Atari 2600 Attic Find - Now with questions

[NoAffinity]

Just dug out my childhood 2600, from my parents attic. I knew it had been kept, and had seen it about 10 years ago, with the intent of re-taking ownership of it one day. The day finally came. Holy crud, what a treasure trove. The first issue seems to be the mangled wires on the RF adapter. Soldering iron is warming up. Can't begin to see what else is and isn't working until that is repaired and it's hooked up to a TV.

 

[NoAffinity]

Okay, got the RF adapter repaired. My digital TV of course wants to scan for channels, and does not find any channels, with the atari hooked up to the RF input. I checked the power supply, and it is labeled 9V, but is putting out 13.5V. I pulled out the other power supply, which is an original Atari power supply, and it is putting out 15.5V.

Are those voltage ranges normal, and have I potentially fried my Atari before even getting it to work again?

:edit: Problem solved with a CRT TV. The 2600 is apparently pretty resilient, and while rated for 5V-12V, minimum of 500mA, can handle up to 35V and as little as 200ma....although overvolting to upper range and providing less than spec'ed current isn't best practice.

 

[1500points]

the little coaxial adapter bullets will let you get rid of the rf box. and they are inexpensive.

I've found the same with my original atari power supplies. same ones used in the 1977 sc-450 stunt cycle unit.

 

[iN33DCaTNiP]

I had every one of those games....... fast forward 30 years and what do I have now, NOTHING....... crying so hard....


nice collection you got...

 

[Iggy]

I "hacked" a 9v battery connector on to my 2600. Name brand batteries usually last about 4 hours(give or take). YMMV with cheaper batteries. If nothing else, it made the unit easy to test to make sure it wasn't the adapter that was bad, rather than the CPU itself.

I also recommend the "bullet" adapter for coaxial. Though, on many newer TVs, those ports aren't included.

 

[NoAffinity]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Yeah, I think I'm going to have to get the bullet adapter. I was, of course, impatient to get it working last night. But, there is a fair amount of static in the image, and just touching the RF adapter causes it to get better or worse. Pressing on the lever switch that switches between 'game' and 'tv', even with slightest bit of pressure, causes the static to get worse. That piece obviously has to go.

Hopefully the local Fry's has that adapter.

 

[NoAffinity]

I picked up the "RCA Jack to 'F' Plug Adapter" from Fry's. The static is gone and the image looks great.

 

[chopperthedog]

13.5v is par for the course with an unregulated power supply of that type and will not cause harm, the 7805 voltage regulator knocks that down to 5volts inside the unit. I finally dug mine up earlier this summer and had some fun with it. http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,151134.0.html



good day.

 

[Damnmonkies]

I just went through my garage after this Christmas and found both of my old Atari consoles buried in a pile of boxes. Got my 'Sixer' on the Christmas of '80. Good times!
Yes, me and the siblings managed to rip out the Right controller port a few months later. This caused infighting over the single controller so, eventually, we got a new
four switch model. The busted 6-Switch got boxed and the 4-Switch lived a long, happy life... until it too went into the box.

I ordered a NOS DB9 port and got to work cleaning and repairing. Disassembly!

A bath and some scrubbing later...

-continued next post

 

[Damnmonkies]

-Continued from previous post

After Some reassembly (and Boring repair details omitted), We have a decent looking 30+ year old game console!

Sorry if this seems like a thread hijack, but I just wanted to let NoAffinity know that I just finished repairing/cleaning/restoring these and have a
wealth of current information if you want to repair or modify your 2600. Last week, I added a power light and Composite out to my 4-Switch model.

 

[NoAffinity]

^Very nice. Great job bringing that old gem back to life!