Got an A500+ working

[Cloudane]

Hi folks.

I have a couple more A500s than I need (got a bit overexcited on eBay) and am seeking a bit of advice on one of them before I go wading into selling anything in an attempt to recoup some of my space and money! Hope it's acceptable to post this (rules checked hope I didn't miss anything) - I'm not declaring anything for sale in this thread or looking for statements of interest, just advice.

Specifically an A500+ I picked up as not working because, you guessed it, the battery had been sick and all it would give is a green screen.

I removed the battery, cleaned up the area thoroughly with IPA (scraping off green crud in the process), belled out the various connections with a multimeter and found which of the tracks had been eaten. Flipped the board over and soldered a wire to connect the points that should've been connected, and lo and behold it's working great now Been using it for a couple of days and tested everything, all fine!

Whilst I'm very proud of that would it be worth selling as a working unit or would that be an instant deal breaker? The eBayer I bought it off (as faulty) ended up making a loss due to postage cost... I'm not expecting much, just don't want to go down the same road. If so it might be better to just pull it to pieces and sell the components separately... what do you folks think?

Just don't want to waste it really. She's working again, it'd be sad to pull her back to bits.

E: Seems a bit of a grey area.. just to clarify I'm not in the business of buy/repair/sell or looking to start trading/profiting between here and eBay or anything dodgy like that. I bought a total of 3 broken 500s and ended up getting 2 of them working. Wasn't expecting to!

 

[Buzzfuzz]

If the machine has had some work done and a bit of care and working now, you can sell it as a working machine, of course not with any garantuees, but we all know that with buying Amiga's or parts.

 

[Zetr0]

@coudane

Hello there and welcome to AmiBay =)

After reading your post I am heartened by your attention to the community here =)

Now, as far as sales threads go, all you need to do when creating a "For Sale" thread is include as much information as possible for the buyer.

In the case of a repair I would suggest that you take pictures of the work carried out so fellow members can ascertain if its to their standard etc.

I noticed you clean up with IPA, did you nutralize the alkaline?

have a read here it might help =)

 

[Cloudane]

Thanks both!

I suppose thinking about it and studying your system further one obvious advantage here is I can just put a sale thread up and see if there's interest (and if not switch to plan B) instead of the gamble that is a certain auction site Of course I will observe a little before posting anything for sale anyway.

Hadn't thought of neutralising it, that's a very good point, I'll do that right away.

As you can tell I was a little wary about posting this in case it risks anyone giving what could be construed as valuation or anything along those lines. It wouldn't do to end up on the naughty step straight away Anyway I think this answers my question so if there's any worry of implied valuations or anything (no thanks!) feel free to close the thread.

Cheers for the kind welcome =)

Thanks guys (I did post something a little longer but it got lost somehow!)

Great point on neutralising the alkaline, will get straight onto that ASAP.

 

[Zetr0]

@cloudane

Unfortunately it would seem the forum software placed the post in moderation!?

Usually this is done if you are a new member posting images or link (as its there to stop spam /porn bots)

I am unsure as to why it did this in your case - clearly not enough virgin sacrifices have taken place today

 

[rkauer]

My only advice is to sell the unit as a whole. You decide the price, as we are in a free environment here.

Congratulations on salvaging another 500+ from the landfill.

Those machines rocks big time.

Now can we have some hardware p0rn? You know, that's our crush...:mrgreen:

 

[Cloudane]

Haha, well she's shy but I'll see if I can talk her into it

 

[inoel]

got a bit overexcited on eBay


I have just done the same thing got 5 amiga 500 and one +
going to tech myself how to fix them and make mod's and pcb's
like the guys on here ! another good thing the amiga done for me!
Hoping to get some work from my new found skills.
I think it's ok to sell your a500+ if you tell buyer you mods.

 

[Cloudane]

Blimey that sounds like a bit to be going on with!

Batteries aside they're robust little things I have found so far, so long as they've been treated with a modicum of respect. (To say nothing of the A600 pictured in one of the other threads!)

Some of the floppy drives just 'die' but it seems most are happy to continue working or to be restored to life with the aid of good ol' IPA on the heads. Speaking of which, for anyone in the know.. is there a particular type of grease you should use on the head mechanism or is it just any old stuff. A couple of my drives (internal and external) sound a bit like the moon being dragged across the Himalayans especially with badly fragmented disks like the Lemmings ones. (To say nothing of the really sad crying sound my A1200 one makes when it spins, as if to say "I hurt! I suffer!")

 

[meega]

I think you're supposed to use silicone-based grease for sliding/moving bits of drive mechanisms (gears, slide rails in CD drives, etc.) - and not much of it. I have (once upon a time) restored the freedom of action in my A570CD just by re-smearing some of the original grease back along the rails.

Any other opinions?

Oh, edit: I believe that nylon gears should not be greased, they are "self-lubricating".

 

[JLPedro]

Welcome to Amibay!

It's great that you managed to save an A500+ (there's less and less every day mostly caused by the nasty battery).

If you do decide to sell, I do hope you decide as a working machine so that someone can enjoy a A500+.

 

[Cloudane]

Yeah think I'm convinced to try the full machine route first Even if I can only recoup the cost of getting it (can't say of course, suffice to say it was spares/repairs) I'll be happy, would just be nice to put one back into the wild again.

 

[Firthy2002]

Hello and welcome!

I echo the previous comments about selling the system as a whole.
Just make sure you explicitly state the repair work that has been carried out to make it work. Whilst I would not have a problem, there are some who may not be happy that you failed to mention it.
Pictures are also a good idea.

 

[Cloudane]

No way I'd fail to mention it.. I sold my old iPhone on fleabay recently and mentioned every tiny little scuff mark (most would've called it 'mint' or something probably) and had to go to effort to get the camera to pick them up

Honesty does pay off though, got a very satisfying amount for it in the end