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[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: The results are in!! (TG-CD current test)]

To Nat's point about 12V being sufficient, I was inspired to test out the absolute minimum voltages at which the system will function properly. I used the variable DC power supply on my dad's old breadboard/experiment kit which I inherited.

Conclusions:
A minimum of 8.5VDC is required for a chip game to play properly. The system will turn on with slightly less than this, but the colors will be dark and the games are prone to glitches.

A minimum of 10.3VDC is required to get the CD unit to play a CD game, but its performance is overall sluggish. I got normal, acceptable performance from 11.0VDC and higher.

For the heck of it, I checked the load times using 12, 13, 14, and 15 Volts, and saw no improvement over 11.0V.


So, Nat was completely correct in recommending and adapter that puts out 12VDC/1.5A. The voltage will ensure reliable performance even if there is a drop in the AC to your house, and the 1.5A monster will happily give the TG-CD all the current it wants, even if it's never more than 1.0A.

...not that Nat needs to be told he was correct...I just thought he might like to hear me say it.

yeah system itself internally uses prolly 7v right off (prolly stepping down further elsewhere) and the tg-cd uses a 9v regulator before it goes anywhere.

i can safely say a 12v 1.5a power supply would be plenty and easy enough to find.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: The results are in!! (TG-CD current test)]

15v may not even be needed.  check the voltage regulators you can usually go down to about 120%-130% higher then the output voltage.  a 7805 (5v regulator) can usually take voltages down to about 6.5v-7v without any issues.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Tg16 help]

well i ordered some of the parts.  maybe ill fool around with this before i finish my other project.  ill post pics and whatnot as it goes on.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Tg16 help]

Yeah, I wasn't suggesting using the screen (ueehg), I was mainly thinking of the smaller motherboard.  but at any rate, I think it will be interesting  to see what you come up with.

i could but i dont think i could pull a usable video signal off it.  it might have rgb on it somewhere but im not sure if it has the same video encoder as the other systems in the turbo family.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Tg16 help]

I know you're past this point already, but you could use the guts of a pce gt, which includes your controller and you could even rob the speakers out of it.  you would want to replace all the caps, which has been discussed here recently, but that should be easy in light of the other stuff you're gonna do.  Hell, you might even be able to use the card slot.  At any rate, it would give you more room to work within the new shell you put it in.  Just a thought.

power draw on it would be more then what i would make, the screen would still suck, and would defeat what i want to do.  i want something completely custom.  there really isnt anything hard about this except finding the time and the money to do it.

this would be something completly unique as ive seen most other mainstream systems portablized but never the pce or tg16 because of the express (eventhough i think for the time it was awesome but has soo many issues).

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Tg16 help]

If I remember correctly, Aldynes doesn't work properly if pin 29 is grounded. 

Not that it's even relevant, but Aldynes technically still works with the pin 29 mod: it only crashes if you let it go into attract mode.

is the game worth including a switch to allow it to work properly?

the game is fucking awesome.

But Aldynes is a SuperGrafx game. So this is all a moot point unless you are building your portable out of a SuperGrafx. Which, too, would be fucking awesome.

But I think you mentioned you're using a CoreGrafx so it doesn't matter. You can't play SuperGrafx games on a CoreGrafx no matter how hard you try.

yeah the core grafx is so tiny i cant afford not to use it.  unless i want a laptop sized "portable".

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Tg16 help]

If I remember correctly, Aldynes doesn't work properly if pin 29 is grounded. 

Not that it's even relevant, but Aldynes technically still works with the pin 29 mod: it only crashes if you let it go into attract mode.

is the game worth including a switch to allow it to work properly?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Tg16 help]

This sounds really cool.  I've often thought of this myself, but I know I don't have the technical know-how.  Keep us posted with pics and stuff so we can see how this turns out!

will do on the pics.  this should be easier then the other portable im working on (relocating the cart slots is a huge pain).  and as for the custom controllers,  maybe ill make a super nice arcade stick since i dont really like the ones that were made for it.

ill do a how to and take pics of the steps i take for this.  this isnt too hard.

pretty much this is it:

remove mobo from pce

remove screen from casing (you dont have to mod it for leds)

desolder power jacks on pce and screen.  desolder av jacks on pce and screen.  desolder controller ports.

solder leads from av on screen to av on pce mobo

solder batteries to the correct power points on screen and pce.  connect also some leads to run to a power jack to allow charging without removing batteries.

the easy way to do a controller is to solder switchs to the traces on the button contacts on the controller board itself then mount the tact switch to a perf board and put a little hot glue on the bottom of the original plastic buttons and place those over the tacts.  then solder the leads directly to the pce mobo.

mount inside a case (either store bought or homemade)

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Tg16 help]

No switch required for pin 29.  This would not be true if you were going to use a SuperGrafx.  If I remember correctly, Aldynes doesn't work properly if pin 29 is grounded.  I've never heard of any PC Engine games having a similar problem.

very good to know.

but in some new stuff for my project.

with a little research i found some nice pics and a few other goodies for the controllers.

this is the page for the ic pinouts and connectors for controllers.

http://www.gamesx.com/controldata/turbocont.htm

you can purchase the ics oem without hacking a controller up.

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?hl=en&q=74HC157&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wf

they are super cheap and plentiful.

you can rig up your own custom controllers via this info, some soldering and building skills, and some parts (and a little thinking).

you need in addition:

tact switches:  http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/item/MPB-136/700325/TACTILE_PUSHBUTTON_SWITCH,_SURFACE-MOUNT_.html

or use arcade buttons

http://www.happcontrols.com/pushbuttons/5896xxl.htm

and 4 microswitch 8-way arcade joystick

http://www.happcontrols.com/joysticks/ultimate_joy.htm

you need one for each direction (or just the joy) and one for each button.

resistors: 10k-ohm (or something close), 1/4-watt resistors (4 for the d-pad/joystick and 4 more for each of the other buttons and maybe more depending on the overall function of the return pins to the console, this is to hold the high signal for the buttons) radio shack catalog #271-1335

im going to have to really look at this more and fool around so i can come up with a wiring diagram to do this.

or i guess you could solder the switches right over traces for the button contacts right on the controller board.  and do it that way but would take up more space.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Tg16 help]

looks to be easy enough.  desolder pin 29, solder a lead with a switch (or does the switch not matter if i want to play import games again as the lock out is bypassed anyway?) to a common ground and wire a 8 pole switch to flip the order of pins for pins 15-23 on the hucard slot.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Tg16 help]

bah more work then.  oh well not a big deal.

still, is there a link for the region free mod?  as the search function and interwebz is not giving anything useful yet.

hmm i guess this will also need to be moved as it now covers the pce and not the tg16.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Tg16 help]

Since you're not afraid of doing some serious modding, you might want to look at using a PC Engine instead.  They're a little more compact and can be made region free easily enough.  Sorry, but I haven't measured the guts of a TG-16 before, so I'm no help there.  Please keep us informed with your project as I'm sure many would like to see the outcome.

i was unaware the pc engines could be made region free.  that makes it alot easier then, as the core grafx system is tiny and would work perfectly.  as thats more then small enough (smaller then the screen i plan on using), i can use a commercially available case for this instead of making my own.  is there a link for the region free mod?

anyone who's interested this is what im planning:

pce core grafx system

case: http://www.polycase.com/item/ag-85.html

screen:  http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Audiovox-EX50-add-onn-Monitor-for-VBP-Models-VBP700_W0QQitemZ230112900257QQcmdZViewItem (i plan on replacing the light source with white leds to save power)

batteries: http://thomasdistributing.com/shop/maha-aa-2000-mah-nimhbrrechargeable-battery-with-solder-tabs-p-445.html?SP_id= (i think 6 will do, ima have to really find out what the draw on the pce is before i really buy batteries)

this will include a player 2 controller port, tv out, headphone jack, ac/charging jack, and a few other options.

currently im doing a nes/snes combo system portable, this will be my next project.

a secondary question now is that, are there internal ics in the controllers or do they just run straight back to the console like atari and sega systems?

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Re: Tg16 help]

well i plan on making a portable out of one and i want to get everything ordered as soon as possible.  i dislike the commercial handheld version as the screens are horrid and small along with a multitude of other issues.  but i want to see if its worth doing before i rip apart one.  im no stranger to desoldering/soldering, modding, and anything else that would be required to do this project.  i love the tg16 but i dont want to open one unless i have to.

[Console Repair/Mod Center / Tg16 help]

i plan on doing some serious mods to a tg16.  but before i embark i need a couple of things.  does anyone know what the motherboard dimensions are?  ill start with that and go from there.

thanks.