Posted By
JamesD
on 2006-08-10
21:37:40
|  What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
Ok, I've been looking over Plus/4 hardware docs and photos on the internet and found something unusual.
A photo on the internet showed a round power connector... but mine is square.
Did CBM switch connectors from one country to another or part way through production?
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Posted By
JamesC
on 2006-08-10
22:24:05
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
Upwards of 99% of Plus/4s left the factory with the square connector.
The Plus/4 power supply and the C64 power supply are identical except for the plug, so some people have replaced the square receptacle for the round one.... the pinouts on the motherboard are the same.
There were a FEW units that were manufactured with round connectors.... test-run units, pre-production prototypes for developers, etc.... I would guess 100 or less.
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Posted By
siz
on 2006-08-11
02:27:30
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
I think that commodore replaced the square power connector with the round one on later production runs. Two of my three plus4-s have round connector so it must be more common.
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Posted By
siz
on 2006-08-11
02:28:37
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
... so it must be more common than only a few units were built with it.
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Posted By
Gaia
on 2006-08-11
03:50:37
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
I do have one plus/4 with round connector. It does not look like a prototype, in fact it looks quite "real" 
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Posted By
Pepax
on 2006-08-11
07:09:41
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
So is mine, unfortunately out of order.  Waiting for spare parts.
BTW: it is still possible to buy the CPU and TED, only the TED is not quite cheap.
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Posted By
Ulysses777
on 2006-08-11
09:26:42
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
Just out of curiosity, what are the serial numbers of these Plus/4's with round connectors?
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Posted By
Pepax
on 2006-08-11
13:52:41
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
DA4 106604
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Posted By
JamesC
on 2006-08-11
19:27:28
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
The 364 prototype had a round connector. Photos of one mockup and one actual working 364 both showed this. Bo Zimmers owns one mockup, Dan Benson sold his working one on Ebay a couple of years back.
Every Plus/4 I have come across (here in NTSC-land) has had a square connector. Maybe the German production facility switched and the West Chester production facility didn't?
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Posted By
JamesD
on 2006-08-12
00:29:40
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
Will an Amiga 500 power connector fit? I seem to remember it being square.
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Posted By
TLC
on 2006-08-12
05:55:56
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
Unfortunately not; that one has 5 pins (but would fit the '128).
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Posted By
Gaia
on 2006-08-12
07:29:49
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
Mine is DA4 99479 (so almost the same series) and was made in West Germany. Funny thing is, as I have posted earlier here, I have another unit made in West Germany with a serial of DA4 80930 and a square (!) connector, so it looks as if they had switched to the round connector at a later production stage.
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Posted By
JamesD
on 2006-08-12
10:13:13
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
If they switched late in production it might have been because they knew they were going to cancel it and needed to finish out the production run without ordering any more Plus 4 parts than was absolutely required.
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Posted By
Ulysses777
on 2006-08-12
10:17:30
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
I have several Plus/4s (all assembled at the England facility) and none of them have round connectors, so it seems to be that it was only the German facility that switched to round connectors.
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Posted By
JamesD
on 2006-08-12
10:24:14
| Re: What is the standard Plus/4 power connector?
After looking at the connector again I'm guessing the Plus 4 used a plastic connector to save money. By the time they switched connectors the C64 would have been hitting peak demand and the plastic connector probably wouldn't have saved them any money due to the volume they would have been purchasing.
Whatever the actual reason was we'll probably never know.
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