Commode Amiga A-500 Plus for sale

[MonkZy]

I know this is a speccy forum, but I thought someone here may also have a fondness for huge slabs of beige plastic.

A friend has had to clear out to make room for a baby, and I have offered to test and sell some Amiga gubbins. All proceeds go to baby peripherals.

The Amiga is aged and well yellowed but seems to work perfectly. Testing comprised of playing speedball 2.0 for about half an hour ("Ice cream!!"). I also have a Memory/IDE expansion made by AlfaPower in a metal box that attaches to the side expansion port.. I have tested this by booting a workbench, and the memory (2MB) does appear. The hard drive side of it seems faulty, and if enabled causes crashes and guru's.

I was hoping to get £170 for them both together, but really loath using eBay for selling these type of things. If anyone is interested I can post images.

[clebin]

I was hoping to get £170 for them both together, but really loath using eBay for selling these type of things. If anyone is interested I can post images.

Although you've tested it, it's a good idea to open it up to check the battery hasn't leaked. If the battery is still present, do not pass go, do not collect £200 but get it out there quick sharp! Just clipping off the legs will do. Clean up with isopropyl alcohol if there's any evidence of a leak.

The A500+ is extremely prone to battery leakage - I found this out the hard way.

[MonkZy]

The silver anti-tamper stickers are still present on the screws Should I still look?

[clebin]

The silver anti-tamper stickers are still present on the screws Should I still look?

Definitely! The sticker's worth nothing. Any buyer who knows about Amiga stuff will be looking for pictures of the motherboard and specifically the battery area. They might take a punt on a machine with an unbroken seal, but literally the first thing they will do is break it to inspect the battery.

That thing is a ticking time bomb.

EDIT: Here's a link with more information: https://www.retrogamescollector.com/ami ... al-how-to/

[Spud]

The silver anti-tamper stickers are still present on the screws Should I still look?

If that thing hasn't leaked at all I suggest you buy a lottery ticket this week as you're bound to win.

[MonkZy]

Thanks for the advice. The tamper label was already split on closer inspection. I have opened it up and removed the shielding and...I think I have been lucky. There is just a little bit of white fur on the negative end of the cell pack. Some of the fur has crept down to the PCB, and an adjacent capacitors legs look slightly green. I think the PCB tracks are undamaged and it will clean up with isopropyl.

What should I do? I will get photos up later, but I need to renew my SSL certificate to post images here.

[clebin]

Thanks for the advice. The tamper label was already split on closer inspection. I have opened it up and removed the shielding and...I think I have been lucky. There is just a little bit of white fur on the negative end of the cell pack. Some of the fur has crept down to the PCB, and an adjacent capacitors legs look slightly green. I think the PCB tracks are undamaged and it will clean up with isopropyl.

What should I do? I will get photos up later, but I need to renew my SSL certificate to post images here.

Sounds like you might have been lucky! Just take the battery out as per the link and clean it up thoroughly like you mentioned. Some people recommend a mild acid like lemon juice or vinegar to neutralise the alkaline though not everyone agrees. Should be fine if you use just a little on an earbud and clean it off with water or isopropyl after. You could have a look at the underside of the motherboard too.

I'm no expert but there's plenty of advice on the web, including some horror stories that you seem to have avoided thankfully. Your mate owes you a pint!

[TMD2003]

Just on the off-chance I might ever need to know, does the Atari ST have similar battery issues to its chief rival?

[Van_Dammesque]

Just on the off-chance I might ever need to know, does the Atari ST have similar battery issues to its chief rival?

As far as I know the ST doesn't have a RTC so no battery? Check any expansion cards though!

[clebin]

Just on the off-chance I might ever need to know, does the Atari ST have similar battery issues to its chief rival?

Worth pointing out that the most common Amiga models don't have a battery-backed clock. That includes the regular A500, A600 and A1200. So don't worry if you have one of those in the attic.

Like @Van_Dammesque says, that doesn't include any expansion cards with an RTC.