MotherX4 Main Board (and the other boards)

[Terje_Norway]

Hi,


I recently got a complete set of boards from Toto. Excellent quality and service as expected 


This means I got the following boards :


- MotherX4 Main Board
- MiniBooster MX4 Board
- PlayCity MX4 Board
- X-MEM MX4 Board
- X-MASS MX4 Board


When I got it all, I tried to connect all of them to my CPC. The result was a bit disappointing, as nothing happened.   

To make a long story short. At the moment I have only got the X-MEM MX4 Board (and the MotherX4 Main Board) connected to my CPC.
That works as a dream. When I tries to connect any of the other boards, my CPC stops to work. Could it be an issue of power 


So to my main questions in this connection.


1.) Do I need to use an additional PSU for ALL of them to work properly at the same time ? ? ?
2.) What is the recommended order of the cards ? ? ?


My present setup is with X-MEM as Board 1.


Looking forward to any advice to my perhaps stupid questions.


Yours

Terje Grind
NORWAY

PS Sorry if these questions has been asked before.
I think I have read something on the wiki concerning these issues.

But did I find it when I searched for it ? ? ? NO

[TotO]

Your CTM PSU is probably to low (old) to power all the boards. You can plug a +5V PSU to the MotherX4 power jack for fixing that.
Use a 5VDC 1A or 2A with a 5.5mm/2.1mm connector with positive polarity on the center. (+)-

[CraigsBar]

Your CTM PSU is probably to low (old) to power all the boards. You can plug a +5V PSU to the MotherX4 power jack for fixing that.
Use a 5VDC 1A or 2A with a 5.5mm/2.1mm connector with positive polarity on the center. (+)-

My Mother4x on the 6128plus (or 464plus) has to be externally powered as soon as I have more than 2 slots occupied.


Not an issue really as I have a spare IOMEGA Zip Drive regulated 5v power supply left over after my usb zip100 developed click of death about 3 years ago.


Craig

[Terje_Norway]

Hi,


Thanks for all the replies 


So I'll have to dig out one of my MP2's or an extra spare monitor to power these boards ! ! !


I have ordered the following PSU for this project :


EU Plug 5V 2A Converter Charger Adapter Power Supply 2000mA 5 5x2 1 2 5x0 7 |


Yours

Terje Grind
NORWAY

[kevin.c]

Terje,  IMHO this power supply is not a good solution to power computer electronics. Even it names -  "charger"! Those converters are constructed very simplified  and are not quite reliable. Most of the them does not have essential filters and protection, so there is a high risk of overvoltage that kills all electronics. I would use good old transformer power supply with lm7805 or switched one, but designed to power sensitive computer electronics.

[TotO]

Nice to read that:

New Cheaper Power supply adapters 5V and 12V in stock | olimex

By the way, most of those cheap adapter use the same TNY2xx IC that is more reliable than a old PSU + 7805, as I can read.
In case of overvoltage, it can support close to 700V w/o failling. That is more than a house can provide.
The main problem (for me) came that no CE logo on a product should said many things...

[MacDeath]

I guess a power supply for a fully equipped MotherX4 doesn't need a lot of Ampers, it's just that it is a bit too much for CPC's monitor supply.

With a PLUS it is a bit different as Disk drive is on the main 5V, it may work as long as you don't use the floppy, but extension port may have some limitations...

And yeah, Monitor power supply is mainly old and dusty, so better to get a pair of nice powerfull 3A or 3.5A 5V power supplies or modify a big PC power supply.
And they can run many other devices as well.

[TotO]

True. My CTM as enough power to supply the 4 boards. That is less than 500mA.
The fact is that old CTM are no more able to do it. It's why, a 1A 5V PSU is far enough to do it.

[Terje_Norway]

Hi (again),


That was a lot of information for perhaps not the most technical minded person


The PSU I have bought is (as I can read it) more or less useless for computers and delicate sensitive electronics.


So perhaps I should start with a NEW question instead :


- What power supply would You recommend me to purchase ? ? ?


I have checked the PSU recommended at Cent Pour Cent [dot net] but that PSU isn't available (EU plug) anymore.

A link to a recommended on would be highly appreciated.


Yours

Terje Grind
NORWAY

[TotO]

The PSU that you have ordered should work fine.
May be, take care to unplug it when you don't use your CPC.

[dragon]

I bought recently a very good power supply for the amstrad (5v). They recommended me in spanish forums.

Is very litte, cold to the touch. And deliver 5.20A in the 5v line. Perfect to the cpc + expansions FDD etc...

Alimentador Regulable Universal 5..12Vcc/60W: Amazon.es: Electrónica


Anyway i not sure if the plus needs really 2.4A. My plus +fdd worked with a mpv 001 that delivers 1.5A only.

[Bryce]

That's quite expensive for a switchmode PSU, but should be fine if it's not too noisy. The Plus + FDD will only be using about 1.2A, so the rest is free for all your expansions.

One thing that people tend to forget (and the reason why TotOs additional supply socket is both necessary and important), is that taking more amps through the CPC means that the tracks on the CPC PCB and the expansion connector need to carry this current, which they definitely weren't made to do. So even if your CPC has a 5.2A supply attached, I would still recommend making a direct connection to the MX4 so that you are not overloading the tracks/pins on the CPC.

Bryce.

[dragon]

uh, only 1.2?. Do you know why amstrad lies at the text in the back? Anyway i can use the power supply externally with these boards if its ok using the mpv with the plus.

The power supply is realatively cheaper(here) another model exists with less A and more cheaper 23e+-. But we have 21% iva.

Yes the power supply have very litte interference/ripple.

[Bryce]

I can't remember the exact value on the back of the Plus, but they will have added an allowance for tolerances and there's also probably an allowance made for driving a few expansions and a printer etc. I can do some exact measurements at the weekend if you want to know exactly how much current a bare Plus uses. I think the classic 6128 comes in at about 800mA as far as I can remember.

Bryce.

[dragon]

Yes thank you,can be beautiful know the true requeriments of all cpc if posible.

[Bryce]

I can give you the values for my CPCs, but remember that these figures won't be exact for every CPC of that type. Every component has tolerances, so the values will be a general indication of what minimum current the computer really requires.

Bryce.

[pelrun]

Do you know why amstrad lies at the text in the back?

Remember that all this hardware is 20-30 years old at this point. Electrolytic capacitors dry out, connectors get oxidised and dirty, and other things happen that change how the analogue circuitry behaves, reducing it's efficiency and making it perform worse than when it was new.

[dragon]

I can give you the values for my CPCs, but remember that these figures won't be exact for every CPC of that type. Every component has tolerances, so the values will be a general indication of what minimum current the computer really requires.

Bryce.

Yes, i mean i need know if is safe using the mvp 001  to power the cpcs and the fdd externe(0,7A)

[TFM]

Try it and if power is not enough, you will see some errors. But since you don't use over-voltage nothing bad can happen.