PSU requirements for an Acorn Electron

Hi,

I've got an Electron arriving soon as part of a bundle with some other hardware. I know it doesn't have PSU or any leads with it.

As far as I can see, the PSU requirements are 18 volts AC at 1 Amp. No that's not a typo, 18 volts AC!

Obviously not easy to source one of these. RS have over 4000 types of PSU in stock and only have a single model that fits the bill but it's out of stock and has a non UK plug.

So any Electron owners on here who can advise what to do?

As memory serves it may be possible to run DC into it but what spec PSU would I need and what is the size of the connector + polarity required?

Cheers.

im not an electron owner,but im sure it cant be that hard to make a ac power supply that outputs that voltage.

if you got a duel tapped 9 volt transformer and wired the middle taps together and used the outside taps that would work.
you would just need one that outputs the right amperage.

I don't really want to get into altering an existing PSU. There must be an off the shelf way to do this.

I use a 19v laptop PSU which works fine. Others have done the same. Polarity is unimportant because it's AC.

sputnik said:

I use a 19v laptop PSU which works fine. Others have done the same. Polarity is unimportant because it's AC.

Click to expand...

Any reason for the 19v instead of the 18v? Is it to make up for not supplying AC?

There's no technical reason I'm aware of, simply that 19V Laptop PSUs are plentiful, they have a good high Amp rating too. I've never had any adverse affects from doing this and I've used it for years.

In fact if you look here, even this Electron PSU is 19V :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/official-...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

And here :

Great. Thanks. I took the 18v from another site which was obviously wrong.

I'll get myself a 19v DC adaptor then. Cheers.

Sorry to dig this up but might have some useful info. Was speaking to someone into electronics on Twitter and it turns out that if the Electron requires 19V AC, then 9V DC should do it.

Tried it with the modern switched mode 1500MA 9V PSU I use for my Spectrum and yes the Elk powers up fine. I've only done basic tests so far but all seems well.

Anyone disagree? Would a 19v DC supply be better? The implication is that 9V DC contains broadly the same amount of energy as 19V AC and the rectifier inside the Electron seems to have a broad tolerance.