test there as it could vary from CV to CV.

 

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Figure everyone is likely getting sick of this now but this will likely be my last post on this particular PSU since it really seems like Keelog is trying and wanting to offer something semi unique and good for everyone.

 

That said, I cracked open the original CV PSU I received where the plug end to the CV itself is too small. These PSUs are glued shut so there isn't an easy way to open them up. I got kinda luck on this one as once I was able to use my x-acto knife enough and get one section started, then I was able to wedge a small flat blade into the seams and it began to crack apart pretty easily at that point without any damage to the case shell.

 

I don't know what PSU they are using exactly as I can't really find a brand name on it. I believe that with the different voltages it provides, it must be some small AT type supply designed for small computers. Let me get the good stuff stated first before the not so great stuff that I encountered:

 

- Appears to have inline fuses on both ends of the AC input lines on the PCB so that is really good.

- I'm not an expert on PSU design but it seems designed quite well.

- PSU solder work looks very solid and decent components were used.

 

Now for the no so good that I encountered. I want to stress that this is what I found inside my supply and that I'm sure as they constructed it initially, it is fine. But.. lets get to it...

 

Here is the PSU as it was essentially originally after I removed it from the housing. They are making modifications to the housing they use as there are signs of plastic snipped off etc inside to allow for this PSU board to fit. The entire PSU was attached inside the housing using black colored hot glue. I just use IPA to remove it from the housing. Also, notice that they soldered the switch in as it originally just used a 2 pin connector with a different AC input harness that normally attaches to this PSU. Same with the output side as it uses a molex like connector and Keelog are soldering their output wires directly to the pins. Look at the left side and you will see additional small wiring with a small PCB in the middle. That little PCB was just wrapped up with the electrical tape you see in the upper portion of the image there.

 

Here is a shot of the input side as it basically arrived. The AC cord wiring was loosely soldered to the input pins and essentially came right off when I took the entire setup loose from the housing. Hopefully that was just this particular PSU that did this and isn't common. You can see the green ground wire there, However I stripped back the insulation to find it and expose it because that wire was not originally attached to anything inside the PSU. So it isn't actually grounded from the AC input despite then using a power cord with the ground pin on it. It was just floating technically.

 

Here is the output section in a little more detail. Again they are just soldering on the cable harness wiring to output pins on a male PCB connector that is designed for an actual harness to attach here. 

 

Before putting it back together, I decided to address these issue on this particular one and redid the soldering etc. I also attached the ground wire to a ground point marked on the PSU's PCB.

 

I redid the soldering on the thinner wires that go to the OLED setup as I noticed some of the original  wiring was actually loose and could short against the other pins. I also added shrink to the small PCB that sits loose inside the case.

 

I redid the AC input lines using some longer thicker wires and shrink tubing to provide a better and more secure connection in the future. The brown wire is the ground attached to a ground point on the bottom side of the PCB.

 

Here is that ground wire I redid. Again, this spot is clearly marked as GND on the top side of the PCB so I figured I would go ahead and solder some wiring to at least get that take care of.

 

 

You might be wondering why I didn't just remove the original pin connectors and solder the new wiring to the PCB directly? My plan is to do that eventually. What I would like to do is get ahold of a dead oem CV PSU to replace the original output plug since it is too small anyway. When I do that, I remove the original pin connectors and soldering the wiring to the PCB directly. And the reason I can't just use actual female connectors for this, is because the housing they are using doesn't allow any space/room for that on the output side. So really soldering it all in directly is the best method. The PSU still functions and provides the proper outputs needed to yeah, once I get a good output harness assembly, I will swap that out in time. I currently have the entire housing just electrically taped back together to make it easier in the future to get into it when I can swap that over. I will likely hot glue it back together at that time to seal it back up. 

 

But, just thought some of you might be curious to know exactly what is inside one of these Keelog PSUs. I don't know if it is the same for all their other models but I suspect not since the CV requires the multiple voltages going into it.

[Greg2600]

For the layman, would any of the "not so good" aspects be anything to truly be worried about?  Certainly not "sick" of your input, because frankly these aftermarket accessories have clearly not been user tested, so how are we to truly know they are safe?  Especially when you start talking about a PSU, and not some joystick or LCD screen.  Frankly Keelog should have distributed these PSU's to community members to test and/or review.  Those folks would have provided them with valuable feedback and positive coverage.

 

PS: I'm still awaiting your tests on the other CV's you own.

Edited January 16, 2022 by Greg2600

[+-^CrossBow^-]

@Greg2600 valid point. The actual PSU that they are using I believe to be pretty high quality. It is using quality components and the soldering work on it is very clean. Also everything is labeled on the PSU board and easy to read as it is all in English. I've seen similar type PSUs for older laptops and small booksize PCs that still required the various voltages to I do think the actual PSU side is very good.

 

It is the modification work that Keelog has done that might be a bit sketch. Again, the fact that the main AC cord just came right out when I removed the PSU from the lower housing, tells me that mine wasn't soldered on that well. I'm also not sure why Keelog didn't go ahead and find a means to attach the ground wire to a marked ground on the PCB. If you look at my pic where I specifically mention the brown wire being my new ground. You will see that the hole it goes into, has the mark indicator for it for GND. So all they had to do is something similar to what I did and solder that green wire to the underside. It is technically supposed to have a small nut/bolt combo there using a star washer underneath to attach it all but my soldering it down is good enough here.

 

This PSU does get warm so it is good they put it in a housing with vented openings. But, that also means that with as short a wires as they used (Especially the input AC side). That you have to be careful with any liquids around this thing. The AC input cord on this supply that it came with is only about 3ft at most. The output side is only about 2.5ft give or take. So that means the PSU will be pretty close by when you use it. 

 

When I get or find a dead OEM CV PSU, I will swap out the output cord and install a new AC input cord that is longer to give myself more flexibility in its use.

 

The replacement they sent me actually has a slightly longer AC input cord on it and it is also a different style cord. So they appear to be sourcing their cords from different places. 

 

Another reason I believe this PSU to be for use in a small PC is due to the fact that it has its own power switch on it. My Keelog Atari 8-bit PSU doesn't have a power switch so as soon as you plug it into the AC it is on and active.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Got a chance last night to bring the Keelog supply to my game room to test it out there. I honestly don't see any of the interference patterns like I see with the other PSU solution we have talked about. Through RGB it looks crisp but it did so on my other CVs as well. It was always composite where the issue would appear and it seems to look the same as using an OEM supply or the ColUSB does. 

 

So I would say that aside from the possible quality issues I ran into with mine, provided that is isolated, that these Keelog PSUs seem to be a good option for powering your CV. I would not advise using their PSUs for the Atari 8-bit systems as that PSU for sure introduces noise in the video signal that I can see as a noticed 'wave' that moves up the screen slightly through composite and s-video outputs on my 130xe. But I didn't see anything like that with my CV.

 

So my only two issues with the CV supplies are the very short cord lengths and the fact that there could be some quality issues in regards to the solder work inside when they have modified them. 

 

 

[Dennis90]

Got one of these in the mail today, and I was a bit disappointed with it unfortunatley, the cables are kinda short like I saw CrossBow also said. The Colecovision is like meant to have on a table right in front of you, not sitting under your TV when you play it, since the controller wires are so short, so yeah, it's kinda annoying the wires on the power supply are so short and don't reach. And also another problem is that I noticed some slight video interference when using it, which is not present when I tried a original power supply. So I can not really recomend these too much... It's nice tho that it's not as bulky as the original, but yeah, it's a shame it was not as good as I was hoping for.

[Greg2600]

9 hours ago, Dennis90 said:

Got one of these in the mail today, and I was a bit disappointed with it unfortunatley, the cables are kinda short like I saw CrossBow also said. The Colecovision is like meant to have on a table right in front of you, not sitting under your TV when you play it, since the controller wires are so short, so yeah, it's kinda annoying the wires on the power supply are so short and don't reach. And also another problem is that I noticed some slight video interference when using it, which is not present when I tried a original power supply. So I can not really recomend these too much... It's nice tho that it's not as bulky as the original, but yeah, it's a shame it was not as good as I was hoping for.

Hmmm, given I had to return the super duper eBay PSU due to video interference on my old AV modded CV, guess I'll have to steer clear of these too.