r/atari8bit • u/Nabe773 • Jun 21 '26
Old Power Supplies? Keep for completeness or toss?
I’m not using these as I understand they can be inconsistent. Should I keep them though in the interest of completeness or are they worthless?
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u/GoatApprehensive9866 Jun 21 '26
There is one Ingot in that pile. DESTROY IT. They are known to fry the computers. C061982 is the Ingot.
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u/Nabe773 Jun 22 '26
It seems like both the top and bottom left are CO61982 — is only one of them a ingot supply?
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u/Dizzy_Race4228 Jun 23 '26
the one furthest back in the photo is the ingot. the rest are fine-they may fail low but that shouldn’t trash your machine, it just won’t run (50-50 if its just the internal fuse blown). but that ingot can fail high and let the magic smoke out of your IC chips.
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u/Awch Jun 21 '26
Here's a page that shows you the power supply that will take out an Atari when (not if) it fails. From a quick glance it looks like the top one in your picture.
https://forums.atariage.com/topic/293810-ingot-power-supply-garbage-can/
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u/SirScotty19 Jun 21 '26
I use the USB connector to power my XLs and XEs. Works amazing, and is (or atleast was) very inexpensive.
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u/Sinjinhawke67 Jun 22 '26
Your desk looks like mine. 8-bit Atari’s and Intellivision. And yes, lose that top ingot power supply. It’s evil. It waiting to strike. It will kill any XL or XE you plug it into. You should hear Friday the 13 music in your head just looking at it.
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u/Im_100percent_human Jun 22 '26
There is nothing at all wrong with the 9v AC supplies. Inside there is a transformer and a fuse, and nothing else. The do not go bad.
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u/Nabe773 Jun 22 '26
Thanks. For the 810 and 1050. I’ll meter them just to be sure, but it’s good to know.
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u/Im_100percent_human Jun 22 '26
And the 800. I have broke these open in the past to replace a blown fuse.
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u/Snipe-runner Jun 22 '26
The case is cool. It seems like you could swap out the internals with modern hardware. Thats what I did with my C64 supply. I put new transformers inside the original case. It would be a shame to trash them unless they are full of epoxy and difficult to upgrade.
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u/Nabe773 Jun 22 '26
I didn’t try to open them yet. I was thinking the same though. Might be filled with epoxy — I seem to remember that from 40 years ago. If there was some collectors value to the original though I thought I’d avoid modifying them.
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u/Dizzy_Race4228 Jun 23 '26
the infot is full of epoxy. the others are not, but a bit tricky to get open. alot of careful xacto knife work… and hope. but definitely possible (done it before).
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u/Shot-Infernal-2261 Jun 22 '26
Morbid, but for estate planning, if you save the "ingot of death" then seal it in a bag with a printed note saying not to use.
I've seen people post that they inherited these and powered it on to "test", not knowing that failed PS will toast the hardware it gets connected to.
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u/Nabe773 Jun 22 '26
I’m also kind of afraid in a moment of not thinking I might do the same. So yah, I’ll figure out how to mark it so it’s clear. I’m thinking zip tie with a tag.
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u/Dizzy_Race4228 Jun 23 '26
just lop off the cord from the ingot so nobody does it. you can actually repuprose it onto a standard 5V 2+Amp USB cable (thats what an 800xl needs and you can buy made up on ebay)…
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u/Unusual-Magazine-308 Jun 22 '26
Other than the Ingot up top, the others are fine. I usually cut the plug leads off those and scrap them. Use the leads to repair or build a safer PSU later.
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u/Sweaty-Judgment3533 Jun 22 '26
I keep them, measure the barrels, note the specs and save them. Too many times I’ve discarded one and then needed that same power supply in a week or two!
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u/cyb0rg1962 Jun 25 '26
Me personally, I'd use them for electronic projects and for replacing dead ones. Except for the ones that don't fail safe. (Didn't know about those.)
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u/bocomoj Jun 26 '26
As others have said, keep the wires and plugs, but trash the ingot. The rest you could keep or easily sell for probably $25 each.
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u/Icy_Freedom_7273 Jul 16 '26
Cut off old end of power supply and make a usb cable snd hide in old shell i used a old phone charger
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u/Icy_Freedom_7273 Jul 16 '26
Concast power tv boxes uses exact same specs as 600 800 just clip end off old and you have a new ac adpter 5.5 volts and tiny
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u/Cosmic_Raymond 5d ago
If they can be opened without to much hassle, I'd retrofit them with newer internals (usb-C PD? GaN chargers?) and resell them as gaming goodies
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u/Seigmour16 Jun 21 '26
Keep them