1

I need to identify the power supply type, or at least the voltages, for our lighting control desk SGM Regia 2048. The power supply burnt down and I need to find a replacement.

Do you recognize the connector? The control desk should be built from common desktop components with some custom ones. It was built around 2000, but I suspect the components could be older.

enter image description here enter image description here

I chose this community, as today it is quite retro. But if you say it's too new, I would love to hear tips where else to ask.

EDIT (I cannot add an answer to a closed question): It is a standard ATX power supply, just with fewer connector. We just bought a new ATX PS, cut off the excess lines (be careful to cut the right ones!) and it worked well since.

Instead of the backup battery we put a UPS in front of it (and used it for the sound desk as well). We were able to complete the tour and it was a huge success!

finished

zdevaty
  • 119
  • 3
  • 1
    From that info, nobody can guess what voltages there would be. But the connector looks like Molex micro-fit series or a clone of it, so the connector is the smallest problem here and does not help identifying power supply type or voltages. Is that a picture of the power supply board or the board that needs to be powered? – Justme Aug 03 '21 at 08:32
  • A computer that was "built around 2000" is surely way too recent for Retrocomputing.SE – Omar and Lorraine Aug 03 '21 at 08:41
  • @Justme Thanks. That picture is from the power supply board, but the one from the powered board looks the same. – zdevaty Aug 03 '21 at 09:23
  • @OmarL Got it. Can you recommend me another community, where this would belong, please? – zdevaty Aug 03 '21 at 09:24
  • 1
    See the chip with the sticker that says REGIA on it? That looks like a microcontroller that runs a program to control the power supply and may even communicate with the main board. Therefore this looks like a custom purpose-built power supply you can't just replace with a generic power supply. – Justme Aug 03 '21 at 09:31
  • Electronics SE? – Dan Aug 03 '21 at 10:06
  • 2
    OK, so the kind of connector you've got, a Molex, isn't part of some standard, like a USB connector would be, it's just a connector which a designer can use to connect two bits of their design together. There are standard supplies which use them but it doesn't look li,e you've got one. That looks like a linear PSU, based around a line frequency transformer and probably 78xx/79xx type regulators. You've not had those in computers since the 70s. Sadly for you, they are easy to design and there will be many designs. From the colours I'd guess +5, +12 and either-12 or -5, the latter two... – Dan Aug 03 '21 at 10:16
  • 2
    ...to run some kind of industrial control protocol for the dimmer commercial. Unless you can find a thriving spares or enthusiast community for that product, it looks like a repair. Bread and butter to an electronics enthusiast but not an easy way to learn. If you take it to an EE community they will want photos of the writing on those heatsinked ICs and anything else written on the board 5o suggest a voltage or current, a top down view of the whole board and any evidence of scorching. They'll probably suggest new capacitors at some point. Best look for a friend who's handy with electronics . – Dan Aug 03 '21 at 10:23
  • There are plenty of references to these on the internet, but I'm not going to spend my own time searching for the service manual rather than the operations manual. – alephzero Aug 03 '21 at 12:10
  • 2
    @Justme These devices don't control the power to operate the lights (or whatever they are controlling) directly. A full professional theater lighting rig will use tens of kilowatts - you don't want all that routed through a little box on the lighting controller's desk! The OP's box just outputs digital control signals. I would guess the chip with the sticker is the ROM or EPROM for a common microprocessor chip of that era, and it won't have any "nonstandard" power supply requirements. – alephzero Aug 03 '21 at 12:22
  • 1
    ... basically, it's "just a computer", with Ethernet LAN, built-in MIDI and audio ports, ports for mouse/trackball, graphics display, printer, RS232, etc - plus DMX (digital multiplex protocol) input and output ports to control the actual devices. – alephzero Aug 03 '21 at 12:30
  • 1
    @alephzero I know what a light control desk is and the lights are connected via DMX512 and powered separately. That's still a picture of a custom power supply, not the powered device. This supply resides in a 20-30 kg light control desk that features a CD burner, 30 minute battery back up and between 24 to 120 motorized pots. Most likely has a computer inside it so I'd approximate 200 to 400 watts. How is that a standard power supply? – Justme Aug 03 '21 at 12:56
  • @alephzero the small MCU is likely device that runs on standby supply and controls the main power supply section, handling powerup and powerdown sequencing, battery charging etc. – Justme Aug 03 '21 at 12:59
  • @Justme Yes, the PSU is definitely custom-built. The backup battery is, IIRC, managed in the PSU. We don't really need that. The PSU is powering two LCDs, desk lights, faders and a computer running Windows CE. – zdevaty Aug 03 '21 at 13:50
  • Thanks for your comments. I'm not brave enough to just try and hope not to fry it by using wrong voltages. I guess I'll have to find someone to repair this power supply. – zdevaty Aug 03 '21 at 13:58

0 Answers0