Rapid Road Repair

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • Hi,


    My Rapidroad broke today. Just wondering if I can send it for repair. It broke while taking out a USB stick. I am already using a DC to DC power supply and the rapid road is connected directly to it and not through the floppy power. It was being used on my a604n. I am pretty sure I bought this one directly from icomp but I have 3 of them so can't be 100% certain.


    Many thanks


    Jonathan

  • Just wondering if I can send it for repair.

    Sure, we repair these.

    I am already using a DC to DC power supply and the rapid road is connected directly to it and not through the floppy power.

    DC-DC converter-based PSUs are defeinitely the "gold standard" of Amiga PSUs, but they should of course be capable of handling the load step of hot-plugging and unplugging. If you have a data sheet of that DC-DC converter, I can tell if it's any good for such hot-plug events (well, if step response is even mentioned in that data sheet).

  • Thanks Jens. Just tested it again today and definitely no light on. I have swapped another one into the a600 and it works fine so it must be the rapidroad that is broken.


    Ok If I just pop it in the post? I understand if there is a delay due to the current situation. Let me know how much it will cost to fix/return postage (I have an account).


    My PSU is a Morex ATX supply. I think around 80-100w but can't really remember.


    Vielen Dank


    Johnny

  • Morex ATX

    Never heard of them before, but found their website. It's important to know how you've installed this in your Amiga - the load regulation spec does NOT take cable drop into account, as you can see on their measurement test circuit. So the unit must be put into the computer's case using extremely short cables and MUST NOT use the external power connector of the Amiga.


    Further, their data sheet does not show anything about step response, so I figure it's not their strong point.

    Ok If I just pop it in the post?

    Please include a short note, so my employees know what to do with it. If you're sending from outside Europe, please declare $5 as remaining value (not the new value!), as this is a) the truth and b) it helps passing customs.

  • I have connected it using the ATX cable supplied into the rear power connector (only about 5cm extra length) and the Rapid road is connected directly to the floppy power connector from the supply. Would I be better off getting a picoPSU instead?


    Sending from UK which thankfully is still in the EU for the time being.

  • into the rear power connector

    ...which means that in addition to cable drop, there's also the drop of the line filter. If you don't have a specialized power supply that knows and compensates for this line filter, you're in for trouble.


    Would I be better off getting a picoPSU instead?

    Please wait for our PSU to be available - hopefully late next month. It's the only one that I have found (so far) that fulfills all the original Commodore specs *and* compensates for the voltage drop in all cables and the input line filter.

  • I have connected it using the ATX cable supplied into the rear power connector (only about 5cm extra length) and the Rapid road is connected directly to the floppy power connector from the supply.

    Just thinking about this: You are connecting the Amiga through the 5-pin square DIN, which goes through the line filter. The line filter is a common mode choke, so it *requires* the current on GND to be equal to the negative current on Vcc.


    With the connection of RapidRoad directly to the cable loom of your PSU, you bypass the line filter on the GND side, and the GND lines of the clock port cable are taking part of the current that goes into the Amiga. BAD IDEA. The line filter will go into saturation, so there's no filter property any more. Further, the extra current flowing through the GND lines of the clock port cable may have a negative effect on signal integrity. The extra noise on the RapidRoad might have contributed to the defect.

  • So would I be better off just connecting up the PSU to the a600 via the 5 pin DIN connector? `

    In any case, the Amiga and RapidRoad should have the same GND potential. So you either bypass the input fillter completely (that's for the "all internal" solution), or you *only* make a connection to the 5-pin square DIN connector and then add a cable drop compensation circuit to take care of the drop in the cable and line filter. Some details in the seminar that I made for Revision 2020.

  • Hi Jens,


    Just to let you know that my Rapidroad arrived back last night. Thanks very much for fixing it. I have just realised that you never charged me for postage. I am happy to pay what I owe you.


    Thanks again


    Johnny

  • The last reply was more than 365 days ago, this thread is most likely obsolete. It is recommended to create a new thread instead.

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