PC ENGINE Plugable rgb mod via exp port- complete and easy

[seefuu1]

Hello people ,a little mod that i've been working on is finally  finished, so i posted the mod on GamesX and now i'm sharing it here.

http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4283.0

Finally finished my external rgb mod for the PC engine which plugs into the expansion port ,and is really simple to do with those connectors which are just different versions of the ones you find plugged into your pc's reset/power/hdd led headers.They're nice and thin ,so fit perfectly into the pc engine's expansion port and the holes for the PC engine's exp port pins to fit into are also the exact width apart (2.54mm or.1 inch) and thickness.Obviously ,this won't work with a cd rom rom set up

There is a few ways of doing this ,like having the connectors come from the exp port and going to a small pcb with the amp and a female scart plug on that ,then the user can just buy a scart lead and plug straight in ,but for simplicity sake i opted to just crimp the terminals to the scart lead ,then those plug into the header sockets and into the exp port and the RGB amp is inside the scart plug .


RGB beauty for us englanders  :-"


Connections used in my pictures
comp sync =yellow
R=red wire
G=green wire
B=blue wire
5Vcc=orange wire
0Vss(ground)=black wire

Right audio =purple wire
Left audio = white wire

RGB amp inside the scart plug ,can use the 3 Q's (transistor) method for simplicity ,found on http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/pce/amp.htm

There's also a 95% finished version of the plugable RGB mod  which works with the cd rom rom connected in the briefcace .
 These mods are mainly for people who don't want to open up their consoles and poke around with a soldering iron when they're not competent using one or don't want to send their console  to someone to internally rgb mod it for them.I'll just stick to the internal mod and amp (are there any games that would benefit from each person having a seperate tv screen ,as you can use both mods ,one showing on each tv screen at the same time).

Once i'm done i'm just going to give these finished cables away .   

Here we go then



Items needed







HT-225D Full Cycle Ratchet Crimp Tool
Ebay Item number: 120639847251

http://www.tmbelectronics.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=481&zenid=6bc4498d20ee14cbb63adfa0d0eaea28



 1 x small needle about 0.5mm 1/2mm (half) thick .
This is to help you remove the crimp terminals if you make a mistake and insert one into the wrong slot of the plastic housing.




20 x 2226TG crimp terminals 24-28 AWG Ebay Item number: 320607064077
Only 8 are needed ,but if you need to practice the method of crimping with the crimp tool,more helps .





3 x crimp housing
Available from http://uk.farnell.com/multicomp/2226a-02/crimp-housing-1-row-2-way/dp/1593506?crosssellid=1593506&crosssell=true&in_merch=true&
http://www.technobotsonline.com/connectors-and-headers/cable-assembly-housings.html


1 x 2226A crimp housing 1 row 6 way (2.54mm /0.1inch wire to board housings)


1 x 2226B crimp housing 2 row 8 way


1 x 2226b crimp housing 2 row 3 way



Heat shrink http://www.technobotsonline.com/cable-and-accessories/cable-accessories/heatshrink.html
1 x 9.5cm long and 9.5mm wide


1 x 2cm long and  9.5mm wide


3 x 5.5cm long and 3.2mm wide


1 x 2 metre  length of 8 core cable 7/0.2mm
Ebay Item number: 150509337912


Strip back the  black plastic outer insulation, so each coloured cable is this length(with a pair of wire strippers that i forgot to add at the beginning)  Roll Eyes


Now strip each coloured cable so this amount of silver wire is exposed (in mm )






slide your pieces of heatshrink over your cables,



before crimping the terminals on,as you'll find it less hassle to slide the stuff over ,unlike what i did
Wires red green and black (going to Red Green and 0Vss /ground signals on pc engine /core grafx's expansion connector)


Wires yellow blue orange (Yellow going to composite sync , Blue going to blue and orange going to 5Vcc /+ 5 Volts on pc engine /core grafx's expansion connector)


You will be left with two wire ,so slide your final piece of 1 x 2cm long and  9.5mm wide over



Push the crimp terminal in this way,so the side where the wire that gets pushed into the barrel is on the side of the AWG markings and push the terminal in so it is flush with the side and doesn't stick out at all.Then just close the ratchet crimp tool enough,so as to just hold the terminal when you let go of the handles.

Then just look at the pictures above which show you exactly how far to insert the stripped wire.Practice with the extra spare crimp terminals you have until it's correct.




Here's how the finished one should look.Almost perfect ,there should not be any plastic insulation in the second closed area.As you can see ,a tiny bit of red insulation has gotten squished inside the area where only the bare silver wire should go


After shrinking the heat shrink with a hair dryer and the terminals are now inserted into the 6 way housing.The unused terminal on the right is just there to see if it gives a more secure fit when pushed into the connector on the back of the pc engine/core grafx.It doesn't really need it,because of the extra unused slots in the housing(hence the reason for the longer than needed housings)




Orange (not red) yellow and blue .+ 5 Volts Vcc, Composite sync  and the colour blue from the console's  RGB mode




Black Red Green inserted into the 8 way 2 row housing .Note the small arrowhead on the housing ,red wire goes in here
Black is for ground ,red and green are for those colours that the console outputs in RGB mode







3 way 2 row housing (this final housing is for the left and right audio channels)


2 cm long 9.5mm wide heat shrink applied and shrunk around housing








Finished cable and don't forget to shrink that final piece where the coloured cable comes out,on the right of the picture.


I'm not going to show how to wire up and attach the scart plug or build the simple 3 transistor RGB amplifier ,for that,just follow the simple guides at
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/pce/amp.htm
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/pce/rgb.htm





The insertion point


Cover off for a better view of the 3 rows of pins



Follow The PC Engine Exp Connector pin out below and plug in the housing as follows;

http://www.gamesx.com/misctech/pcebp.php

Blue wire (blue colour signal) TO C 23
Yellow wire (composite sync signal) TO C 22
Orange wire (+5 Volt Vcc (looks  red but it's not)) TO C 21



Black wire ( ground (Vss) TO A 21
Red wire ( red colour signal) TO A 23
Green wire (green colour signal)TO B 23
http://nfggames.com/forum2/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4283.0;attach=891


Purple  wire ( right audio signal) TO C1
Grey  wire ( left audio signal)TO A1

[Duo_R]

the RGB at the expansion port is poorly amplified and needs an amp, and I can see that based on the dark photos. You should build an external amp, although the drawback is you wont' be able to take advantage of RGB if you ever use a CD dock.

[seefuu1]

the RGB at the expansion port is poorly amplified and needs an amp, and I can see that based on the dark photos. You should build an external amp, although the drawback is you wont' be able to take advantage of RGB if you ever use a CD dock.

javascript:void(0);

I quote the english words near the top of my post

"

RGB amp inside the scart plug ,can use the 3 Q's (transistor) method for simplicity ,found on http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/pce/amp.htm"

Obviously ,this won't work with a cd rom rom set up Shhh

:-"


And you can't see by the dark photo's ,what you can only see is because of me dropping the ISO levels right down,hence the darker pictures ,it's not to show anything else but only that my external RGB mod works ,nothing else!

And as my post explains , i said this is for those who don't want ,or aren't confident with opening up their console to poke around with a soldering iron or send their console off to someone in the post.,Hence the clear wording in my post .Someone can make these and sell the things and all that user has to do is plug it in ,simple .Also, the pc engine i have used is already internally RGB modded with amp and 8 pin mini din socket as mentioned in my post



Please read my post and you'll see i have clearly noted all that you have just said ,also noting i have a 96% finished version for when you use the briefcase ,which outputs RGB,fully amped ,LALALLALALALALLAALA DER ENGLANDER

It's good but it's not right

[Duo_R]

Sorry didn't see that it was too much for me to read. Nice guide! :-)   

[turbogrfxfan]

wish there was a duo r rgb mod that was easy

[Frank_fjs]

Thank you for sharing this wonderful information.

Once i'm done i'm just going to give these finished cables away   

Seriously? I'll take one if it's up for grabs.

[seefuu1]

I'm based in the UK so that's where it'll go .
At the minute i'm updating this mod again,now the outputs come out of the console and plug into the pcb circuit inside of a little project box .Which has a header ,so the housing plugs into the header,from this ,the RGB signals get amplified ,then everything outputs to a scart socket (female)that's fixed to the inside of the project box.

So all the user has to do is plug in any scart lead they have and voila ! I could just as easily fit a 9 pin d-sub aswell,so if you have a commodore 1084 monitor ,it will plug straight in to that.(which is what i use for my retro stuff).

[seefuu1]

One finished ,one to go

Here's my updated version ,basically the finalised version of how it should be sold to the user (minus the heat shrink).All the user has to do is buy any old rgb scart/ fully wired scart lead and plug it into the project box's scart socket when it arrives in the post (and follow the included faq showing what plugs in where on the expansion port).

One rgb amplified mod box,100% external Pc engine/core grafx RGB adapter 

Now to finish the one for using it with the cd rom rom







Weak RGB source going to an amplifier circuit via that 8 way housing ,a simple 3 Q (transistor )model found on mmmonkey.co.uk ,which also has the voltage dropped at scart pin 16 to what your TV needs to switch it to RGB mode( auto switching for scart pin 8 is not connected,so you have to manually switch your TV to the AV channel).This amped output then goes to a pcb terminal block ,then wired to the female scart socket (un needed scart pins are also removed) .

[Platinumfungi]

Bravo 

[Marll]

I'd really like to see the pictures when you get it set up for use with the CD ROM.

[Duo_R]

heads up this mod won't work with the cd rom. But u can solder to the same pins on the inside very easily.    

I'd really like to see the pictures when you get it set up for use with the CD ROM.

[Charlie]

You can also use a connector readily available from DigiKey.  If you get the right angle version, you can mount the PCB right on the connector.

Charlie

[Duo_R]

Charlie you got a link to that? That would be awesome! 

[Charlie]

Not right in front of me, right now, no.  But is shouldn't be hard to find...look for a DIN connector, right angle, with an excess number of pins (and mounting ears)....cut to size.  The physical pin positions fit a .100 x .100 pre-punched perf board.
I can dig up the actual part number if needed...and maybe a picture.

Charlie

[seefuu1]

New box

Pictures are a bit dark as the ISO was set too low .Just need to counter sink and cover those two screws and possibly find a sticker which has the Pc engine logo on to make the box more complete and match the original white console.(finding some white sleeving would be even better )