English Amiga Board - View Single Post - Commodore Plus -60 ;)

Retrofan · 05 April 2019, 02:02

Several months ago I bought a 1551 floppy drive, but I didn't have a C16 or Plus4 by then, so I didn't try it.

But now I've got this "new" Plus/4 and I want to try the floppy drive, so this afternoon I've just connected a power cable and I've left it there with the switch OFF while I was making other things.

And... after like twenty minutes I've noticed some rare noise like a "Crack" and then suddenly the floppy drive has started smoking (a lot), so I've disconnected it.

So as I'm telling the switch was Off... (how can it happen then?), and opening the floppy drive after like half an hour I just couldn't see anything burnt and the fuse was ok. Everything was looking right.

So I've emailed Ray Carlsen and he has told me "The only thing connected directly to the AC input ahead of the power switch is the filter inside the AC socket. I'll bet that's what failed."

And he was right. Now the floppy drive is also working right like he suggested ("It very likely burned itself open so if you power up the drive and it works (with no more smoke), it's probably OK to use it. ").

So I wanted to post about this matter because I was thinking what could had happened if I wasn't at home and if that smoke could had become into a fire

Edit: Games updated, but I'm not sure if they will work as I've converted them from .prg to .d64:

And also, about my 1551 floppy drive I have to change the belt as it is Very loose.

05 April 2019, 02:02	#19
Retrofan Ruler of the Universe Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Lanzarote/Spain Posts: 6,193	Be careful. Vintage hardware plugged in can cause a fire :( Several months ago I bought a 1551 floppy drive, but I didn't have a C16 or Plus4 by then, so I didn't try it. But now I've got this "new" Plus/4 and I want to try the floppy drive, so this afternoon I've just connected a power cable and I've left it there with the switch OFF while I was making other things. And... after like twenty minutes I've noticed some rare noise like a "Crack" and then suddenly the floppy drive has started smoking (a lot), so I've disconnected it. So as I'm telling the switch was Off... (how can it happen then?), and opening the floppy drive after like half an hour I just couldn't see anything burnt and the fuse was ok. Everything was looking right. So I've emailed Ray Carlsen and he has told me "The only thing connected directly to the AC input ahead of the power switch is the filter inside the AC socket. I'll bet that's what failed." And he was right. Now the floppy drive is also working right like he suggested ("It very likely burned itself open so if you power up the drive and it works (with no more smoke), it's probably OK to use it. "). So I wanted to post about this matter because I was thinking what could had happened if I wasn't at home and if that smoke could had become into a fire Edit: Games updated, but I'm not sure if they will work as I've converted them from .prg to .d64: And also, about my 1551 floppy drive I have to change the belt as it is Very loose. Last edited by Retrofan; 06 April 2019 at 01:57.