Region Mod woes !@!#@$!@#$

[pceslayer]

Ok so I took a crack at the region mod and well lemme tell you what... Grrrrrrr!

sooo...




I ordered the IC's, made the PCB and got it all wired in!(Ignore the yellow wire... it is to be soldered to switch b4 closing (ground on pin 29))


mod on!


mod off!

ok so now here is the issue...

After about 30 seconds the screen gets all scrambled, beeps and glitches all over the place. Power off and back on a few times and eventually it just displays a white screen.

I checked my wiring to the pins and on the PCB atleast 15 times so that isn't an issue.

After about an hour of going over this crap I figured I had ruined the IC's somehow by overheating or something.

So I build a new one from scratch being very careful with the amount of heat applied to the pins of the IC. I wire it up, and it plays longer, but eventually it does the same thing!! WTF!!!

Another hour or two goes by and I cannot pinpoint the issue... So I said F*** THIS! de-soldered everything and wired the original pins back together and now the unit is back to normal stock, but works...

So my question is this... what the hell is going on?

Has anyone seen this before?

Could it possibly be my cable length? I can't think of anything else... I'm stumped...

[TheMilford]

I've never done any mods but I am an electronics tech.

Yes, you may need to (and should) shorten and tidy up your leads. if one of those leads is Ground than you may want to twist it with one of the more sensitive/signal leads to offer it some sort of rejection/shielding. Sometime shielded wire is a real problem solver... but I don't know tha circuit well enough to instruc where to use it.

Also make sure all of your solder joints are good and not "cold".

Also that red wire looks a little bulky for this aplication. I would use smaller gauge wire.

Good luck!

[pceslayer]

I will be attempting this again over the weekend with some wrapping wire I have laying around.

Hopefully the shorter wires will help 

[Duo_R]

Is that bare solder I see on the yellow wire joining 2 pieces of wire together???   
 

[pceslayer]

Is that bare solder I see on the yellow wire joining 2 pieces of wire together???   

yes thats my pin 29 ground...

I had originally had it soldered to the switch so that it would be ungrounded when in NTSC/J mode, but during testing the length to the switch was too short and it kept getting in the way.

So I desoldered from the switch and soldered the wires directly together while testing.


I made sure it didn't come into contact with anything and was only loose while the case was open.

[Duo_R]

at least cover it up with electrical tape when  you do that. Better yet get the correct length of wiring. If you show something like that we are all going to suspect a shady install..... 

[pceslayer]

at least cover it up with electrical tape when  you do that. Better yet get the correct length of wiring. If you show something like that we are all going to suspect a shady install..... 

Point taken...

The wire length is perfect enought to allow you to pry open the case partly and desolder it. It is hot glued down to the mainboard...

The image was taken right before I re-soldered it to the switch and closed the case off.

[Platinumfungi]

Has anyone seen this before?

Yep. In my experience this is a frequent problem when installing the IC based region mod on TG16 units.

I've asked around, done lots of searching, and lots of cussing to try and figure out what is going on.

This is what I can tell you:

- People I talked to that are experienced with electronics but not with the TG16 hardware said it sounded like a power based issue. Check for dry solder joints and check power related components.

- Nat (here on pcfx) also said it sounded like a power related issue. The system might have just enough to power the system itself, but when you add the ICs or a flash card (or anything that requires more juice) the system can't handle it. Check power related components and check the voltage level to see if it's really putting out +5V.

- After digging around for ages I came across some info that our old pal D-Lite mentioned "having issues" when trying to get an IC region mod of his to work in a TG16. He had to switch to using an 8PDT switch instead.

I resoldered the power related components on the TG16 units I had but found no change in the performance. I have not taken the time to check the power levels or do any further work yet. When I get a little time I will though.

So, test the voltage and check any solder around the power components.

This is an issue that is NOT well documented and I for one would love to solve this and have another "Repair Guide" sticky to add in here in the pcfx forums 

[TheMilford]

Has anyone seen this before?

Yep. In my experience this is a frequent problem when installing the IC based region mod on TG16 units.

I've asked around, done lots of searching, and lots of cussing to try and figure out what is going on.

This is what I can tell you:

- People I talked to that are experienced with electronics but not with the TG16 hardware said it sounded like a power based issue. Check for dry solder joints and check power related components.

- Nat (here on pcfx) also said it sounded like a power related issue. The system might have just enough to power the system itself, but when you add the ICs or a flash card (or anything that requires more juice) the system can't handle it. Check power related components and check the voltage level to see if it's really putting out +5V.

- After digging around for ages I came across some info that our old pal D-Lite mentioned "having issues" when trying to get an IC region mod of his to work in a TG16. He had to switch to using an 8PDT switch instead.

I resoldered the power related components on the TG16 units I had but found no change in the performance. I have not taken the time to check the power levels or do any further work yet. When I get a little time I will though.

So, test the voltage and check any solder around the power components.

This is an issue that is NOT well documented and I for one would love to solve this and have another "Repair Guide" sticky to add in here in the pcfx forums 

this was my suggested when I spoke with Dean at Multimods about the mod/board not working well in the TG16 vs. the PCE.

You might be able to get away with using an AC adapter with a higher current rating. If I had the schematic I could see where that 5vdc supply originaltes and maybe beef it up a bit (higher value caps in the PS, etc.)

shorter and sometimes shielded leads and nice solder joints can really help...

[pceslayer]

I'm using a 9v 1300mA power adapter and a SegaCD model 2 10v 1000mA adapter for testing, so power to the unit shouldn't be an issue...


If it really is a power issue, I'll just seek out a +9v and connect it there, I believe the MC14551BCP IC has a max rating of 18v.

[TheMilford]

I'm using a 9v 1300mA power adapter and a SegaCD model 2 10v 1000mA adapter for testing, so power to the unit shouldn't be an issue...


If it really is a power issue, I'll just seek out a +9v and connect it there, I believe the MC14551B IC has a max rating of 18v.

what's the current draw of the chipset in the mod board? This is pretty important.

9v should work better... it should also drive the longer leads better too.

[Duo_R]

 I see people do all this work and a simple 8PDT switch avoids the headache. Of course with a Coregrafx it is pretty tight in there.....

I'm using a 9v 1300mA power adapter and a SegaCD model 2 10v 1000mA adapter for testing, so power to the unit shouldn't be an issue...


If it really is a power issue, I'll just seek out a +9v and connect it there, I believe the MC14551BCP IC has a max rating of 18v.

[pceslayer]

what's the current draw of the chipset in the mod board? This is pretty important.

9v should work better... it should also drive the longer leads better too.

havent measured that yet... will let you know.
*EDIT*
If i'm reading the data sheet correctly, it uses whatever you supply to it.
http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/on_semiconductor/MC14551B-D.PDF

I see people do all this work and a simple 8PDT switch avoids the headache. Of course with a Coregrafx it is pretty tight in there.....

I usually do everything the hard way first just to learn it.

[Duo_R]

measure how much amperage this little IC is pulling from the system. The other thing I hear is when this mod is docked with a CD unit it also fails (again sounds like amperage issue).

[pceslayer]

ok just measured the voltage and it uses whatever is supplied to it.

on the Mainboard the only place to tap it @ 9v+ is right where the power comes in, anything else is stepped down to 5v.


I shortened the cables and even found alternate 5V on the board and am still hitting the same issues.

I still get the same issue when running the chip @9v or above... WTF!?

I get .02 amps when pulling from th 9v