I have very loose power connection on back of Colecovision

[Rik]

Hello, it's been a very long while since posting here at AA and i hope i posted in the correct place. So, like the title says, my stock CV power bricks, i have 2, the connections are very loose on back of my CV's. I don't know if it's the power brick connector with the 4 sleeve holes that are worn or if it's the pins on the CV itself that are worn. I know about the alternative power supply options available that replace the horrible old stock bricks, but until i order those, i am wondering if there is a way to fix those loose connectors/connections. I did a search here, YT, and the web and couldn't find anything. I do remember a very long while back where i read something, i think it was here at AA about adding solder to the power pins on the back of the CV, but my soldering skills are not that great and don't want to muck up the pins further, any suggestions? thanks

[+-^CrossBow^-]

15 hours ago, Rik said:

Hello, it's been a very long while since posting here at AA and i hope i posted in the correct place. So, like the title says, my stock CV power bricks, i have 2, the connections are very loose on back of my CV's. I don't know if it's the power brick connector with the 4 sleeve holes that are worn or if it's the pins on the CV itself that are worn. I know about the alternative power supply options available that replace the horrible old stock bricks, but until i order those, i am wondering if there is a way to fix those loose connectors/connections. I did a search here, YT, and the web and couldn't find anything. I do remember a very long while back where i read something, i think it was here at AA about adding solder to the power pins on the back of the CV, but my soldering skills are not that great and don't want to muck up the pins further, any suggestions? thanks

The most likely issue is that the pin sleeves inside of the power supply plug off the brick are worn out. There are three solutions that I know about to try:

 

One is the ColUSB adapter. But I'm not sure if any of those are currently in stock at the moment? I got my originally from Dragonbox a few years back.

 

The other is the solution that appears to use a modified laptop power brick that has a new replacement plug on the end that goes into the CV. These have a nice tight fit or at least the one I own does.

 

The other option which had some issues originally, but seems to have mostly been taken care of, is the Keelog replacement supplies. The earlier ones came with plugs that didn't fit in the actual CVs. That is because they are using a 3D printed plug solution. But they sent me a replacement not too long after that addressed that issue and it is now used as my main CV power supply in the game room.

 

[Rik]

Thanks for the reply Crossbow. I am considering getting the Keelog Power supply but i will ask them 1st about the early plug issue like you mentioned to make sure i don't accidentally end up with one of their early ones left over from old stock that doesn't fit, or at least make sure that i can return if anything goes wrong, thanks for mentioning  that. I don't know what i'll do, i haven't decided yet since there's several options available which a am thankful for. I just thought of another option which is to simply cut the plug off at the brick and the connector in the CV and splice the wires together? is that possible? maybe not safe. Yeah, on second thought,  i think i'll just order a power supply from Keelog as i am not really a fan of modding and or chopping up vintage stuff unless i absolutely have to. I like to keep everything stock as i can since i am not good or have knowledge with soldering or electronics and every thing else that goes with it.