C-64 / Vic-20 Power Brick Compatible?

mojofltr · Post by **mojofltr** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 3:24 pm

There is a C-64 with a bunch of extras listed in my area on Craigslist. The owner says that it worked years ago, but he has since misplaced the power brick, so it is being sold as untested. However, he also mentions that he will refund money if a working power supply is hooked up to the unit and it is found to be dead.

I have a Vic-20 with a working power brick (w/ round input plug). Do the Vic-20 and C-64 use the same voltage, etc, or am I looking for trouble by plugging the Vic-20 brick into the c-64?

Any information is very appreciated!

Cheers!
-William

Post by **Jeff-20** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 3:59 pm

They are the same.

mojofltr · Post by **mojofltr** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 4:23 pm

Fantastic!

Thanks for the quick response!

mojofltr · Post by **mojofltr** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 8:40 pm

Am I just a cheapskate or is 100 bucks for a c-64 without a disk drive or power brick kind of steep? I was thinking 30-40 bucks was more than reasonable - with a disk drive! I really don't know though... all I know is I got my Vic, complete in box and in pristine condition with a tape drive for under 30.

He told me that it came with a lightpen that he paid 250 for back in the day. While nice, I really don't know how much software there is out there for the lightpen. :/ Are the lightpens a rarity today?

Post by **Jeff-20** » Sun Oct 04, 2009 9:12 pm

Too much for me.

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 12:56 am

Jeff-20 wrote:They are the same.

I thought they're not the same! Quoting eslapion from THIS THREAD:

eslapion wrote:
Wonder-Boy wrote:Can a Commodore 64 power supply be used on a VIC-20CR ?
Certainly.

The opposite is generally not true as most VIC CRs PSU are only rated for 2 or 3 VA on the 9Vac. When it fails, it can destroy your C64.

And in our wiki:

The power supply of the revision C is similar to the one supplied with the Commodore 64 and uses exactly the same type of connector with same pinout assingment. However, the VIC-20 model is rated for less power so it is not recommended to use a power supply from a VIC on a 64.

People who accidentally or intentionally powered their 64 with the power supply of a VIC-20 revision C often damaged their 64 when the 5V regulator in the power supply failed and output excessive voltage resulting in damage to the 64's CMOS DRAM chips.

Doing the opposite - powering a VIC-20 revision C with a 64's power supply - is perfectly safe.

Mermaid · Post by **Mermaid** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 1:30 am

$100 sounds pretty steep for a C64 with no disk drive and no psu :/

Did you check ebay to see what they are selling for there? I'm sure you can find a cheaper one with a psu - as Orion70 pointed out, using a Vic 20 psu for the C64 is a really bad idea.

I have a light pen for my C64 and I think I've used it *once*, so unless you're really into collecting every possible peripheral doodad I wouldn't spend $100 just because it comes with a light pen.

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 3:00 am

I think it varies from power supply to power supply and from region to region how cross compatible they are in terms of voltages and amperages. Over here I am aware of three types of DIN power supplies:

9V 1A + 5V 1.5A (VIC-20, early C64)
9V 1A + 5V 1.6A (later C64)
9V 1A + 5V 1.7A (C64C)

The higher amperage, the better. However if you don't use external peripherals drawing power from the computer, it is possible any model will work. After all it seems 0.2A * 5V = 1W is not a huge difference, but perhaps it makes the difference between working and not working.

mojofltr · Post by **mojofltr** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 6:53 am

Thanks for all the good information!

I won't be picking up this particular unit; I will keep my eyes peeled for something better to come along... hopefully with a disk drive and a power brick.

A little off topic for a second for this last question... about emulation:

I recently purchased a Mega-Cart for my Vic-20, but while I'm waiting for it arrive, I decided to check out a few of the games via emulation. Mostly, I can get games to work without much trouble - changing RAM settings, etc. However, a bunch of the images I downloaded are in an .ao format. No matter what I've tried, I cannot seem to get these to work correctly in Vice. I don't know if these are supposed to be tapes, disks, or cart images. I've run several queries in Google without luck. Any ideas?

I think I've fallen in love with these forums. You guys rock!

Cheers,
-William

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:13 am

I guess their extension is A0 (a-zero), not AO. Try attaching them as a $A000 4K/8K cart image, then soft reset (ALT+R).

mojofltr · Post by **mojofltr** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:34 am

Awesome! I can't believe I couldn't figure that one out on my own!

Thanks again!
-William

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 9:36 am

And before you ask, those ending in filename.60 are meant to be attached to address $6000. I thought those files had been renamed many years ago, nowadays most files are called filename-a000.prg or likewise.