It sounds to me as if he should have tried harder, or sought advice from a person more competent than himself. It's hard to believe an original Shugart power supply is the only solution.

Right. And some of those 8 inch drives have motors that run straight off 115VAC mains power, and thus require no power supply.

-- Jeff

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In 1988 my 65C02 got six new registers and 44 new full-speed instructions!
https://laughtonelectronics.com/Arcana/ ... mmary.html

Hey, some of us live in the land of 240V! (230 volts -6%, +10%)

Jeff,

Certainly it would be possible to find a PSU that did the job - I don't think the guy meant it literally when he said that "only" the Shugart PSU did the job. It's just that it worked, no issues. I believe the problem with the (24V) PSUs he tried was that although they were spec'ed to provide enough current, they couldn't handle the initial surge. Of course it's possible to find 3party PSUs that can do that, just as I managed to find a 5V PSU which can provide 200A.
It's just that the general PSUs he tried weren't up to it.

That looks interesting. I will check that out! Thanks.



No, not at the moment. I haven't researched the PSU requirements but I'm assuming a modern ATX PSU could be retrofitted to it. Unless it needs some odd voltages. Or maybe even -5V which I think most modern PSU's don't contain anymore. I'm sure something could be found/made.

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Cat; the other white meat.

Hi, Tor. I didn't mean to sound critical, and I apologize. But it seems clear that something is wrong somewhere if the PSU's were spec'ed to provide enough current but couldn't handle the initial surge. Surely the spec (for the drive, I mean) would -- or ought to -- indicate maximum current demand (including the initial surge). So, maybe there's a documentation problem regarding the drive.

-- Jeff

_________________
In 1988 my 65C02 got six new registers and 44 new full-speed instructions!
https://laughtonelectronics.com/Arcana/ ... mmary.html

Yeah, the thing is - according to the specs (I have the OEM manual), the requirements are modest. And the maximum current *is* specified. That was what frustrated the guy that gave me the drive - he tried various PSUs that *should* be OK and it just didn't work. And he should know what he was doing - he used those drives when he worked at a minicomputer manufacturer, as a tech.
The only possibility I can see is that the 'maximum current' figure in the docs isn't anywhere near the actual initial surge (or some other transient surge).

Could be a short or some mechanical jamming that's putting extra load on the system with the motor being stuck.