Dokert
Well-known member
A friend sends me an email that he is trying to bench test a Vidiot for his newly aquired Baby Pacman. I am happy to help, as it is his wife's grail.
He applies +12vdc and gets a whole bag of nothing at all. So after taking readings at all of the test points, his voltages are all low. Next step, apply voltages directly to the test points and see what happens. Voltage readings get better, but that is about as far as he can go with it. I haven't seen the Vidiot in question, or how my friend is hooking up the power. I suspect that C54 may be bad, and is dragging down the power that he is applying.
How can I help my friend out?
Build a Vidiot Bench test harness for use with a switching power supply. Problem, only voltage that is needed is +12vdc. No load on the +5vdc will burn up the power supply. Got it! Add a lamp to the harness to create the +5vdc load and build it into the harness so that he doesn't forget to use it.
Here are the end results.
He applies +12vdc and gets a whole bag of nothing at all. So after taking readings at all of the test points, his voltages are all low. Next step, apply voltages directly to the test points and see what happens. Voltage readings get better, but that is about as far as he can go with it. I haven't seen the Vidiot in question, or how my friend is hooking up the power. I suspect that C54 may be bad, and is dragging down the power that he is applying.
How can I help my friend out?
Build a Vidiot Bench test harness for use with a switching power supply. Problem, only voltage that is needed is +12vdc. No load on the +5vdc will burn up the power supply. Got it! Add a lamp to the harness to create the +5vdc load and build it into the harness so that he doesn't forget to use it.
Here are the end results.
