exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

Slowly increasing the current on the 5v and videl is getting "burn your fingers hot".

exxos wrote: 06 Oct 2026 13:44
I will do that, but likely next week as need to dismantle the whole thing and too poorly to start doing that right now.

Hope you feel beeter soon.

exxos wrote: 06 Oct 2026 13:44 But its burned the PCB under the switch by the looks of it, can't tell without removing it all, but looks like the burnt part is between the mains track and switch, and mounting bolt.

Makes me wonder if the mounting bolt/screw/nut was too long and played a part in shorting it. I'll await the switch post mortem with interest.

exxos wrote: 06 Oct 2026 14:21 Slowly increasing the current on the 5v and videl is getting "burn your fingers hot".


20261006_141818.jpg

If you lift the VCC pin of the Videl does it help?

rubber_jonnie wrote: 06 Oct 2026 14:24 If you lift the VCC pin of the Videl does it help?

That's my next point of call.. But not in my current poorly state..

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

exxos wrote: 06 Oct 2026 14:30

rubber_jonnie wrote: 06 Oct 2026 14:24 If you lift the VCC pin of the Videl does it help?

That's my next point of call.. But not in my current poorly state..

Fair enough, hope you feel better soon.

Feeling a bit grim myself after my flu jab. I know it's not a live jab, but it still makes me feel crappy.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll be able to save the Falcon. :(
And get well soon!

Plot twist.. The burned track is actually earth! So looks to have had "flashover" from earth to the CT60 pins.

exxos wrote: 06 Oct 2026 16:38 Plot twist.. The burned track is actually earth! So looks to have had "flashover" from earth to the CT60 pins.

You'll need to remove the switch etc to look at that PCB properly. Also could have grounded through ct60 via exploded 144xl?

PhilC wrote: 06 Oct 2026 16:56 You'll need to remove the switch etc to look at that PCB properly. Also could have grounded through ct60 via exploded 144xl?

But there's the thing, it's a system wide ground and I even checked the power supply. Main's earth goes in from the socket through a bunch of wiring and the PCB, goes to the main power supply board and I continuity checked it through a standoff and even deliberately left it loose to check as well, which connects to ground on the motherboard.

So if everything has the same ground potential and theoretically the highest voltage on the mode pin would just be five volts. So where is the huge potential difference come from..

Everything is ground reference to the same voltage potential. So there is nothing to flash over because essentially it is a straight piece of wire.. Where somehow it's ended up with probably a few thousand volts to jump over that distance.. Which my poorly functioning brain currently says is theoretically impossible? :stars:

Even if you take out the 5v aspect out, and just treated it one ground loop, it basically goes from mains to the power supply board to the Falcon to the CT60 back to the mains board and somehow on that length it has ended up with a few thousand volts between each end even though they are the same signal :lol: