I have been slowly building my IIe Platinum. It currently has the following:
- CFFA3000
- Mockingbird 2.2
- SSC, 80 Col, and 5.25" Disk controller cards
- Upgraded PS from Reactive Micro
I have few questions:
1. Is the 63W power supply enough for so many cards? I don't have much prior experience with expandable Apples...
2. Taking into the consideration cooler-running PS, do I still need to worry about ventilation inside?
Thanks!
You might want to consider one of ReActiveMicro's power supply upgrades. The stock power supply was marginal for a fully loaded system when it was new. Being around 30 years old doesn't help. I'd recommend a RAM upgrade like a RAMWorks type card (or clone), maybe a FastChip //e. Those plus what you've already got would be a pretty nice system.
[quote=softwarejanitor]
You might want to consider one of ReActiveMicro's power supply upgrades. The stock power supply was marginal for a fully loaded system when it was new. Being around 30 years old doesn't help.
[/quote]
That is PRECISELY what I did, and what I'm asking about. It's stated in my list of upgrades......
I missed that part, I guess due to you asking about the stock power supply. Anyway, you probably did the right thing. 63 watts isn't enough if you are running a lot of devices. However, that said, some of today's modern boards use less juice than their vintage counterparts. Your CFFA3000, for example probably draws a lot less than a Disk ][ does when it is operating. A modern RAM card like one of A2Heaven's 8M RAMWorks for sure draws a lot less than my vintage AE RAMWorks II. The modern card has less than 5 chips on it, the vintage one has 32 RAM chips on it alone plus the logic. Even with say, a Disk II controller, if you are running something like a FloppyEmu. it is going to use a lot less juice than a Disk II, especially since it probably doesn't use any 12V at all due to no mechanical parts like motors or steppers. If you used mostly all modern cards you could probably have a fully loaded system and still be putting less draw on the power supply than a machine with only a few vintage cards in it.
[quote=softwarejanitor]
I missed that part, I guess due to you asking about the stock power supply. Anyway, you probably did the right thing. 63 watts isn't enough if you are running a lot of devices. However, that said, some of today's modern boards use less juice than their vintage counterparts. Your CFFA3000, for example probably draws a lot less than a Disk ][ does when it is operating. A modern RAM card like one of A2Heaven's 8M RAMWorks for sure draws a lot less than my vintage AE RAMWorks II. The modern card has less than 5 chips on it, the vintage one has 32 RAM chips on it alone plus the logic. Even with say, a Disk II controller, if you are running something like a FloppyEmu. it is going to use a lot less juice than a Disk II, especially since it probably doesn't use any 12V at all due to no mechanical parts like motors or steppers. If you used mostly all modern cards you could probably have a fully loaded system and still be putting less draw on the power supply than a machine with only a few vintage cards in it.
[/quote]
Thanks, that's what I was thinking, it's just that 63W does not seem like a lot these days, even if it is a new, modern PSU :)
I will probably end up removing the disk controller card, since with CFFA3000 I don't have much need keeping physical drives. My only other addition will be a memory card, so I should be good then. I've monitored the temperature of the new PSU and it's cool to the touch.
Keep in mind that the specs on the stock //e power supply that I find online are this:
-5V 0.25A
-12V 0.25A
+12V 1.5A
+5V 2.5A
That comes up to 34.75VA, which is realistically probably about 30 watts. So the RM power supply is approximately twice the output of stock. 63W still isn't a lot if you've got a lot of power hungry cards, but it is a heck of an improvement over the original power supply, especially a 30 year old one that hasn't been rebuilt.
The mwp power supplies that were sold by AE have very similar power ratings compared to the universal Psu.
mwp: +5v@6a +12v@2.5a -12v@1a -5v@1a
universal Psu: +5v@6a +12v@3a -12v@.8a -5v@.8a.
the advertisement as it was made seems to suggest that most peripherals take power from the +5v rail.
a few years ago I came across a couple of nos mwp power supplies.
these things are super robust.
i have tested them for all of this time and they won't give up.
The universal Psu is nice but I suppose it is whatever you prefer.
the universal Psu however is medical grade so it may be more stable and puts out a cleaner signal.
but I cannot be sure.
the only thing that frustrates me is that no power supply and no method I have found can give you more amps on the negative rails.
why not 3 amps on the -12v rail?
[quote=insanitor]
The mwp power supplies that were sold by AE have very similar power ratings compared to the universal Psu.
[/quote]
I'm installing a Meanwell RQ-85B. That's necessary because my accelerator board needs 5A @5V. And 1MB RAMFactor, 1MB RamWorks, a buffered Grappler, ...
+5V: 2..10A
+12V: 0.3..4A
-5V: 0..1A
-12V: 0..1A
[quote=insanitor]
the only thing that frustrates me is that no power supply and no method I have found can give you more amps on the negative rails.
why not 3 amps on the -12v rail?
[/quote]
Why? The keyboard controller consumes some mA, the Super Serial or any other serial card up to 20mA, some floppy disk some mA, also some AD-/DA-converter some mA. That's it. Why more?
Regards
Ralf