PC Engine GT - Controller Board

[tawy]

Hello,

I am new with this piece of hardware and i just bought a GT, the controller board have been corroded by a leaked capacitor (the carbon traces of the turbo switches have been literrally eaten by the liquid).
I have repaired the board, it is now fully fonctionnal but I want some information...

I am working on a clone and i found this forum where turbokon have done one.
I am near the end of my final product, I want to do like him, make it work without the BU5782K.
I want to make front side of the PCB look like the original PCB, big ground plane, VCC with big traces, vias in replacement of the carbon bridges and the back with the 2 chips needed if no BU5782K installed and a removable connector, not needed but cleaner.

3 versions of the boards are available.

1- plug and play (no comlink and auto screen shutdown) 25?


2- like the first one, but with external controller mod 35?


3- blank 10?


thank you

[tawy]

board updated, only jack and speaker connector are missing.
every component are now populated, i will find the pinout by myself if nobody answers, i have to open my pcegt to continuity check...

 

[MasterofBiscuits]

Very cool! Nice to have an option when the controller board is damaged.

I don't have the pinout unfortunately, there is so little technical info out there for this console.

[tawy]

board finished.
i've added a little cool stuff on the back of the PCB, an RGB Breakout connector, for those who want to LCD/RGB mod the PCEGT. i can add a RGB amp with a THS7314 too... all that unused space give me ideas...



@MasterofBiscuits, thank you, i will find the pinout...
i need to print this board, check if everything fit on my pcegt and go for panelization. another version of the board will come after. the one with 74hc163 and 74hc157 and comlink disabled.
i also have to find some design to put on the PCB the hudson bee needs to be somewhere...

[Necromancer]

Heh, that's pretty cool.  I'm a real dummy when it comes to technical stuff, but I sure do appreciate the Bonk outline and GT logo on the pcb.   

[bdoi]

Really impressive work! Congratulations

[tawy]

thank you, but you can congratulate me when i receive the pcb and mount all components on the fresh pcb, for now, i dont know if everything fits and work
i did find a new design to put on the back : star parodier. every pc engine character (-pc genjin) are on the same picture

[bdoi]

I will keep an eye on your post because I am interested to have one or two

[tawy]

this version of the board is not very interesting, removing the chip and put it on a new one is not noob friendly.
when i have to do the new one, with the 74hc163 and 74hc157, it will be plug and play.


i wanted to fill all the blank space with a big picture, it's perfect

[Necromancer]

It'll almost be a shame to hide that inside the casing.   

[Keith Courage]

 :cook:Nice work! 

[tawy]

glad to see that my work interest people
pcegt opened, minor correction made, continuity check done.
@Keith, i did use your schematic to do what i needed to do :
https://www.pcenginefans.com/forum/index.php?topic=23503.msg523412#msg523412

I can share the pinout for the controller board, it follows the controller line, minus the 2 for the speakers and 2 for comlink :
1 : VCC
2 : HU6280 22
3 : HU6280 24
4 : HU6280 25
5 : HU6280 26
6 : HU6280 31
7 : HU6280 32
8 : timeout disable ?
9 : comlink ?
10 : GND
11 : spk1
12 : spk2

every line has a resistor between the chip and the pin, doing a test with a motherboard standing up is not easy

@necromancer & @keith, i think you can help me doing something on my gt, i did a lcddrv mod on it (for now it fits my needs, i dont need more if i cant "integer scale" the video). do you know how to adjust the brightness of the screen using the external wheel ?

I think it is possible to put a 3.5 IPS screen with VGA input. The PC Engine have RGB + Hsync and Vsync, needed for vga and used (i think) on some external video hdmi output for pcengine.
It will be a cheaper solution for a great screen. Those screen drivers board use 12V instead of 5, but a DC-DC step up converter can be use. and maybe a hw hack can be made to input 5V on the driver board. the component around the DC input seems to be voltage regulators. nothing uses 12V, RTD2660 is 3.3/5V powered and the ips screen too :
aliexpress.com/item/4000543740241.html

i'm pretty sure the connector i have desolder on my GT (CN201) use RGB line + Hsync and Vsync. if this is the case, a plug and play mod can be done, with just a little pcb to make.

[Keith Courage]

Sorry, I only know how to wire up the 3.5" composite screen to work with the Contrast dial. I've only done 1 LCDdriver install and it was the older revision with no option for the brightness to be controlled with the contrast dial.

[tawy]

Controller board made. it fits perfectly
I have made a mistake with button 1 and 2 on the plug and play version, this first batch of need a little rerouting to work like you can see on the pictures.
If someone need one, i can sell a "faulty PCB" or 15€ totally plug and play with all component soldered and the modification to invert BUT1 and BUT2 to its original way.


I also made a PCB of the first model, the clone of the original board. I can sell it for 5€, you'll need to unsolder every component of the original board to transfert it to this new one.
With every component soldered (without the principal chip BU5782K), i can sell one for 12€ one PCB.

I am waiting for the audio jack and speaker connector to finish the boards.

If anyone want a gold ENIG version of the PCB with everything corrected, let me know and i will make for those who are interested.
they will cost something like 20€ for the plug and play version.

[xelement5x]

These look amazing!  I like that you used actual pads instead of the carbon trace stuff for the turbo switches, that was one of the big issues I had with mine not working correctly previously.