CA-PSU stock?

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.
  • Will there be a new stock of CA-PSUs available for purchase soon?


    Also as a buying option would it be possible to add a 4 pin molex connector to the CA-PSU in order to power an external CD/DVD-Drive?

  • Will there be a new stock of CA-PSUs available for purchase soon?

    We do have the DC-DC converters ready, but no suitable power bricks.


    Also as a buying option would it be possible to add a 4 pin molex connector to the CA-PSU in order to power an external CD/DVD-Drive?

    No, as the DC-DC converter would have to be heavily modified - essentially with a separate 5V regulator. However, the CA-PSU design is done with load changes on both 5V and 12V in mind: If there is a load change on 12V, then the GND level at the computer will shift. CA-PSU is also measuring that, and adjusts the 5V rail in real time to achieve exceptional cross-regulation performance.


    In simpler terms: It's safe to use a power splitter cable at the Floppy power connector of the A1200.

  • We do have the DC-DC converters ready, but no suitable power bricks.

    Is it possible to buy the CA-PSU on it's own without the power brick and we then provide our own?


    No, as the DC-DC converter would have to be heavily modified - essentially with a separate 5V regulator. However, the CA-PSU design is done with load changes on both 5V and 12V in mind: If there is a load change on 12V, then the GND level at the computer will shift. CA-PSU is also measuring that, and adjusts the 5V rail in real time to achieve exceptional cross-regulation performance.


    In simpler terms: It's safe to use a power splitter cable at the Floppy power connector of the A1200.

    My idea was to run a molex power cable direct from the PSU to the CD-Drive so the one PSU would then power everything but I guess a second dedicated PSU for the CD drive could be used instead.


    Would a power splitter cable on the floppy power connector not affect the stability of the computer? especially if powering a CD drive. Would too much power be drawn from the +5V rail since that's the most important to the Amiga or is a CD drive power hungry?

  • Is it possible to buy the CA-PSU on it's own without the power brick and we then provide our own?

    We'd have to do elaborate paperwork that excludes my product liability insurance. In other words: Huge hassle.


    My idea was to run a molex power cable direct from the PSU to the CD-Drive

    This would give false measurement values inside the CA-PSU. Remember it compensates for the voltage drop in the cable to the computer. If you draw additional power that does not flow through the cable and the A1200's input filter, the CA-PSU would raise the voltage higher than actually required.

    so the one PSU would then power everything

    You'd have that if you take the power from the inside of the A1200 - with the benefit of the CA-PSU doing all the required regulation.

    Would a power splitter cable on the floppy power connector not affect the stability of the computer?

    No, not with the CA-PSU. It was designed with the worst upgrades in mind.


    Would too much power be drawn from the +5V rail since that's the most important to the Amiga or is a CD drive power hungry?

    To my knowledge, most DVD drives run their motors from the 12V rail, so that's only going to affect the 5V rail through the additional GND return current, which the CA-PSU compensates for.


    If it's a Laptop DVD drive, it may actually draw it's power from 5V, but that's also fine, as the CA-PSU can withstand an overload of 160% nominal load for up to 30 seconds, which is well within the spin-up time of any CD/DVD drive. So again, no trouble expected.

  • We'd have to do elaborate paperwork that excludes my product liability insurance. In other words: Huge hassle.


    Understood, too much red tape involved. :)


    To be honest with you Jens I was hoping to get another CA-PSU as my current one has begun acting unstable and I'm not sure why. Whenever I use it, it causes my Amiga to randomly crash and reboot. If I use my Meanwell PSU on the same Amiga I don't have this problem at all so it looks like the CA-PSU could have developed a fault somehow.


    Would it be possible for me to send it to you to have it diagnosed?

  • Yes - they are a unit. You can only separate them if you open the case, and I don't want you to do that at this point :-)

    Ah yes, of course. For some reason I was thought the power brick was detachable but I now see that it isn't. :saint:

  • Repair completed; Your unit had the DC-output cable heavily twisted, and this has led to the contact on the 5V rail burning in a tiny spot. As a result, the output voltage was too low, because the resistance at the PCB-connector was too high.


    We've introduced an additional twisting-protection at the strain relief and soldered the wires directly to the connector in this case. Still, you should avoid twisting the cable in the same direction over and over again - I assume it's like with a curled telephone cable (back when they were a thing...) that is always twisted in the same direction, until it becomes totally tangled after a few months.

  • Thanks Jens for the repair and explanation.


    It's possible the cable was twisted and stretched due to the short cable length from CA-PSU->Amiga. This results in me having to overlap the power brick cable over the CA-PSU which might have led to the damage.


    Would it be possible to have the CA-PSU->Power brick cable exit on the top of the shell (oppsoite end of the shell) rather than on the CA-PSU->Amiga cable end as it would cause less stress and stretching I think?

  • If this would be a high-volume product, it sure would be the way to design it. However, we're in a low volume market, so I have to live with the cases that we have access to: You may have noticed that this is a C64 cartridge case, slightly modified to do the job.


    I'll keep this in mind for the day that we get a "go" for new 12V/5A power bricks.

  • If this would be a high-volume product, it sure would be the way to design it. However, we're in a low volume market, so I have to live with the cases that we have access to: You may have noticed that this is a C64 cartridge case, slightly modified to do the job.


    I'll keep this in mind for the day that we get a "go" for new 12V/5A power bricks.

    I will buy 3 such "new 12V/5A power bricks" in an instant.