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General Category => Amstrad CPC hardware => Topic started by: jibanes on 19:20, 10 August 14

Title: Power utilization of a CPC6128 (no display)
Post by: jibanes on 19:20, 10 August 14
Folks,

I would need to replace the power supply on my 6128 (no monitor, I use a vga adapter); and would like to know how many Watts or Amps/volate is drawn when the drive is not in use (I'm planning to replace the drive with a HxC too). Just by eyeballing the components, I'm guessing 25 Watts, but if someone had better numbers, I'd appreciate this.

Also, if you happen to know the power consumption for the 5V line and 12V line independently, please share your findings (you've guessed it, my multimeter died, well... I fried it, working on another project, which involved motors).

I'm just building a new case, I'll post pictures when it will be ready, maybe in 2 months or so.
Title: Re: Power utilization of a CPC6128 (no display)
Post by: Bryce on 19:57, 10 August 14
Hi jibanes,
       the 5V rail should be about 3A to cover the CPC, HxC and a few expansions. The 12V needs about 500mA, although I believe the original monitors could supply more. You won't need the 12V anyway if you are replacing the 3in drive with a HxC.

Bryce.
Title: Re: Power utilization of a CPC6128 (no display)
Post by: jibanes on 03:36, 11 August 14
Bryce, you just made my day.

Are you serious, the 12V is used only for floppy and nothing else? This would be great, that means I could power up the whole right with 5V; that's super convenient honestly.

So I can just leave the 12V disconnected if operating without the floppy drive, really? I was just looking into building a 5V+12V bridge, which isn't super convenient.
Title: Re: Power utilization of a CPC6128 (no display)
Post by: pelrun on 03:52, 11 August 14
If you leave the 12v line disconnected, everything will work except for the disc drive. I think it's actually only used for the drive motor.
Title: Re: Power utilization of a CPC6128 (no display)
Post by: Bryce on 08:15, 11 August 14
Correct, only the drives motors needed the 12V, nothing else.

Bryce.
Title: Re: Power utilization of a CPC6128 (no display)
Post by: joska on 08:21, 11 August 14
Quote from: jibanes on 19:20, 10 August 14
I would need to replace the power supply on my 6128 (no monitor, I use a vga adapter); and would like to know how many Watts or Amps/volate is drawn when the drive is not in use (I'm planning to replace the drive with a HxC too). Just by eyeballing the components, I'm guessing 25 Watts, but if someone had better numbers, I'd appreciate this.

My 6128 use 650mA/5V when the drives are idle. So that's around 3W :) 12V is only for the drive motors for the ancient 3" drives. I have "modern" 3.5" drives in one of my 6128's and it runs on 5V alone. When both drives are spinning the entire setup is using 1200mA.
Title: Re: Power utilization of a CPC6128 (no display)
Post by: chinnyhill10 on 11:18, 11 August 14
I power my 6128 from a switched mode 5v 3amp PSU purchased from RS. Also powers the HxC as well (which also requires 5v). If planning to use an HxC you need to make sure the PSU has enough for both.


Don't be tempted to use a cheap PSU. You need a good quality one with a nice smooth regulated output which will be kind to your 30 year old electronics.
Title: Re: Power utilization of a CPC6128 (no display)
Post by: jibanes on 15:40, 11 August 14
I just bought Adafruit's 5V 4A power supply, my intend is to power the 6128+HxC+VGA converter ( http://www.octoate.de/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/cga_vga_converter_thumb.jpg (http://www.octoate.de/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/cga_vga_converter_thumb.jpg) ). You've guessed it, I'm putting them all in a (wood) case.


J.
Title: Re: Power utilization of a CPC6128 (no display)
Post by: Lazy Dude on 20:09, 11 August 14
Quote from: chinnyhill10 on 11:18, 11 August 14
I power my 6128 from a switched mode 5v 3amp PSU purchased from RS. Also powers the HxC as well (which also requires 5v). If planning to use an HxC you need to make sure the PSU has enough for both.


Don't be tempted to use a cheap PSU. You need a good quality one with a nice smooth regulated output which will be kind to your 30 year old electronics.

yep been there done that - I remember buying some cheepo Chinese dual voltage output thingi on ebay - it went bang after 10 mins - the cpc survived though!
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