ATX Power Supply

Back in December 2018, I installed a RapidRoad USB expansion in my Amiga 1200. I only had limited time to test the setup at the time, everything seemed to work great, and I was happy.

When I finally wanted to use the USB ports for real about half a year later, though, the USB expansion suddenly stopped working, its power LED would not even turn on anymore. In a discussion with Jens Schönfeld, the designer of the USB expansion, I learned that my RapidRoad board probably died due to voltage/power fluctuations. After over two decades, not only do the capacitors on the mainboard need capacitor replacing but also the power supply’s components are deteriorated.

Thankfully, although entirely not his fault, Jens Schönfeld offered to repair my RapidRoad board for free. He insisted, though, that I get a new power supply for my Amiga in order to avoid running into the same problem again.

When I asked him at the time, Jens Schönfeld did not want to suggest a replacement power supply for me. So I turned to Stefan Schakow for help. He suggested to use a regular ATX power supply that only needs slight modification for use with an Amiga. The power supply he modified for me arrived back in September 2019:

Again, I only had limited time available for testing when the power supply arrived. It was only over the last couple of days that I powered my Amiga 1200 up again. Both the power supply and the USB expansion work like a charm.

In his seminar at Revision 2020, Jens Schönfeld revealed that he is working on a new Amiga power supply. And while my current setup works, I sure look forward to a modern power supply that is explicitly designed for the Amiga.