Posted By
KimTheCoder
on 2023-09-05
15:45:23
|  Plus/4 - how often was the round power connector used?
Hi, I'm Kim (or Kimi :3 )
I ran into a curious situation. I always thought that all Plus/4 Computers had a square 4-pin power plug. I bought a Plus/4 without power brick and I immediately ordered a Plus/4 PSU from Poland.
Of course I didn't check the Plus/4 until the PSU arrived and ... voila! My Plus/4 has a round power connector o.O
It is the same 7 pin connector used by the C64.
Was this a common hardware configuration? I even found a link to a scanned user-manual which also depicts the 7-pin power connector. Was it maybe a production charge or country/region dependent thing?
It is not an issue so far, I've ordered a C64 PSU and it should be fine. I'm just curious if there are other Plus/4 with the 7 pin connector.
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2023-09-05
16:41:02
| Re: Plus/4 - how often was the round power connector used?
Excellent question! I hope someone actually knows this - I don't but I went to check what data we have so far here, which is a list of Plus/4 computers owned by our members (well... whoever entered their data). There's only 3 of them where the connector is listed, all DA-series (made in West-Germany), all rectangle shaped.
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Posted By
George
on 2023-09-05
17:29:33
 | Re: Plus/4 - how often was the round power connector used?
I had 2 plus/4's from germany. The one i owned in the 80's was from Aldi and had the square one. My actual has a round connector. Two of my friemds back then had one with round the other square. Both also from Aldi. I know that Commodore back then used every spare parr they had to built them for Aldi. The demand was high.
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Posted By
Verona
on 2023-09-05
17:30:50
| Re: Plus/4 - how often was the round power connector used?
Mine have too.
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Posted By
Retroshire
on 2023-09-06
02:13:56
| Re: Plus/4 - how often was the round power connector used?
A few years ago, I received a massive stock of broken Plus/4 (and C16) computers. I repaired them all and replaced the power connection with a round C64 one. Why? There were no poweradapters an at that time the square connector was hard to get. They alll went to a new owner by Ebay and Marktplaats.
I got a lot of positive reaction on this action, because many people like to have a C64 next to their Plus/4. So it is easy then to use the powersupply for both.
My own Plus/4 has a square connector, I like the original. With an original Plus/4 powersupply.
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Posted By
SukkoPera
on 2023-09-06
03:13:22
| Re: Plus/4 - how often was the round power connector used?
I used to think that round connectors were only after-market replacements done by users/repair guys, just like @Retroshire confirms. I didn't know that some machines came out with round connectors straight from the factory!
For the record, I have 2 Plus/4's, both have square connectors. I think one came from Germany, the other one I'm not sure about.
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Posted By
KimTheCoder
on 2023-09-06
03:22:21
| Re: Plus/4 - how often was the round power connector used?
My Plus/4 (round plug) was also made in Germany.
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Posted By
MIK
on 2023-09-06
06:02:01
 | Re: Plus/4 - how often was the round power connector used?
Square connector for the win lol, the shape made it easier and possibly safer to plug in and why the Amiga A500/+, A600 & A1200 continued to use the same shape. 
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Posted By
z9leca
on 2023-09-06
07:07:22
| Re: Plus/4 - how often was the round power connector used?
Square connector here. I have a Swedish Plus/4 (Swedish keyboard and manuals).
I also like the square-plug due to its looks. I use the original PSU upgraded with the PowerUP!. The whole combination looks so good that I keep the PSU beside the computer 
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2023-09-06
07:56:26
| Re: Plus/4 - how often was the round power connector used?
To everyone who added details about their own hardware: consider adding that to the site. On your own member page, at the bottom, there should be an [Add My Hardware] link (or [Add New] if you already have a list), plus you can hit [edit] next to any of the entries to fill in the details like country of origin, serial number, or connector type.
If you want to become a member, send an email If you don't want to become a member, but still want to record your hardware, also send an email, we can add (and have been adding) pieces of hardware that belong to non-members.
This data is useful! The more we have, and the more accurate it is, the more useful it gets, not to mention members can see their own collection in all their glory. All right, advertisement over
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Posted By
TLC
on 2023-09-06
08:43:48
| Re: Plus/4 - how often was the round power connector used?
The vast majority of machines I've seen came with the square connector socket. I remember one of my friends to have had a round connector equipped one back in my childhood, he AFAIR bought that machine in Wien around 1986, probably a German machine. I remember to have another "round connector" Plus/4 somewhere which I bought for parts, it's missing some IC's, not working. But, that's practically all, maybe one out of every at-least some-ten machines (or more). Oh, and I've also replaced the socket in my "project" machine, for exactly the same reasons that people have already mentioned here, but that doesn't really "count" here I guess.
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Posted By
Lavina
on 2023-09-06
12:37:36
 | Re: Plus/4 - how often was the round power connector used?
Round here.
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Posted By
siz
on 2023-09-07
02:12:02
| Re: Plus/4 - how often was the round power connector used?
My original plus/4 (which I got in the 80s) has round power connector. Since then I bought/got a bunch of them (around 15-20) and it's mixed: about 2/3 have square connectors. The round ones seem to be factory made (as is my original one), none of them has replaced connectors.
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