Messages

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC Engine Duo R/G Bi Color LED]

Thanks, found a bunch.
This will make it work without any additional circuits, not counting resistors.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC Engine Duo R/G Bi Color LED]

Just use a dual led with four legs in one package.
Lens focused on the the one item.
Two separate anodes and cathodes.
Two separate circuits.

That's the easiest way.

This solution seems the best, that is what I need. "separate" circuits in the same LED. Think I'll source some of those LEDS.
The light will be, green=always on, and when busy it gets yellow. (mixing green and red)

Tried to find any with 4 legs, with separate internals but I cant find any. Do they exist?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Sync from DUO]

Tried it out last night and black are pitch black now. Looks great!

One thing I wonder about is when using the CD, sometimes on black "load" in-between screen the black gets a bi grainy.
Noticed that my Genesis CDX are the same. Is that some kind of No signal when using CD-drive?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Sync from DUO]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm gonna try that 220uF cap. When its not grainy its really crisp picture.
Might be the easy solution.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Sync from DUO]

Hi!

I have used sync from the 6260 pin44 and it was great. Just direct connection to the RGB scart-sync.

After I recapped it the duo the signal seems a bit noisy, only on black screen. When displaying black screen its a lighter tint on top and its a bit grainy.

My question is, what route should I use? I have used regular composite before with great result.
I want as great picture as possible.

1. Should I try with a 220uF capacitor?

2. Switch to regular composite, as I have done in the past (with IFU rgb mods)

3. Use the composite signal with a sync-stripper.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: PC Engine Duo R/G Bi Color LED]

Thanks for the input.
Will try it out.

May go with the "easy" way just putting another diode always on. Dont bother me much.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / PC Engine Duo R/G Bi Color LED]

Thougt I would mod my PC Engine Duo with a Bi-color LED.

Since the current LED only lights up when "busy" reading CD.

Thought I mod it with a 3-pinned bi-color LED. Green when it's powered on and yellow when its busy.
Thought I just add 5V with a 300ohm resistor to green anode. And when busy reading it getting voltage from both and gives yellow light.

Would be an easy mod if catode was ground. But it isn't

Any Idea how I should do?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Dilemma with DUO]

Recapped the whole console now. There was initial leak from a few caps, nothing major. All pads where intact.

Works great now and its also got fresh voltage regulators.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: VR values on CD systems.]

Thanks!

Noticed that it was a reason for the super mini pots, had to put wire on the bigger pot and hide it on a better place.

Think i'll order a set.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / VR values on CD systems.]

Managed to damage the VR103 pot on my Duo when I was removing the C133 cap. Thought it was out of alignment but it was permanently damaged.

I had a moherboard from a Super CD-rom that I had laying around. Took the VR103 from that one and it seems to work.

But, its a rather old VR, are there any schematics on the VR, are they the same values and what values are they specified?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Dilemma with DUO]

Recieved my kit from Console5. Seems to be nice quality caps.
Ordered a new "memory" cap aswell. The original is rated 5.5V 0.047F, the replacement says 5.5V 0.22F. Does it mean its compatible? Seems that the replacement are a bit more powerful. Does that mean that it can hold memory for a longer period?


Changed 1/3 of the caps and I've seen some initial leakage. Nothing more than minimal impact on the pads.. So it was just in time.

Also change the two 7805 to neat switched ones. 4.8V did the original output and got really hot. New ones goes at 5V exactly and are cool.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Dilemma with DUO]

I get no enjoyment from recapping and see no point in it in %90 of cases. It has become a fad and people now recap everything to ridiculous excess.

However the black Duos are absolutely in that area where I would do the recap ASAP. Black Duos and Laseractive PACs, Express/GT. I can't remember if SGX is in this category or not.

That is my opinion as well. But it seems that NEC got semi bad quality caps at the time the DUO was produced so I'll do a recap. Ordered from console5. Think its the cheapest way to get good branded caps. Local dealers are super expensive and ebay things are china caps. They probably will do fine but my DUO is worth good branded caps. Went for SMC ones from console5.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Dilemma with DUO]

I have a PC Engine Duo system. I RGB modded it, placed a mini-din at the back and it works perfect!
Did not bother to recap it at that time. I checked the caps and they where originals, did not see any leaks.

The DUO works perfect, no issues with the CD-part. No problems with CD-R either.

The question is, should I recap it. I dont like to fix something that is not broken. But in the other hand, any cap can start leaking at any time.

What should I do?
It is better to use trough-hole electrolyt caps rather than original surface ones? Modern SMC will leak eventually as well?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Arcade Duo Card]

Thanks for the reply, guess I have to get a system card and play those arcade on my duo.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Arcade Duo Card]

I have heard that Arcade Pro works with all PCE.
The Arcade Duo only works for Duo and Duo-R.

How will the original briefcase setup work with the Arcade Duo, not at all? Or just super cdrom games?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Change battery/cap on the fly]

Hi!

Theese questions are a bit general. But I understand that whats holding saves on a duo (and IFU) are the capacitor.

1. Is it possible to change that capacitor to a battery? For a more long term solution. Dont know how many weeks/months with no power before the cap charge is out.

2. Can I change a battery on a cartridge on the fly, meaning that I can put 3V DC into the cart from a external power supply while I change the battery?

Thanks in advance.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CD-ROM2 behavior]

Thanks for the fast reply, that was my guess, just wanted it confirmed.

Sold of a spare unit and the customer and he thought it was very sensitive.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / CD-ROM2 behavior]

I have a question regarding the CD-ROM2, also the CD ROM on the Duo.

Is there any sort of "shake" resume function on these drives?
My experience is that if I gently tap the CD-drive while in operation it skips, and music disapper.

And it may glitch out or the music goes mute util the game says it should change track.

Also when playing CD-audio, it needs "next" for resume the music.

Is this a correct behavior, or is something wrong?

Guess gen 1 CD drives are not so "smart"?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Squealy Duo CD Drive...]

Mine Duo does that aswell.
So there is nothing to worry about, maybe other than wearing the laser quickly?
Anyways, Im planning to change the laser. What are the quality on those lasers there is on ebay?
"Original, used items"

Which pot is the laser gain?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / 5V from 6260 chip (sync pin 44)]

Testing the continuity from the 6260 chip before i will pass it trough the RGB-amp.
Getting 4.1V from the RGB-lines to ground, unamplified voltage that is.

Also noticed that the sync outputs 5V (pin44), composite out outputs like 1.5V correctly.

How come all outputs so high values?

Is this correct?, seems a bit high?
Thougt the output was around 1.5-2.1V?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / GND (analog) on DUO]

GNDa on PC Engine Duo.

Anyone suggest a good Ground (analog) point on the PCE Duo for the RGB Amp.
Or will any GND do?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 glitches when warm.]

Just for the record.

Fixed the glitching CDROM2 now. Worked OK when cold but a bit shaky when warm. Some games did not even want to start when it was warm.

Changed the 4.7uf caps, three of them had very bad values and one didnt even charge up at all.
After that the CDROM2 became stable.

Seems like the 4,7uf ones are the most likely to fail?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: need some advice about repairing a PC Engine Cd Rom2]

Great, thanks.

Changed all the 4.7uf ones and three was bad. I could nog get a valid reading on them or they showed 0.1 uf or something.

The unit played music cds decent but went crazy in the IFU.
Hope it will work better now.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: need some advice about repairing a PC Engine Cd Rom2]

Thanks for the reply, as i thought.

If the standard-values are 16V 4,7uf. Can I change the caps with 4,7 25V AND 50V?

Can I use both in the same unit? The voltage value are only for how much the cap can take, not a value that it will release..

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: need some advice about repairing a PC Engine Cd Rom2]

Would 50v 4,7uF work well? Belive the original are 16v.


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[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 glitches when warm.]

I use this at the slowest it will go which is 8x, no problems
https://www.amazon.co.uk/LiteOn-IHAS124-14-SATA-Internal-DVDRW/dp/B00ERJXTE4

I found an old Plextor CD-R writer from 2002 that I tried with.
Noticed at once that it writes much slower, the lead-in and out takes like 3 min each. 1X writing on my modern CD-Burner took like 15 sec. So it really writes slow on all tracks.
Hope to get some improvements.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 glitches when warm.]

Im change some regulators to this one. Like in the IFU, some AV Famicoms etc.

https://www.elfa.se/sv/spaenningsregulator-to-220-st-l7805cv/p/17326242?q=73-262-42&page=1&origPos=1&origPageSize=50&simi=98.11

Dunno if its the most optimal, but its not near as warm as the original ones.

Edit: linked the wrong one.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 glitches when warm.]

I noticed when I adjusted the pots that the drive was quite warm. (Had the bottom on without screws to be able to test quickly)
Since I had trouble with my IFU I feed it with 10v directly, original is like.. 8V? The 7805 might be warmer than necessary and cause the drive to get more sensitive.

Just a thought..

Anyways, I have adjusted the far right pot.  Well, it clicked a bit the first time i touched it. But its best in the position it was from the beginning. Also its much better, not 100%, but an improvement.

Will continue with pot tweaking..

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 glitches when warm.]

OK, will get a original silver-disc and see if there is a difference. Might be best to start there and rule out things.

Heard that it might be better if using an old CD-Writer? They have more power or something?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 glitches when warm.]

Does it matter if its a CD-R disc?

I mean, it seems like it can read the disc but it glitches. Thought if was any problems reading it would be noticed in the seeking..

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 glitches when warm.]

Does the white pc engine looks the same?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 glitches when warm.]

Thanks for the response.

Think I saw a tutorial here on pot adjustments. I will start with that.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 glitches when warm.]

The gear is new and alright.
Caps and calibration I have no clue. My guess is that caps is original.

Do you do recapping?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / CDROM2 glitches when warm.]

Searched but could not find any similar problems.

I got the briefcase setup working yesterday thanks to Fidde_se.

The CD could very well read PCE games and played well. BUT, when I play for like 10min it will get unstable. It seems like it can read the games but the grapic will glitch out. Sometimes it will get stuck in a reading loop or someting and freezes.

When i reboot it will start up and so on, but works much worse than if its cold rebooted.

Whats is the problem, is it a weak laser?
Tried clean the connector with alcohol but no improvements.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

Yes!, it seems to play the audio.

Yeey. Such a relief.


Now I have a fully working CDROM2 unit heavly yellowed. Also I got the junk CDROM which is bright white.
Dont know if I dare to change the plastic parts.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

Right, but I usually don't sell loose amps, I leave that up to Mickris, but if it was in a cable it was definitely me, unless it was for N64.

Then there's LAB23 and Got2Pair.

Ya, that was that PCE EXT cable.
Its that 69 pin ext connector its hard to track down, your cable was really nice looking.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

Had some luck, it was the red wire that is soldered near the CDROM2 connector, so it was very easy to cut that trace. Got 10V from after the switch so that functions as original.

And.. It worked!
Really nice!

Have just an PS1 disc available and no TV to hook it up but I can see that it says PC for some seconds after I pressed run. Guess it stops reading when its not a PCE-disc.

Thanks alot Fidde_se for helping me narrow it down.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

Best to cut the trace on ifu pcb and take it from DC input directly.

RCA it is, otherwise only hucard sounds would be stereo and ADPCM and CDDA would be in mono.

You do know where in the world I am right?

Yes, I figured it would be the safe way to do it, trace from 20 & 27, they are most likely connected in the contact and 1 goes to the power somewhere.

OK , I thought so aswell. Thanks for the input.

I belive you are from Gothenburg, brought a RGB amp from you, am I right?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

Yes

Lovely!
Ill try it out!

Need to cut some traces or does it matter, I mean "backwards".

Also, another question about RGB modding. I plan to RGB mod this unit if I get it working fully.
Can I take sound L+R from the interface aswell, or do I only get sound on hucard-games? Or do I need to take the sound from the RCA L+R?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

I hooked up the multimeter on pin 27 (&20) and when I powered on the IFU I got like 5V, and it was slowly increasing up to like 8V.
When I hooked up the CDROM it dropped to like 1V. So.. Something cant handle the load.

Can I get "fresh" 10V early (like from the DC-plug) and hook it up with pin 27? I mean it should only feed the 7805 inside the CDROM.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

Powers the IFU with 10VDC, 2A.

IFU:
GND: 30, 22,21

Pin 27,20: to the emitter of TR101

Pin: 9,15,28,29, 30, 22, 21 = 0V
Pin: 20,27 = 9V
Pin: 1-8, 10-14,16-19, 23-26 = 5V

I really dont know which is "data" from the CDROM-ext port, there are many ports that are at 5V, dont know if 5V is "high" for the data bus or something.
The big thing is that 20 and 27 shows 9V and GND seems correct.

One thing that hits me is that when I do a measurement on the 9V it slowly decending. Can start at 9V and go down to 8V or something. Could it be that the 9V from that TR101 cant handle load?
It might drop? to.. very low?

Is it possible to get a 9-10V from the input of the 7805 and feed pin 20,27? Or cant it be the "same" power source as the console-part. Does TR101 separate the power lines as you said?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

Unscrewed the lid off the CD and it seems its connection between pin 20, 27 and the marked area..

Going to check the IFU tonight.

Is it possible if someone could check The pins from the IFU. Its mostly pin 20 and27 om intrested in..

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[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

Think one pin on the cdrom interface. had like 8.5v when I checked yesterday. Dunno what the 7805 inside the CD is rated for correct input.
Tried 10V 2A input and 12V 3A in the interface with no luck..


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[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

Aha, the transistor without the heatsink, will make a check what that outputs..


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[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

Aha, the transistor without the heatsink, will make a check what that outputs..


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[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

Thanks for the info.

The CD is dead in the IFU, but works standalone so to speak.

IC118 is the voltage regulator that I changed for a 1.5A. You said that they get power from different regulators. IC118 controls the CD part or is it the resistor regulator?

Have any idea where the resistor regulator is located?




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[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

I have a spare CD, but I belive that one could damaged the IFU. Brought a confirmed working CD. The IFU can have damaged the working CD aswell... I decided to buy another IFU cause they are cheaper and it quite easy to find a working tested one..

I live in the Sweden area so its quite hard to find a test rig. Thanks for the advice. Ill get back in this matter..


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[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

I have managed to get some readings from the 30-port connector.

Found out that 21, 22, 30 are ground and 5V are pin 20,27.

Checked the CDROM-unit and it looked right.

But it makes no sense on the IFU-side of the connector. Like an entire row (lower) are +5v, and the ones that is supposed to be +5v are like 8v.

Something is off with the IFU.

Before i brought the working CDROM a non-working was included in the setup. And when I tested it the diode on the IFU did not ever lid up. When I removed the faulty CDROM it the IFU led lit up again.

Some sort of short in the junk CD that made the IFU break is my guess.

Changed the 7805 to an 1.5A, checked all caps for short but it seems fine.
Anyone have a suggestion what have happen with the IFU? Where to look next?
As mentioned before, the console part of the IFU works well.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

Are you using two power adapters or are you using the power adapter cable that goes from the CD-Rom 2 to the PCE and only using one power brick?

Im only using one powerbrick, I dont think its possible to use more. One in the IFU. The power connections are blocked by the IFU so there is not possible?
The Super CDROM2 have a separate plug i think?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / CDROM2 wont work in the IFU]

I have the standard "briefcase"-IFU setup.

I just had a PC Engine and the IFU to play with and I decided to buy a CDROM2 to the rig.
It was confirmed to work, and i is working IF i use it seperatly as a CD-player. Works really good.

But when I gonna use it in the IFU its dead. I suspect there is no power to the CD from the CDROM-EXT port.
Is there anyone that have a schematics for the CDROM-EXT-port?

And when I power on the IFU by slinging the front switch the CDROM should have power?, like should I be able to press play and get some sort of activity? (like when I have the CD connected to an external source)

Tried a 2.5A power supply with no luck. The PC-Engine itself works fine in the IFU.