Atari 5200 No Power - Fixing Power Circuit and Power Mod - Fixing Ebay Junk 

My father came home one day and suprised us with a game system; an Atari 5200 and a ton of games. My father didn't really know what it was, but "it was cheap" and " they were practically giving them away" he said. This was in 1983.

That's not the first time I've seen electricity from those boxes. AVGN too. Definitely a hazard. Love your work!

The 5200's controllers were the Achilles Heel of that machine. It's basically an Atari 400 with a stripped down OS ROM. But this is also why 5200 games can be patched and run on other Atari 8-bit computers. There's actually a 2600 adapter for it, too. That Power Supply you show was pretty much standard for lots of Atari computer products, like the 1050 disk drive. I did a mod on the 2600 Junior to use automatic switching RF boxes. It used a 1 K ohm resistor and a DC blocking .10 microfarad ceramic capacitor.

I never owned one of these, but really wanted one. I'm glad you brought this classic game system back to life! If you end up doing the composite mod, definitely post it, as I'm sure it would look much better!

It’s so old, but I love watching you fixing it

I am searching for an atari 5200 myself and I really appreciate your work in this video. I think it will be very interesting to go on chasing the infamous atari 5200.

Game consoles are often ones I prefer to look stock as much as possible (with the exception of maybe video output tweaks), but damn, the Atari 5200 would be one I would actually appreciate a power input mod. The power delivery system on the 5200 was sketchy to begin with.

I love this type of stuff. I'm always inspired to start doing this, so I decided to buy my first Super Nintendo and I'm going to try to fix it. Watching you makes me feel like I can do it if I put my mind to it, as well. Keep up the great work!

Hi! I repaired a non working 5200 myself a few years back with similar issues. When I first was watching I was screaming at my monitor, DO NOT USE THAT POWER SUPPLY 9VAC! But you figured it out eventually. I have a 4 port just like you have here. My problem was that one of the resistors had completely blown out and I had to replace it. I found the schematic online and found the value and was able to replace it with the proper value. It was so charred, I could no longer read the color stripe code on the original resistor. So I did that, did the power jack mod as you did and removed the RF. Worked fine after that. I decided to go with an AV mod on it as well, and it's not an easy task. You're going to have some work cut out for you, but it does work a treat. It requires making your own AV circuit with capacitors, resistors, diode, and a transistor to amplify the video signal. You're going to have to be connecting it up with various spots off the board, in the area to the left of what you've been focusing on in this video. The mod I found online was flawed though. The diode they used was a beefy 4000 series one if I remember it right, which was overkill. I barely got a video signal with that. So I replaced that with a standard 4148 small signal diode that you can find anywhere and is most common. I got the ideal video signal once I did that. Also, the potentiometer that you were adjusting is the color timing pot, which adjusts the color burst. Once you get your av mod going, put in a game that has a good color scheme so you can adjust it just right. Don't touch that other pot. That's your manual analog controller calibrator. Only mess with that if the dead zone on your controllers are off. Like if you have your controller centered and your player is running off to one side, for example. I find it strange that the 2nd 78L05 wasn't giving you voltage. If you do that AV mod and your video signal still sucks, you might want to think about doing something with that voltage regulator. It could possibly have something to do with powering your video signal, but I don't have the schematic with me ATM, so I can't say for sure. Either way, that 78L05 should be doing something. The system has 2 of them going for a reason and with it not functioning, it might cause other functions of the 5200 to not work properly.

I'm the guy yelling at the screen the whole time, going "no, the left pin on the 7805 is INPUT!!" lol I'm glad you figured it out though. Btw, 7.5v is enough for a 7805; it just turns the extra voltage above that into heat (hence the heat sinks). As for the fuzzy video, try putting in the cap they sent you, and maybe shielding the shoddy soldering you did on the bottom of the board. Also, ditch the rf box on the back of the TV for a coaxial adapter (they're RCA on one end and coax on the other).

I got a helping hand at harbor freight, it was like 7 dollars for the one that had the magnifier and a light. Its really worth it. Thumbs up, i love console mod videos!

39:08 that light blinks.

Very interesting console. I have never seen one outside of your channel. Keep up the good work !

Thanks a ton this was great and incredibly informative! I'm starting to dig into some console repair work myself, so I love the description you provide in these

I've been watching most of your videos, and can say that, thanks to you, I managed to successfully repair a donkey kong land 2 GB cartridge that i found at the bottom of a pool, when I was a kid 15 years ago

Thanks for the video. Looking forward to the next one!

Well done! Incredibly interesting, as always.

Great video Love when you fix consoles Since I have watched your channel have gotten into fixing them to so much fun Have fixed a Playstation 1 Colecovision Atari 2600 7800 Gamecube NES and alot of game carts Have a Nintendo DSI on the way does not work can't wait Keep up the making the great vids

Another great and relaxing video. Thanks for posting it. Greets from Germany

It would be interesting watching you livestreaming a repair or two!

Nice video. I like that it shows how someone unfamiliar with the 5200 and its quirks, but armed with electronics knowledge, a meter and a schematic, can figure out the issues and get the system running. Your fuzzy video is probably because you're not using a coaxial (shielded) RF cable and the system is missing its RF shield. If you install a composite or S-video mod, you'll get perfect analog video.

The inductor you removed at 14:45 connects to the same trace as that cap, might have been a convenient spot for that diode.

I am just a little glad that when you went to voiceover, you didn't start doing Perifractic style sound effects. While I find it funny, it is a bit over the top!

It’s funny to se a newbie doing work!! Awesome work man! You doing good

love this series of debugging!

My pops may him rip had got me the second version of the 5200 and only had 2 ports. And the rf module was different. Thanks for the video.

Cant wait for part 2

Thanks for the video. Informative and helpful. Cheers.

Avgn did a video on this and the arcing power was something he also pointed out In addition to his gripe about the switch box

7:39 I heard ElectroBOOM's voice when you said bridge rectifier. FULL BRIDGE RECTIFIER! I need to get off RU-vid

Great work 👍👍

At 25:00 when you were talking about needing a "washer" or something, maybe try using 'green stuff' that is used for miniature wargame modelling. Sets hard, can be molded/painted however you like. Could be useful for all sorts of repairs of broken cases/plastic components.

Nice video as usual !

That "Rectifier" is not a rectifier ... it's actually a SPDT Relay ;) ... also back in the day, it was common to power devices via RF connection ... some still do today ... that's how LNB's get their voltages, on satellite dishes ... CCTV cameras worked this way too ... it saves running separate power cables.

I strongly recommend walking over the entire switchbox with an iron and reflowing it.

good video as all ways adam . i used to have an atri 5200

I grew up with this console. Loved playing moon patrol.

Good work keep up the videos

For some reason I really like how this console looks and that is so big. I don't know why.

Jesus, that is a LOT of resistors! Now imagine if one was bad and having to test each one to find the bad one.

What? No beer In the storage compartment? 😉😂

Some helping hands aren't too expensive, I got a basic little two arms one with a magnifying glass for somewhere between 4-7 dollars (don't remember off the top of my head) from my local Harbor Freight Tools, I saw the same model (or if it's not an extremely similar one) on Amazon for about the same price.

good channel ive not heard that saying monstrosate for a long time

this damn flip flop chip is a common problem on 5200, first thing to check always btw my old light sixer only works with the original rf cable because the connection is more fat than usual composite cables, when i use a regular composite cable i get a fuzzy screen just like that

Try a manual RF Switch box. Sometimes these Atari consoles don't provide enough oomf to get the automatic RF switches like the NES one to make the switch. That or a RCA to F type Coax adapter

looks like the prior owner put some serious effort into either reflowing or recapping. There is a ton of old flux all over the back of that board. I doubt it left the factory like that.

25:40 "Get that Fluxed up" or alternatively "Get Fluxed Up" Perhaps that's a good quote for some merch.

I actually liked the voice over. Also, wouldn't it be easier to solder the capacitor to the joints in the board instead of the ends of the wires? Does it make a difference putting it close to the power connector?

Two things 1 when replacing ic's a socket is a good idea. 2 Remove any socketed Ic's, clean and replace. You might have a contact issue with the GTIA chip (Graphic Television Interface Adapter ) causing poor output to TV. Good troubleshooting! Use deoxit for contact cleaning of switches, IC legs ect.

Oh, I would certainly use a 470uF if convenient rather than 47uF which was probably the minimum somebody thought of. When filtering out the DC ripple, there is no reason to increase the ripple by reducing cap value, unless the inrush becomes too much (which is what causes that arc when plugging in power with no power switch)

What temperature do you use on your soldering iron?

Totally off topic. Did a 5.0 swap into my mustang. After all was said and done, the battery would not charge. Changed the alternator, new battery and cables. No luck. Then I took it to a neighbor of mine who was an electrical engineer, it was the damn dash light for the battery. Replaced the light in the dash and the battery started charging.

do you have an idea how the heck this thing work? the power go to the console in by the RF cable?! how is this even possible ?

Hi there, I love your show and appreciate ALL that you do for us. I’m having issues with my mod I did everything you did and it works but I’m getting interference, lines on the screen would you happen to know any words of wisdom? Thank you

on the rf box that the power plugs into there was some bad solder joints

those flipflop power chips cause problems on a lot of systems and they are often easy to bypass, the one on the lynx is always blowing and can be rerouted by connecting the headphone (ground) to the negative terminal at least i think thats what it was, most dead systems like that are cheap and stupid easy to fix since its rare for them to have a second defect when the power loop is shot and the seller assumes its a lost cause

The reason you get that spark is because you plugged in the AC adapter before you plugged in the console. I always thought it was obvious, it seems people like to do it to make the console look worse. Saying "It will blow up". It Literally says plug the AC adapter in after you plug the console in to the switch box.

Probably been asked a lot in your other videos, but where do you get some of your "broken" and defective game carts from? I have been looking on Ebay and such for "salvage" and defective carts and such but not many people are selling games, just broken consoles. Do you get yours from Good-Will and places such as that, or do you have special contacts and such, thanks.

Where did you learn how to work on electronics? You’re quite good.

I don't know about you but I have a little tiny hand drill I would have just drove the whole on the positive side of that capacitor instead of going crazy like you're doing right now with that diode

So that switch isn't even a switch at all. More so a button and the flip flop makes it act like a switch? Is that correct?

I've actually seen a 5200 on a channel called "Cinemassacre". They reviewed it

I’m so sick of people downing this system. EVERY system has its flaws. Yes it was big ONLY because it had a place for the joysticks! Take that off and it wasn’t so big. ALSO it was popular, maybe not as popular as the 2600. Plus it was really great for its time. Plus great video. I’m planning on doing mine some day. Thanks

My favorite! I rebuild sticks.

How do you find this ebay stuff?

good job

how hot do you usually heat up your soldering iron to for most repairs?

Did anyone else notice @RetroRepairs sh*t his pants at 25:03? Lol

Sace spaving hehe 😊👍

Do u know how to fix pandora arcade motherboards?

Is that switching power supply adapter? Try using linear power supply adapter. Probably that adapter is to dirty with RF noise.

Is there any other broken stuff worth repairing other than consoles and games? Broken games and consoles are hard to find and anything broken I've found isn't worth the time to repair.

When you plugged the AC supply into the new DC power mod you just did: you done fluxed up

May seem like a stupid question, at what temperature should you heat your soldering iron to?

Hi,If i waa you might should,ve stating on the title screen that this is part 1 out of 3 and not in the description sothat we could see it directly with an eye blink with not having to read the whole discription, Also i feel bad for you that you realized after the first mod that that ac adaptor you used turned out to be that from a atari diskdrive ,am mean ouch, because it makes me wonder what if you used the right adaptor,would the 5200 still not have bootup it would it might have bootup, we proably will never know.

This is cool. How's kona?

I would not risk using a old plug from the 80s

@ 3:40 Should probably connect that FIRST then the power 😂

Will you be continuing the repairs and composite mod in the future?

Do you not have a bench power supply that you can put proper power to things without having the right power adapters?

Wow. So if something shorts in the power brick it could send full mains to your tv? What a * sarcasm * delightful * /sarcasm * design. >.

epic

As the AVGN says: “WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!!!!!!!!!!”

Next mod will be an RGB out?

So @ 3:15 the AC Power Supply F*cked up the switchbox ???

What desoldering pump do you use?

you would not have the power plug in when you hock up the RF.

39:08 watch the led.

It's not a Console... it's a Closet!!!

Am I the only who think the whole back of this board is glistening like it's damp? I've watched a bunch of these videos and this thing just does not look right

Oh wow, that's a weird way to power the console.

Fixing Atari The Movie kkkkk'

The fact that there was tape wrapped around the damn power cord should have been a hint to the problem........dear god people like this are the reason we have to ask "Is it plugged in" when we get IT calls

Hey there pal, got the email today message you back by the weekend, let me know if you have seen this

The 5200 didn't succeed? GEE I WONDER WHY. Was it POSSIBLY the fact that no one would've had any idea how to power the damn thing?!

Youre wrong everybody know about the 5200 for there horrid controller and bieng expensive and hard to get a good one avgn did a nerd video on these console Though interesting to watch it bieng repaired have seen other youtubers repair the controller before

Old chips, such as flip-flops, seem to go bad in many of these repair videos. It's not that surprising, I guess. Chips were much more sensitive in the old days. Some of it could have been avoided with better protection on the power supply, perhaps. When designing a product like this, always assume the user does something wrong. Not the best soldering I've seen, to be honest, but interesting nonetheless.

This video is old but your power supply should be DC not AC.

:D

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