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[motorollin]

I got a 1581 kit for Christmas Now I need to sort out a PSU for it. Does anyone know where I can find a pinout for the PSU so I can build one?

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moto

[motorollin]

Hmmm just found this. Can anyone confirm whether it is correct?

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moto

[Speelgoedmannetje]

AFAIK, you can also use a pc psu, and cut those threads which lead to cdroms/harddisks/floppy drives. Red is for +5v, yellow is for +12v and both black threads are ground. Attach it according to the pinout in your scheme.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Ah well, Here's a description about that.

[motorollin]

Cheers Speel, I'll have a look in to it. The site you linked to says to cut the 15*1 power cable off and then gives you details of which wire to connect to which from the PC PSU to the 15*1 connector. However I don't have any PSU to steal a connector from. So I'll have a look in the 1581 kit when I open it up to fit the floppy drive and see if the colours match inside. Watch out for smoke clouds above Milton Keynes on Wednesday night

[EDIT]
Just re-read your post, yeah I can just connect the relevant power lines according to the pinout to a new AT[X] PSU. Assuming the pinout is correct :-)
[/EDIT]

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moto

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Well, I once almost blew up a PLC at school, such a thing (back then) did cost about more than 10,000 guilders (about 5000 euros) :shock:
It happened not to be my fault, it was some bad wiring done by another guy who installed the PLC's. And the PLC was thankfully not broken because of safety measures which are applied standardly.
I already thought the teacher to be strangely relaxed when there was a big black cloud in the classroom.

[motorollin]

Finally got hold of some 4 and 6 pin DIN plugs to make up the cables for my 1581. I found a transformer which outputs both 12v and 5v simultanously, so I connected the 5v to pin 1, the 12v to pin 4 and the GND to pin 2. But when I power the drive up it doesn't switch on - at least the power LED doesn't come on. I have checked for shorts and checked the voltages coming from the pins.

Does the drive have to be connected to the C64 to power on? Also, the connector on the schematic I linked to above has its pins numbered from 1 to 4 starting from the bottom right pin, going anti-clockwise, but the connector I have got is numbered from 4 to 1 going anti-clockwise starting from the same pin. I followed the pin *numbers*, because I'm assuming the picture is of the connector from the other side. But I'm wondering if this is wrong, and I have got the connector backwards?

[EDIT]
Update - I tested continuity between what I think is the ground pin and something inside the 1581 which should connect to ground (in fact it was the metal housing) and I did get a connection. In other words, this proves that the pinout is correct and I didn't wire it up backwards!
[/EDIT]

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moto

[motorollin]

Another update. I made a 1541 cable - a 6 pin DIN both ends, connected 1-1 ... 6-6. The drive still doesn't power on when connected to the C64 with this cable.

I noticed something strange. Even if the power switch on the back of the 1581 is switched to the off position, when I switch on mains power to it the drive starts making a rapid and very faint "tic-tic-tic" sound continuously. It's not the drive itself as I disconnected it, and the sound was still there, which means it must be coming from some component on the board! The best way I can describe the sound is somebody flicking a switch on and off continuously and rapidly, but very very faint.

:-( :-?

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moto

[motorollin]

Hmm another weird thing. The PSU has a status LED to show when it is outputting voltage. If the PSU is connected to the mains but not to the 1581 then the LED is on. If I connect the PSU to the 1581 then the LED on the PSU goes off! My first thought is that this is some kind of safety cut-out, but against what? There are no shorts in the plug I soldered on so I can't see what's going wrong - unless something inside the 1581 is bothering the PSU :-?

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moto

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Can the PSU supply enough amperes?
You must find out how much amperes are needed, and compare it with how much the psu can deliver.
I have some psu's still, so I can find out, but I have to dig them up... so if you can google it firstly...

[motorollin]

Yes, it can supply enough. That was the first thing I checked. I'm just about to wire another 4 pin DIN up to a PC PSU to test it with that.

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moto

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Okay, but if it's still wrong, then I do not know what's wrong, and it may well be that the hardware is broken :-(
*knocks on wood

[motorollin]

Looks like you knocking on wood (oo-er) worked Speel - it works! I butchered an ATX splitter cable (the kind you use to give more hard disk power connectors) so that I could tap the 12v, 5v and ground from a PC ATX power supply. This powered the drive up immediately! I haven't actually tested it connected to a C64 yet but at least it powers up :-D My guess would be that although the PSU I used before said it was providing 1.5A, it was actually just below it, which prevented the drive from powering up.



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moto

[Speelgoedmannetje]

(I just love when things work)

[motorollin]

Next challenge - format a disk :-) Can't get the Basic command to work. The seller of the 1581 kit is kindly sending me a Utility Disk to make it easier, so fingers crossed :-D

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moto