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Apple II Power Supply Woes

jajan547

Well-known member
Hey everyone I have an Astec AA 1104B Apple II Power Supply, When I got the Apple II it came from I plugged it in and at first only the power light would turn on followed by the breaker for three rooms in my house popping. So I did what any other Apple II owner would do when presented with such an occurrence, I drilled out the rivets (very carefully) and disassembled the power supply. Well I found my issue pretty quick an entire cap had completely either blown apart or rotted straight off. Amongst other things a completely blown fuse. I decided to order a recap set from Console 5 and a new 2.75 Amp fuse. Recapping was pretty straightforward and I replaced the fuse as well. There was no damage at all to the PCB as it looks brand new. I plugged the newly recapped power supply in and well it didn't trip the breaker but the computer wouldn't turn on at all. I figured maybe a wire on the connector side had gone bad or needed replacing and it didn't everything tests fine and I even checked the power input side. As of right now I'm at a loss for words on how to continue troubleshooting or how to test voltage on this. Any help is greatly appreciated.
 

jajan547

Well-known member
Hey Jake from the future here check that your power cord is actually plugged in. (wow what a night)
 

Skate323k137

Well-known member
Done worse. Once when setting up some equipment I plugged the power bar into itself
Double infinite power!!

I think being a cable guy helped lessen the sinking stomach feeling when turning something on, because so many times it was not plugged in, the breaker was off, etc etc., that now if I turn something on and it doesn't work, I go straight for the power cord :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
 

joshc

Well-known member
Done that many times. To the point where I start fairly serious diagnosis (taking everything apart, looking over schematics…) before realising plugging in the power cord would help.
 

CC_333

Well-known member
I did something like this recently.

The other day, I was trying to put batteries into a musical "Santa Claus Face" that always goes up by the front door during Christmas (it's been a family tradition since forever, so the thing must be at least as old as I am!).

Anyway, I discovered that the unwired battery conductors were missing, so I "borrowed" one form an old string of battery powered lights, and after some work, it fit, but the music wouldn't play when I turned it on (no power).

I got all upset, thinking to myself, "did this thing finally die after 30 years?" and opened it up to probe around. I found a few things and resoldered some stuff, but all to no avail.

I tried testing the voltage coming out of the battery box, but strangely, I kept getting nothing.

Then I decided to mess around with the batteries after seeing some corrosion on one of the original contacts (the one connected to the positive lead). It sings!

So, i look at the borrowed contacts, and wouldn't you know, it's not making contact with the battery. Duh!

I soldered on a little bit of wire to bridge the gap, and it works perfectly!

It's not quite the same (there are no power cords involved), but I went through that in-depth diagnosis for no reason, when all I had to do was check the battery box a little bit more carefully.

c
 
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