+saxmeister Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Tonight I pulled my original 7800 out of storage, plugged it in, and turned it on only to release the magic smoke from inside. It smelled like burnt capacitors. I haven't opened the case up to assess the damage yet, but I"m really concerned that I fired something. 1 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 (edited) Did you use the supplied PSU or something else? Magic smoke is usually power related... It's probably fixable, but if there was smoke, something's gone pop. Wrong polarity power will take out caps (dramatically) and other things. Too much power will take out the regulator and potentially the caps depending on what they're rated at. Something may have failed and/or become a short. It's an old machine with old components, this sort of thing happens. I had the RIOT randomly shit itself in mine for example. Nothing else wrong with the machine, it was just it's time. Replaced it with one from a donor machine and it was back to life. It being in storage brings in the environment as being a potential factor. Was it stored in a warm dry environment or somewhere cold and damp? The latter will be extremely detremental to kit over a long period of time. Likewise time itself. Things become brittle, things dry out, things leak, things rust. Creatures get in and make it their home, etc. As with all fault finding now, you'd start with power. Multi-meter on the PSU, is that doing what it's supposed to? Definitely do not use that PSU on anything else until that's verified. Ideally when there's doubt with a PSU of this age, it's best to just swap it out with something high quailty and modern as the old PSUs are more often than not sealed in resin. Just got an old Coleco PSU for example that tested and worked perfectly, not used in years. Got it out again the other day to use it and it's bulged massively so during that testing something was definitely not right even though the voltages looked fine coming out of it. Can't repair it because of the resin, so that went into the bin. Gotta be careful with old PSUs... Then it's take it apart time and work through the power section to the regulator and make sure everything is doing what it should. Most likely it's something there that's gone bang. Shame you're in the US, I'd have just had you send it over and we'd have taken a look. Buying old spares/repair consoles and computers is what we do for fun. Also as a note to people with dead machines, please don't bin them. Even if they're not fixable there are parts on them that can be salvaged and used to bring back other dead machines. Either stick it on eBay as a spares/repair machine if you want a few bucks, be honest and detail what happened. Or donate it to your local solder jockey. They'll likely cover cost of postage to them. I certainly would. Edited February 7 by juansolo 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 @saxmeister shoot me a PM. Happy to take a look and see what can be done? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+saxmeister Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 I used the original 7800 power supply (with the terrible mini-plug). I should have known better than to plug it in without testing. I just got excited to plug in my original hardware after several years without playing (around 6-7). I did some more checking and the smell is not coming from the 7800 itself. It's only coming from the power supply. And, I see why... The wires were exposed on the power supply and apparently shorted out on each other. Obviously I need a new power supply, but looking over the 7800 itself, it looks okay and has no visible signs of damage, nor does it smell like burnt capacitors. That said, I do need to have my system "gone over" to recap it and fix any other issues (like the missing power LED and the little plastic tower it sits on). And I should do the composite upgrade and probably switch to a barrel style connector for power. Many thanks to the awesome, quick responses and helpful offers from @juansolo and @-^CrossBow^-! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 @saxmeister Best Electroncs sells a replacement 7800 PSU with the right connector on it. I've not tested or used them myself but I'm sure they are great for the task. But if you do replace the connector with a barrel jack, then make sure you know how ou want the polarity done and I would advise a rectifier diode installed to block the wrong polarity from getting through just in case. That is something I add when I've been asked to replace those out on consoles. I've done a few using the Genesis 2 type barrel jack, and a few with the model 1 Genesis, SMS, or jaguar type PSUs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 That'll do it, consign that to the bin. I'd personally send it to @-^CrossBow^- and let him give it a once over, and sort it for a new PSU. It's probably easier than ordering from Best in all honesty Plus you'll no longer be tied to the bespoke PSU should you have problems down the line. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Stamos Mullet Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 Save the cable end of that power supply so you can make an adapter for standard 9-volt 1amp barrel plug power supplies. Just order a female barrel plug from any electronics store and splice the wires together (checking for polarity of course and solder or electrical tape them together. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted February 8 Share Posted February 8 8 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said: Save the cable end of that power supply so you can make an adapter for standard 9-volt 1amp barrel plug power supplies. Just order a female barrel plug from any electronics store and splice the wires together (checking for polarity of course and solder or electrical tape them together. That is exactly what my adapters were that I was selling a few years back before someone bought out the stock of 300+ wire harnesses from Console5 seemingly overnight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 On 2/8/2024 at 7:55 AM, -^CrossBow^- said: before someone bought out the stock of 300+ wire harnesses from Console5 seemingly overnight. I bought two of them right before he sold out about 3 years ago. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+saxmeister Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 I got a replacement and could power my old 7800 back up. Now, I've got other issues. - The RCA plug doesn't fit well and won't make a good connection - Image quality is really noisy and fuzzy - And, don't ask how, the nylon tower and power LED are missing @-^CrossBow^- are you still in the business of repairing 7800s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 54 minutes ago, saxmeister said: I got a replacement and could power my old 7800 back up. Now, I've got other issues. - The RCA plug doesn't fit well and won't make a good connection - Image quality is really noisy and fuzzy - And, don't ask how, the nylon tower and power LED are missing @-^CrossBow^- are you still in the business of repairing 7800s? Yes, but I don't think I have any spares of the LED post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juansolo Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 It's just to hold it in the correct positioning and stop the legs from touching. You could just solder the LED in there with long legs (insulate one or both if you want to be sure), it's not likely to move once it's all together, just might take a couple of attempts to get it in the right place. Otherwise maybe some thin plastic tube cut to length. Someone good at modelling could potentially make a replacement with a 3D printer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+saxmeister Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 I might just pick up a broken 7800 and scavenge the parts as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+saxmeister Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 I just bought two 7800s for parts. so I will get an LED for the power light and the nylon/plastic holder. So, maybe the other items once I get the broken 7800s and reclaim/Frankenstein some parts, I can send it to you, @-^CrossBow^- for some TLC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted September 25 Share Posted September 25 28 minutes ago, saxmeister said: I just bought two 7800s for parts. so I will get an LED for the power light and the nylon/plastic holder. So, maybe the other items once I get the broken 7800s and reclaim/Frankenstein some parts, I can send it to you, @-^CrossBow^- for some TLC? I'm happy to help however I'm able. Just send me a PM when you are ready to talk about it in more detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+saxmeister Posted September 25 Author Share Posted September 25 Thanks so much, @-^CrossBow^-. As soon as I have the spare 7800s I'll probably pull the parts from one to fix the LED and then contact you to schedule service. It definitely needs some TLC since it hadn't been powered up in years. I got a new power supply that works great, but I want to do the composite upgrade. I have no interest in the HDMI because I would lose the artifacting of composite video on my CRT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christo930 Posted Thursday at 02:20 AM Share Posted Thursday at 02:20 AM On 2/7/2024 at 12:45 PM, saxmeister said: I used the original 7800 power supply (with the terrible mini-plug). I should have known better than to plug it in without testing. I just got excited to plug in my original hardware after several years without playing (around 6-7). I did some more checking and the smell is not coming from the 7800 itself. It's only coming from the power supply. And, I see why... The wires were exposed on the power supply and apparently shorted out on each other. Obviously I need a new power supply, but looking over the 7800 itself, it looks okay and has no visible signs of damage, nor does it smell like burnt capacitors. That said, I do need to have my system "gone over" to recap it and fix any other issues (like the missing power LED and the little plastic tower it sits on). And I should do the composite upgrade and probably switch to a barrel style connector for power. Many thanks to the awesome, quick responses and helpful offers from @juansolo and @-^CrossBow^-! If you have the skill, I would recommend putting on a barrel jack and replacing the buttons (they are very cheap and fail easily). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+saxmeister Posted 2 hours ago Author Share Posted 2 hours ago Agreed. If this power supply fails I will definitely be converting. I am now in possession of 4 Atari 7800s, but only 1 has a power supply and is working (mostly). One of these is even early enough to have the accessory port on the side. I've never seen one in person before! I was so excited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted 54 minutes ago Share Posted 54 minutes ago 1 hour ago, saxmeister said: Agreed. If this power supply fails I will definitely be converting. I am now in possession of 4 Atari 7800s, but only 1 has a power supply and is working (mostly). One of these is even early enough to have the accessory port on the side. I've never seen one in person before! I was so excited. Atari Repair Parts has an excellent 7800 replacement power supply that has the right connector on it. I own two and use one of them in my lab as my permanent 7800 PSU for consoles I service. For $15 plus shipping, it is a really good deal. https://atarirepairparts.com/#f5d432b6-742d-4a2a-bbe2-dd283d6cec00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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