29 Mar
2020
29 Mar
'20
9:17 a.m.
On Sun, 29 Mar 2020, Robert Armstrong via cctech wrote:
And then there's a giant PCB, almost 11"
square, covered with opamps, 74LS
logic and discrete parts. There are filter caps, a transformer, and
switching transistors on this board too so it obviously produces yet another
power output for something. Oh, and I think this cabinet has variable speed
fans, right? SO there's probably a fan speed controller on here as well.
There's logic included there for synchronised control of multiple H7874
PSUs at once in a master-slave configuration via a set of auxiliary
connectors so as to power up or down all pieces simultaneously in a
complex machine setup with storage and/or Q-bus expansion boxes. No
documentation for the PSU has been chased so far as far as I know.
Note that also with this PSU there were capacitors used that suffered
from the issue with the quaternary ammonium salt system
used in the
electrolyte. All mine had numerous Chemi-Con SXF parts scattered
across
all boards, some leaking. They are prone to leaks even if unused and have
to be replaced. Especially those next to the 5V circuit are hard to get
to to desolder and replace. Also Chemi-Con SXE parts present in this PSU
are reportedly affected although I haven't seen them leak myself.
This PSU has been my worst nightmare as far as keeping old equipment
alive has been concerned. I was able to make just one working PSU out of
three broken ones by mixing and matching individual pieces with caps
replaced until I found one set that worked. I consider replacing the
large cuboid 6800?F Sprague part as well as I have seen its capacitance
drop down to like half of its nominal.
Maciej