when I say that the IMSAI 8080 PSU has "soda can sized caps", I'm not joking
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@lynn holy shit
how much current is that thing supplying? I can't imagine needing that much smoothing even on a linear supply.
or are they not even doing active regulation and it's straight up rawdogging off the diode bridge?
@gsuberland @lynn the photo with the soda can made me clench a little
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@gsuberland @lynn the photo with the soda can made me clench a little
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@lynn holy shit
how much current is that thing supplying? I can't imagine needing that much smoothing even on a linear supply.
or are they not even doing active regulation and it's straight up rawdogging off the diode bridge?
@gsuberland @lynn
Look at the size of the transformer, yup.
60 Hz are BIG waves... -
@lynn holy shit
how much current is that thing supplying? I can't imagine needing that much smoothing even on a linear supply.
or are they not even doing active regulation and it's straight up rawdogging off the diode bridge?
@gsuberland @lynn Looks like it's rawdogging the diode bridge: https://www.retrocmp.de/imsai/imsai_p05_psu.htm
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@lynn holy shit
how much current is that thing supplying? I can't imagine needing that much smoothing even on a linear supply.
or are they not even doing active regulation and it's straight up rawdogging off the diode bridge?
@gsuberland you get unregulated +/-8V and +/-16 rails
you’re supposed to do the regulation on each s100 card separately depending on your needs 
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@gsuberland you get unregulated +/-8V and +/-16 rails
you’re supposed to do the regulation on each s100 card separately depending on your needs (more from page 87 if you're interested in further details
https://dn790007.ca.archive.org/0/items/imsai-user-manual/IMSAI_User_Manual.pdf) -
@xconde “just” 0.095 farad
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when I say that the IMSAI 8080 PSU has "soda can sized caps", I'm not joking
@lynn Wouldn’t want grab ahold of those leads when charged
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when I say that the IMSAI 8080 PSU has "soda can sized caps", I'm not joking
@lynn
And when they turn the power on, it's sure to dim the lamps
With plus or minus sixteen volts and fourteen hundred amps
– Frank Hayes, "S-100 Bus" -
when I say that the IMSAI 8080 PSU has "soda can sized caps", I'm not joking
@lynn the forbidden energy drink
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when I say that the IMSAI 8080 PSU has "soda can sized caps", I'm not joking
@lynn feels like these could double as a smoke machine in a jiffy
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when I say that the IMSAI 8080 PSU has "soda can sized caps", I'm not joking
@lynn I want to sip the power juice
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@lynn feels like these could double as a smoke machine in a jiffy
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@lynn
And when they turn the power on, it's sure to dim the lamps
With plus or minus sixteen volts and fourteen hundred amps
– Frank Hayes, "S-100 Bus" -
@fae @lynn
The S-100 bus power supplies were nominally +8V, +16V, and -16V, filtered but unregulated. Each card was expected to have linear voltage regulators from +8V to +5V, and, if needed, ±16V to ±12V.
The more cards in your system, the more amps of each supply you needed, though the "1400 amps" in the song is gross exaggeration.
Early Altair 8800 systems, and some others, had small backplanes with few slots, and were provided with wimpy power supplies.
1/ -
@fae @lynn
The S-100 bus power supplies were nominally +8V, +16V, and -16V, filtered but unregulated. Each card was expected to have linear voltage regulators from +8V to +5V, and, if needed, ±16V to ±12V.
The more cards in your system, the more amps of each supply you needed, though the "1400 amps" in the song is gross exaggeration.
Early Altair 8800 systems, and some others, had small backplanes with few slots, and were provided with wimpy power supplies.
1/@fae @lynn
The most common configuration IMSAI 8080 provided 22 slots and a beefy power supply, which resulted in MITS and other S-100 vendors having to offer similar configurations.
If you really did fill up a 22-slot backplane (e.g., with CPU, a few I/O cards, and sixteen 4K RAM.cards), you really needed a lot of amps. I'm sure that large S-100 system configurations were the inspiration for the song.
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@fae @lynn
The most common configuration IMSAI 8080 provided 22 slots and a beefy power supply, which resulted in MITS and other S-100 vendors having to offer similar configurations.
If you really did fill up a 22-slot backplane (e.g., with CPU, a few I/O cards, and sixteen 4K RAM.cards), you really needed a lot of amps. I'm sure that large S-100 system configurations were the inspiration for the song.
2/@fae @lynn
While almost everyone is aware of the dangers of AC line voltage, it is uncommon for people to be aware of the potential danger of low voltages. Skin contact with the +/-16V DC in an S-100 system is incredibly unlikely to cause any harm. You can grab the +16 with one hand, and -16 with the other, and your skin has high enough resistance that nothing happens.
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@fae @lynn
While almost everyone is aware of the dangers of AC line voltage, it is uncommon for people to be aware of the potential danger of low voltages. Skin contact with the +/-16V DC in an S-100 system is incredibly unlikely to cause any harm. You can grab the +16 with one hand, and -16 with the other, and your skin has high enough resistance that nothing happens.
3/@fae @lynn
But if you are wearing a metal watch, ring, etc, and get one of the supply rails shorted through it to ground or another supply rail, the supply will give all of the amps it can (usually much beyond its rated output, at least for seconds) through that metal. It can't electrocute you, but the metal can heat up enough to cause a serious burn. With a ring, potentially serious enough to lose the finger.
Lesson: remove watch and hand jewelry while working inside computers. Even PCs.
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when I say that the IMSAI 8080 PSU has "soda can sized caps", I'm not joking
@lynn
Color me unimpressed with IMSAI's use of 15VDC rated capacitors (assuming those are factory spec) on a supply rail they rate for nominal 13.5VDC. I never before noticed that IMSAI did that.
Aluminum electrolytics don't need DC bias derating like ceramics, but they should still be specified with some headroom. 15V is only 11% over nominal, and line voltage can easily be vary over time by more than ±11%.
