Task: Purchase a Newly Made Power Supply for Your Commodore 8-Bit Computers
Needed: Web browser
Time: 5-10 minutes
Introduction
Power supplies from the 1970s and 1980s are notoriously unreliable and can damage the computer upon failure. Atari had one particular power supply unit (PSU) nicknamed ‘the ingot‘ because it was like a brick and prone to zapping Atari XL computer circuit boards. Commodore is no different.
The power supplies used in the VIC-20 and 64 were unusual in that they supplied both a 5V and 9V power line. The 5V line supplies power to most of the circuit board including the MOS 6502 (VIC-20) and 6510 (C64) processors as well as the PLA, CIA, and ROM chips. This particular line is known to fail and send increased voltage through the system zapping the components. The 9V line is increased to 12V on the circuit board and used to power the SID and VIC-II chips on the original Commodore 64 breadbin models, for example. It is highly recommended that these original Commodore PSUs not be used. The good news is that new PSUs can be purchased that are safe and reliable. The bad news is they are a bit expensive due to the complexity of the necessary voltages.
Instructions
Purchase a newly made PSU for your Commodore Vic-20 or 64. These are readily available from Amazon for around $75 and also come in black. The model I linked to also has a second power cable to plug in a 1541 floppy disk drive which is a nice feature. Here is another on Amazon from a different seller. These are also available on eBay for around the same price. Plenty of options for Euro plugs as well.
Comments
I am very happy someone makes these wonderful PSUs. My only question is why are they so expensive? For example, a 5V power supply for the Atari 800XL runs about $10 to $15. Do you really need another $60 to add the 9V? Maybe! Regardless, I bought two.