Commodore Power Supply

auto_cran · Post by **auto_cran** » Fri Dec 10, 2010 8:11 pm

Greetings Vic-20 lovers!

I'm a long time Vic owner - bought mine as a teen in the early '80s. Althought that first Vic is stored away somewhere, I recently came across a large lot of Commodore stuff which included a Vic-20 & a C64 (along with many C128s). Along with the Vic & C64 are 4 power supplies.

I once heard that power supplies should not be mixed(never use a C64 PS on a Vic). Of the 4 included, 1 is a 2 prong (although the included Vic is a 4 pin) and one says 'For use with the Commodore 64'. What about the other 2? Which do they go to? Here are the specs:

PS #1 - (7pin)
Input - 117V 60 Hz 40W
Output - 5VDC 6.5 VA
9VAC 9.0 VA

PS #2 - (4pin)
Input - 117V 60HZ 40W
Output - 5VDC 7.5W
9VAC 2.5 VA

and just for reference:
PS# 3 - (4pin - and says for Commodore 64)
Input - 117V 50/60HZ 40VA
Output - 5VDC 7.5W
9VAC 6.7 VA

The 2 prong specs are different at:
Input - 117V 47-63HZ 40W
Output - 10VAC 30VA

Could anyone tell me what PS #1 & PS #2 go to? I can't wait to plug in my Vic without fear of ruining it!

Many thanks!

Chris
(auto_cran)

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 7:42 am

It works perfectly alright to use a c64 psu with a vic-20 din power plug.

I don't know what psu #1 is for. The c128 is 5 pin I think...

e5frog · Post by **e5frog** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 12:46 pm

But the 4 pin PSUs have prepared places for three more pins, right? So they're really 7 pin connectors all of them?

Maybe the PS#2 is for some other Commodore computer than VIC20 or C64. The 9VAC rating is very low, are you sure it only says 2.5VA?

auto_cran · Post by **auto_cran** » Sat Dec 11, 2010 1:35 pm

Thanks for the replies...

Just double checked - only 4 pins on 2 of them and #2 does say 2.5.

Here are some pics (if I can post them!) 1st shows 2 four pins and 1 7 pin, the 2nd pic shows the 2.5VA

Thanks!

Chris[/img]

e5frog · Post by **e5frog** » Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:02 pm

Those 4 pins are what you most often see on a C64 PSU, they're placed as the 7 pin DIN configuration with some pins skipped.
It's not unusual that it looks this:
http://members.lycos.nl/ijmtu/hpbimg/C128psuOnC64.jpg

You should be able to google the part number of that 2.5VA PSU and see what computer it's for. I can't really get the whole number from the picture.
Sure it's not for a VIC20?
This one seems to have the same specs and is listed as a VIC20 PSU:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/VIC2 ... ply002.jpg

So it seems a C64 supply can be used with no harm done on a VIC20 but a VIC20 supply is not safe to use for a C64 - too little current on the 9VAC line.

So my guess is that you can use all of them with a DIN equipped VIC and all but the 2.5VA model with a standard C64.

Commander#1 · Post by **Commander#1** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:42 pm

auto_cran wrote:Thanks for the replies...

Here are some pics (if I can post them!) 1st shows 2 four pins and 1 7 pin, the 2nd pic shows the 2.5VA

Thanks!

Chris[/img]

Hi, Chris -
I've been away for a while - time to jump back into the fray.
The seven-pin DIN plug P/S is for the later version VIC (I've got one). The two-pin connector P/S was used on the
early version VIC (I've got two of those). A nice discussion on this can be found in Hardware & Tech, pg #4,
"Older 2 Pin PSU", Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:04 pm.

Hope this helps.

Phil Potter