I’ve just bought a Spectrum + and I’m going to attempt to replace the capacitors and do the RF mod and install a new membrane. Never done anything like this before but I like taking things apart and trying to figure them out. This video has been a great inspiration and a great guide so thank you 👍🏻
23:19 I think we're at the point where most original 48k/48k+ membranes are well past their use by date, and will probably require replacing in the vast majority of cases.
Although I' am a Commodore fan I have to pay my compliments to Sir Clive Sinclair for this little devil :-) ,and to you for this great video you uploaded !....Looking for more videos :-)
Thanks! Yes, I kind of have slightly more love for the C64 - I just love the SID =D I've got a few more Spectrum videos yet and then 2 Commodore 64s to look at!
I forgot about the reversed polarity on the power supply and blew the arse out of the 7805 regulator and also most likely f*cked some other stuff - Yeah I do have 6 of them but that error pissed me off.
the one you said was a later revision was it was a 4S made by samsung, and while not rare they are not as common others, imho they are a step up in quality its a shame someone had been in it, if you dont believe me about the samsung units open 4 or five spectrums and the 4S and compare the quality, when you do the 4S wil go in your collection. the upgrade + cases have red serial numbers or no serial no (later plain). my speccy was upgraded twice by sinclair once from 16k-48k and second up to plus spec.
I never had a Spectrum back in the day, I remember alot of friends had them, but I never got to play on them as they were always at the repair shop. C64's and Acorns seemed way more reliable. I've got a whole bunch of different Spectrums up in the loft (untested) that I need to get round to looking at one day
I think you are right - I have seen a lot more faulty Spectrums over the years. Commodore were better built imo. You only have to look at the fact that Sinclair shipped faulty 48K models as 16K, used chips with faulty banks and wired them according to which ever bank worked, coupled with some of the Z80s having faulty M1 lines from new. They really hit the bargain bins when it came to component sourcing lol. I also think the C64 keyboard is amazing when compared to either the rubber key or the plus model.
lol, I didn't know they did that! Would it not have been cheaper to run the rams through an automated tester instead of building the 48k and then finding out it didn't work and bodging it lol. Have you had any of the 48k ones that have been changed to 16k?
I've got one I am uploading a video for, and I could be wrong but I don't think it could ever have worked as it is as 48K. It should upload over night.
@@garyt123 Yes! I've done one of my Speccys with that mod - same PCB I used to composite mod the Atari 2600, and Archimedes A3010s. The picture is far improved in brightness level and clarity in general.
@@GadgetUK164 Hmmm, never thought of applying the same circuit to the Speccy TBH. Did you also need to put a smaller, second, resistor on the earth to increase brightness? (I needed to do that on my ZX81 as the display was really dark)
+magnus87 Yes, the Spectrum+ is basically a 48K model inside a better casing with more tactile keys - the board is the same. Long term you are best buying a dedicated 9v PSU that can provide ~1.5 amps, on that outputs precisely 9v. The Megadrive PSU outputs more than the 9 or 10v it is marked with. I think mine outputs nearly 14v DC, and that translates into the 7805 generating a lot of additional heat. So in summary, its fine for short testing / sessions etc, but I wouldn't rely on a Megadrive PSU to power a Spectrum long term.
GadgetUK164 Thanks for the advice, I got a the correct PSU but now I have a problem with the load comand. I tried with android app to play TAP Files but know my Spectrum doesnt show the colors from the borders (Cyan, Red..), what happened?
It's possible you have a ULA fault? Are you connecting the audio out from your android device to the ear input on the Spectrum? I know volume can be a big problem with phones and tablet computers. Often the volume isn't enough to get it to load properly, but you should hear sound at least when its trying to load?
I don't know much about electronics, but I do know that if you don't do the case screws up tightly enough, the magic smoke will escape! All the metal shielding inside Atari 400 and 800's isn't to shield radio frequencies, but to keep the smoke in! ;)
The clear (non brittle) membranes tend to be the better ones, so keep that one if you can. They also need the lozenge shaped retainers on the lid tightened down to make connections between the layers on the membrane. Some that appear dead can only need tightening down. But at the end of the day, buy a new membrane from RWAP and you'll be sorted. I'd suggest one of my Spectrum+ membranes, but they are only for making USB keyboards as they have different key mapping (5x13 matrix not 5x8).
Thanks for the info =) I did buy a couple of membranes for the rubber key models (next video to upload tonight) and I will get a couple for two of the pluses soon. Do you have any links / videos related to your USB membrane?
GadgetUK164 There is an article on my blog on the membranes blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2014/12/New-fully-mappable-ZX-Spectrum-Plus-Replacement-Membranes.html and one on Spectrum Plus keyboard restoration (a picture of the clamps towards the end) blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2014/11/zx-spectrum-plus-keyboard-restoration.html
"Steve C" - Google+ won't let me reply! Yes, I have tried solder paint - It's very hard to apply and the net result after fixing 3 or 4 traces, it still didn't work =/ Ultimately you end up needing new membranes =/
i got a spectrum thats mint condition and worked last time i tried it.since then i only have a 4k tv and cant get it tuned in,do you think its because of the tv being too modern?
Interested to see how you got on with it. If the composite mod got nowhere have you tried changing the capacitors? (I know it's a cliche but it got mine going!)
+Amy Marie I ended up keeping the one I re-capped in a later video. I think all the units in this video were sold on. I couldn't be bothered restoring the board with the corrosion - too many other things I wanted to spend time on etc.
I’ve just bought a Spectrum + and I’m going to attempt to replace the capacitors and do the RF mod and install a new membrane. Never done anything like this before but I like taking things apart and trying to figure them out. This video has been a great inspiration and a great guide so thank you 👍🏻
Thanks, let me know how you get on!
Hey good clips.
Have you not tried using the track repair paint or pens for the membranes?
23:19 I think we're at the point where most original 48k/48k+ membranes are well past their use by date, and will probably require replacing in the vast majority of cases.
Although I' am a Commodore fan I have to pay my compliments to Sir Clive Sinclair for this little devil :-) ,and to you for this great video you uploaded !....Looking for more videos :-)
Thanks! Yes, I kind of have slightly more love for the C64 - I just love the SID =D I've got a few more Spectrum videos yet and then 2 Commodore 64s to look at!
About corrosion, you can consider an ultrasonic cleaning, btw, nice videos yours, I follow them with admiration, please keep them coming ;-)
+Audiosonicity Thanks =D Yes, at some point I will get an ultrasonic bath =D
Isuue 4S.
The S is Samsung who manufactured it , not manufactured by Timex.
I forgot about the reversed polarity on the power supply and blew the arse out of the 7805 regulator and also most likely f*cked some other stuff - Yeah I do have 6 of them but that error pissed me off.
the one you said was a later revision was it was a 4S made by samsung, and while not rare they are not as common others, imho they are a step up in quality its a shame someone had been in it, if you dont believe me about the samsung units open 4 or five spectrums and the 4S and compare the quality, when you do the 4S wil go in your collection.
the upgrade + cases have red serial numbers or no serial no (later plain).
my speccy was upgraded twice by sinclair once from 16k-48k and second up to plus spec.
I never had a Spectrum back in the day, I remember alot of friends had them, but I never got to play on them as they were always at the repair shop. C64's and Acorns seemed way more reliable. I've got a whole bunch of different Spectrums up in the loft (untested) that I need to get round to looking at one day
I think you are right - I have seen a lot more faulty Spectrums over the years. Commodore were better built imo. You only have to look at the fact that Sinclair shipped faulty 48K models as 16K, used chips with faulty banks and wired them according to which ever bank worked, coupled with some of the Z80s having faulty M1 lines from new. They really hit the bargain bins when it came to component sourcing lol. I also think the C64 keyboard is amazing when compared to either the rubber key or the plus model.
lol, I didn't know they did that! Would it not have been cheaper to run the rams through an automated tester instead of building the 48k and then finding out it didn't work and bodging it lol. Have you had any of the 48k ones that have been changed to 16k?
I've got one I am uploading a video for, and I could be wrong but I don't think it could ever have worked as it is as 48K. It should upload over night.
A little cap on that modulator modification would be in order.
Yes, that's a good idea to remove the bias. In addition I would amplify the video on the Spectrum now (not sure if I did that in this video or not).
@@GadgetUK164 So using an NPN tranny, similar (if not the same) to a ZX81 composite mod?
@@garyt123 Yes! I've done one of my Speccys with that mod - same PCB I used to composite mod the Atari 2600, and Archimedes A3010s. The picture is far improved in brightness level and clarity in general.
@@GadgetUK164 Hmmm, never thought of applying the same circuit to the Speccy TBH. Did you also need to put a smaller, second, resistor on the earth to increase brightness? (I needed to do that on my ZX81 as the display was really dark)
Can I use a Sega Genesis/Megadrive Power supply for a ZX Spectrum +?
+magnus87 Yes, the Spectrum+ is basically a 48K model inside a better casing with more tactile keys - the board is the same. Long term you are best buying a dedicated 9v PSU that can provide ~1.5 amps, on that outputs precisely 9v. The Megadrive PSU outputs more than the 9 or 10v it is marked with. I think mine outputs nearly 14v DC, and that translates into the 7805 generating a lot of additional heat. So in summary, its fine for short testing / sessions etc, but I wouldn't rely on a Megadrive PSU to power a Spectrum long term.
GadgetUK164
Thanks for the advice, I got a the correct PSU but now I have a problem with the load comand. I tried with android app to play TAP Files but know my Spectrum doesnt show the colors from the borders (Cyan, Red..), what happened?
It's possible you have a ULA fault? Are you connecting the audio out from your android device to the ear input on the Spectrum? I know volume can be a big problem with phones and tablet computers. Often the volume isn't enough to get it to load properly, but you should hear sound at least when its trying to load?
watched but am confused - not sure what you did
I don't know much about electronics, but I do know that if you don't do the case screws up tightly enough, the magic smoke will escape! All the metal shielding inside Atari 400 and 800's isn't to shield radio frequencies, but to keep the smoke in! ;)
LOL! =D
The clear (non brittle) membranes tend to be the better ones, so keep that one if you can. They also need the lozenge shaped retainers on the lid tightened down to make connections between the layers on the membrane. Some that appear dead can only need tightening down. But at the end of the day, buy a new membrane from RWAP and you'll be sorted. I'd suggest one of my Spectrum+ membranes, but they are only for making USB keyboards as they have different key mapping (5x13 matrix not 5x8).
Thanks for the info =) I did buy a couple of membranes for the rubber key models (next video to upload tonight) and I will get a couple for two of the pluses soon. Do you have any links / videos related to your USB membrane?
GadgetUK164 There is an article on my blog on the membranes blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2014/12/New-fully-mappable-ZX-Spectrum-Plus-Replacement-Membranes.html and one on Spectrum Plus keyboard restoration (a picture of the clamps towards the end) blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2014/11/zx-spectrum-plus-keyboard-restoration.html
"Steve C" - Google+ won't let me reply!
Yes, I have tried solder paint - It's very hard to apply and the net result after fixing 3 or 4 traces, it still didn't work =/ Ultimately you end up needing new membranes =/
i got a spectrum thats mint condition and worked last time i tried it.since then i only have a 4k tv and cant get it tuned in,do you think its because of the tv being too modern?
Yes, you probably need to do a conversion to composite. I am amazed a 4K TV has an RF input tbh!
+GadgetUK164 good job it has because im on freeview! thanks for that.i have a old crt tv but cant find the remote so cant tune it in!!
Interested to see how you got on with it. If the composite mod got nowhere have you tried changing the capacitors? (I know it's a cliche but it got mine going!)
still have this unit?
+Amy Marie I ended up keeping the one I re-capped in a later video. I think all the units in this video were sold on. I couldn't be bothered restoring the board with the corrosion - too many other things I wanted to spend time on etc.
ah gotcha! hey id do the same!