Vectrex Power Cord Question

I recently acquired a Vectrex with a power cord that had been cut. I was wondering if the Vectrex power cable is polarized. I hope I am using the right term, I am worried that when I splice a new cable onto it that it will be wired up the right way. As when you have a US two prong plug that only plugs in one way, as in one of the prongs is bigger then the other to prevent you from flipping it when plugging it in.

TL;DR Can I splice any generic two prong power cord to it or do I need to look out for a specific two pronged donor cable?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

Heres a picture of my vectrex's power cable if that helps.

 

Confirm, as the picture above shows, my Vectrex also the same with the wider blade matched to the white stripe. Any polarized plug will be fine, matched up to the white stripe.

 

For the USA Vectrex, and all other Vectrex GCE or MB, polarity of the AC main power cord does not matter from an electronic viewpoint. So you can use any plug style to replace the plug on the end of the cord, or to replace the entire power cord itself. In fact the Bandai version Vectrex has a completely non-polarized plug used for connection to main power.

Since this topic interested me in other ways I wanted to confirm confirm for myself information provided. To do this I consulted the attached GCE Vectrex Schematic Diagram taken from my scans of the original D-size drawing for the USA Power Supply section. I also opened up one of my GCE Vectrex and one of my Bandai Vectrex today to use a multimeter (Fluke 70) to measure resistance and continuity at various points of the power supply sections.

GCE Vectrex drawing "SCHEMATIC-POWER PCB ASSY 660048 07-26-1982" Main power supply section extract. (Section extract has bee resized to 2122x1265 in order to meet upload requirements of this site.)

• Confirmed main power transformer input winding and the secondary output winding to the rest of the power supply section do not have any DC continuity.
• Confirmed main power transformer input winding neutral side is not connected to the transformer metal case.
• Confirmed main power transformer secondary output winding leads are not connected to the transformer metal case.
• Confirmed power supply ground reference inside the Vectrex is not not connected to the transformer metal case, not does it have any continuity with the either blade of the of the main power plug.
• All of the checks above support the Vectrex schematic diagram information.

All of the checks above support usage of a non-polarized replacement plug as needed to repair the main power cord.

However, In respect to continued compliance for your country's specific electrical code standards and laws, I suggest you should perform an exact replacement of the plug and/or cord.

For the Vectrex in the USA and Canada:

• Power cord and plug polarized. Cord is black jacket with one wire jacket marked with a white stripe.
• White stripe connects to the larger blade of the plus. The Larger Blade of the plug is connected to the Neutral of the wall receptacle.
• Black (unmarked) connects to the smaller blade of the plug. The Smaller Blade of the plug is connected to the Hot of the wall receptacle.
• Also note internal to the Vectrex there is an in-line fuse connected between the main AC power and the transformer. For reference this fuse is connected in line with the Black Hot side wiring. The main power input fuse is located next to the transformer under a brown cover with a warning label.

For the Vectrex in Japan (Bandai Version):

• Power cord and plug are completely white with no polarization markings.
• Neither blade of the plug is polarized
• Internal to the Vectrex there is an in-line fuse connected between the main AC power and the transformer. For reference the fuse is connected in line with the one side of the wiring in an non-polarized manner similar to other Vectrex region version connections. The main power input fuse is located next to the transformer under a brown cover with a warning label.

For All Countries:
External electrical ground is not in the Vectrex. Even for other countries such as the UK that might be equipped with a plug that has a ground pin, the ground of the connector is not used by the Vectrex. Some electrical installations in houses have ground connected to neutral. For the Vectrex this also does not matter since the input transformer provides DC current isolation between the main power input winding and the secondary output winding to the rest of the power supply section.

 

Thanks so much everyone for the help!