ANIG External Power Supply

The ANIG External Power Supply was a highly sought-after aftermarket hardware modification distributed by the ADAM National Interest Group (ANIG) in the late 1980s. It was designed to solve one of the Coleco ADAM’s most notorious engineering flaws: its reliance on the system's massive, mandatory printer.

The Engineering Flaw It Solved:

By default, Coleco designed the ADAM computer without an internal power supply. Instead, the massive SmartWriter Daisy Wheel Printer housed the transformer and power regulator for the entire system.

If an owner wanted to use the ADAM console—even just to play a ColecoVision cartridge or use an external disk drive—they were forced to connect and turn on the loud, bulky printer. If the printer broke or was sold, the computer became completely unusable.

The ANIG Solution

To free users from the printer, ANIG engineers custom-built and distributed an external power brick.

• The Hardware: It bypassed the printer entirely by supplying the distinct voltages required by the ADAM console (+5VDC, +12VDC, and -5VDC) through a custom wiring harness.
• The Connection: The supply fed power directly into the ADAM’s side-mounted DB-9 power input port, tricking the console into believing the SmartWriter printer was attached.
• The Benefit: It significantly reduced the desk footprint of the computer, eliminated the loud "printer reset hum" on boot-up, and allowed users to migrate to third-party disk drives or data pack setups seamlessly