Replacement Timeline Microlynx power supplies?

Very good miroslav, thanks again for the research effort. I'm beginning to suspect that there was
in fact a typo in the original manual, that the callout for -12Vdc @ 3A, should have been -12Vdc @ 0.3A.
I'll need a little more evidence to be sure of this, obviously a PCB schemo. or a circuit trace would be the way to be absolutely certain, but your evidence is the best source we've got collectively, at the moment.

Anyone else (named in the posts above) care to weigh in and corroborate?
 
Very good jpmorris, and thanks for responding. May your wood stay polished and unsplintery. :D

Yeah, that's definitely one of the "features" that I wish hadn't been designed into (or rather outside of) the Microlynx- a detachable power supply. Quite a PITA when it goes missing or otherwise gets separated from its host. On the other hand, it gave them the room inside the chassis to add in things like the Third Transport and Audio Sync Gen option cards, so I guess I shouldn't complain. Although I just did. Grrr!

It was such a silly design trend back in the '90's, I can just see the original "doughnut hole" who came up with the idea- "Yup, yup let's farm out the power supply to cut down on design costs, telephone support costs, and inventory costs, oh, and while we're at it... what other things can we farm out to the lowest bidder?" Not even five years later, and our nation's industrial strength had been utterly destroyed so that middle management could farm their "retirement" out to the French Riviera. Deserving of a "retirement", alright- Blade Runner style...Grrrr.
 
I thought that in some design scenarios, going with an external PS was also done to isolate it from the rest of the internal circuit...?
Not sure why it was done with the Microlynx...cost, internal real estate or electronic reasons. I kinda don't think it was cost...I mean, these were high-end devices in their time, so probably not cheap to begin with.
Anyone know what a new Microlynx system went for back their heyday?
 
Well, in all honesty, there are some technical advantages to external supplies:
1. More internal space in the chassis (duh)
2. Less heat generated by the supply components (major sources usually being transformers and voltage regulators)
3. Less EMI
4. Less scrutinizing of the device manufacturers by safety regulators (it's far easier to gain UL and other approvals with no high voltage inside of the device)

However, with the heat issues- newer versions of Switch Mode power supplies generally generate less heat (at the expense of a bit more EMI, potentially).

EMI can be mitigated by better shielding in many cases, or with the use of toroidal transformers if the supply is primarily linear. This issue is usually negated by the use of all digital circuits, unless proper ground plane methodology/topology have been ignored.

It's still important to have local supply filtering/de-coupling, possibly even local regulation of sorts (more so in dynamic loads, such as analog audio).

Sometimes external supplies bring their own host of further problems- less control of ground "loop" currents, more potential for the supply to leak EMI into the studio environment (ever seen any "wall warts" or "line lumps" with metal shielding/boxes?).

I'm not saying that external supplies don't have their place, or wasn't technically justified in the case of the Microlynx, just that it became a design fad that many devices of that era (including our current one) fell prey to.

As to pricing for a new Microlynx back in the day, I'm going to guess that the base model probably went for $1500-$2000, with the option cards around $200-$500 each. It was after all a very niche market, so it could have been much higher- whatever the client base thought it was worth, I'll bet. Maybe the wayback machine had collected enough data from websites to reflect this, or older recording industry news-print "rags" listed prices.
 
Tim

Did you source any of these yourself, or did they all come with the Microlynx 8-unit rack when you got it?
I'm curious if the XP Power and Astrodyne supplies were OEM for the Microlynx units...or...???

Looks like the XP Power unit is still available from Newark (maybe from other sources too).
AEH45UM31 - XP POWER - PSU, DESKTOP 42W TRIPLE O/P | Newark element14
http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/2032134.pdf

Found it on eBay too...about the same price as from Newark (when you add the Newark shipping).
XP POWER AEH45UM31 (Surplus New not in factory packaging) | eBay

The Astrodyne PSU you can get direct from them....a bit more expensive than the XP unit.
SPU65-302 | Power Supplies | eCatalog | Astrodyne TDI
http://www.astrodynetdi.com/pdf/SPU65.pdf

I get the feeling these were not OEM for the Microlynx...but they should work fine.
Some minor differences in the amps, but it looks like they both match where it counts....the pin layout is the same.


I think maybe the PSU availability problem is solved. :)




.
 
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The LZR was the one that came with the first device. The others with later units. I also think these were replacements and the Astrodyne is definitely overprovisioning. Great job digging that XP Power one out at newark/farnell. Quite a few in stock!
 
Fantastic work timkroeger and miroslav!
Tim, the evidence you presented I believe substantially verifies what miroslav had suspected, that the OEM units shipped to Europe had essentially the same supply as the US units (which isn't always the case- now it seems we know for sure).
Miro, your expanded list based on the new info from Tim is encouraging, as it means there will less question for the near future about finding sources of supplies.
Also, I posted the question of supplies over at gearslutz, with a general request for any available data, and got back one response so far:
Timeline Microlynx Users- Please Respond - Gearslutz Pro Audio Community

The first response was from a user called shark, that also described using what I now take to be a replacement supply:
"Elpac Power Systems
Model: WRI4231
Output: DC 42W MAX
+5V 3A
+12V 2.5A
-12V 0.5A"

So, the list of supplies now stands at:
Original Supply:
1. ((OEM version)) LZR Electronics #LZUS4301 a.k.a. ITE #UP30430 - not in production
Alternative/Compatible Supplies:
2. Elpac Power Systems #WRI4231 - not in production?
3. XP Power #AEH45UM31 -in production
4. Astrodyne #SPU65-302 - in production
5. Mean Well #P50A13D-R1B - not in production
6. Mean Well #GP50A13D-R1B - in production
Semi-DIY Alternative Supplies:(might need a DIY plug replacement with 5 pin DIN)
7. ITE #UP3043K-3
8. Cisco #34-0874-01, ADP-30RB, for Cisco router PIX 506 (may need more work- "Enable Lines" ROF to RTN -white to black connection, or similar)
9.Modified ATX-based computer power supply (may need more work- "Enable Lines" ROF to RTN -white to black connection, or similar)

Thanks, again folks!
 
[MENTION=101872]timkroeger[/MENTION] - Just so we can put the matter to rest entirely, would you mind looking up the power supply specs from your printed copy of the Manual, Rev. "J", or earlier, and verify whether it in fact reads "-12V @ 0.3A" rather than "-12V @ 3A", as the Manual Rev."M" states?
Thanks for you considerable input in these matters.
 
[MENTION=198037]brainditch[/MENTION] The J version also states the -12v @ 3A but I'm convinced it's wrong. It's counterintuitive to me that Timeline would introduce an error in a later version of the manual (although these things are certainly not unheard of in other companies). The manual also states 30W max and if you do the math for +12V @ 1A and +5V @ 3A that does leave about 3W for -12V (0.25A) with my naive calculations.
 
Thanks so much for looking that up timkroeger. I believe your assessment makes sense, given the basics of Ohm's Law. If not, the supply requirements should have read "63 Watts Max" instead of "30 Watts Max". ;)

So, in the Manual Revision Table (Preface, pg. ii) of the Revision "M" copy I have as a PDF file, the statement of a "Complete revision with software upgrade 1.34. TOC and index updated accordingly" didn't include their careful proof-reading of Chapter 1, pg. 8 (1-8), starting with the Revision "J". That error was carried forward all the way to Rev. "M".

The only way to verify where the error first ocurred would be to examine an earlier version of the manual than Rev. "J" to seek out the difference. Anybody out there have one?

For now, let it be known "for the record", that we believe the Manual(s) from Rev. "J" forward are in error, and that they should read:

"Power Supply Mains Input 100-250 VAC at 50/60 Hz,
15 W nominal, 30 W max.
Output +5 V, 0.3A max
-12 V, 3A max
+12 V, 1.0A max"

Thanks so much timkroeger for the fine detective work!
 
Uhm, no ;)

"Power Supply Mains Input 100-250 VAC at 50/60 Hz,
15 W nominal, 30 W max.
Output +5 V, 3A max
-12 V, 0.3A max
+12 V, 1.0A max"
 
Thanks guys, my brain went PFFFT!, for a moment. Long night, long story...burning eyes, morning glory. Yes timkroeger and miroslav, for the record, you wrote it correctly. I concur...and apologize.
"Power Supply Mains Input 100-250 VAC at 50/60 Hz,
15 W nominal, 30 W max.
Output +5 V, 3A max
-12 V, 0.3A max
+12 V, 1.0A max"
 
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