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New Coleco RGB board?


SiLic0ne t0aD

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If you did the 5v ram mod, then you can take it from the line you added. Otherwise the middle ceramic cap by L3. Reference number C42 should be +5v. Last place is directly from the +5v in from the power supply.

 

There are multiple other places but those are the ones that come to me off the top of my head.

 

Thanks for this info! Is the 5v ram mod something you'd recommend while I have the thing open? I looked into it and even though I have a decent desoldering station and a fair amount of desoldering experience, I would hate to lift a trace while doing some preventative maintenance. What do you think?

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Personally I think the 5v ram mod is a great idea. However the chances of damage or traces being lifted is very high.

 

So it really depends on your personal skill level and tools. I haven't had an issue with the ones I have done personally but some are a bit trickier than others. It doesn't help that they bent the legs down after chip insertion and before soldering.

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This weekend I have been working on additional photos and information for the install guide. Unfortunately the machine I was using for this was previously modified by someone else and I have also been in the process of doing repairs. As it stands I need to correct a short to ground on the 12v rail before I can finish. However, expect an update to the documentation in the near future.

 

For those looking for suggestions on placement of the av connector, I personally recommend using the bottom shell if possible. It just makes it easier for opening and closing, as well as shorter wires. You can use basically all of the back side between the power plug and the actual main board.

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Yeah, never do 5v memory as preventative maintenance. Very tricky to do.

 

If you must do it, here is what I do:

Use "Xuron 170-II Micro-Shear Flush Cutter" to cut IC legs. I'm sure some other cutters might fit too, but these fit between the IC legs ok. Cut IC leg close to the IC body. Then remove IC body. Heat each IC leg and remove with tweezer pliers. IC legs are bent, you will notice a nice smooth way of extracting them, arm motion matches the IC leg bend. Don't do the opposite as your putting more force on the pads then you need to. Once all IC legs are moved then add a little solder and use Hakko 808 with 1.0mm nozzle or similar to remove all solder from the pads. If all else fails heat pad while pushing 1N4148 diode leg into the hole, clip leg on the other side of PCB. This way your not pulling the solder back into the hole and shifting the delicate pad. It takes a long time so go slow, but its possible to do it with zero damage to pads.

 

Console5.com sells a great kit for this:

https://console5.com/wiki/Colecovision_5V_RAM_Modification

 

I did not do this, but I can see where it might be useful:

You may also wish to install the sockets and leave a little extra height on the top side of the PCB. That way you can inspect and add solder to the top if necessary.

 

Edit: 4/29/18

Got some new flush cutters that are even nicer for IC leg cutting, check out on Amazon.com:

TR-20-50-M <--get these if do the memory repair often, more angled, text on handle facing down when cutting IC legs

TR-20-SM <--get these if buying for general purpose

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Yeah, never do 5v memory as preventative maintenance. Very tricky to do.

 

If you must do it, here is what I do:

Use "Xuron 170-II Micro-Shear Flush Cutter" to cut IC legs. I'm sure some other cutters might fit too, but these fit between the IC legs ok. Cut IC leg close to the IC body. Then remove IC body. Heat each IC leg and remove with tweezer pliers. ...

 

This is good advice. Thanks for your input. I'm going to avoid the 5v mod for now. If I start to see corrupted graphics, I'll keep this in mind.

 

@mobiusstriptech, I ordered a kit from you late one night last week and appreciate the insanely fast response. I'll take some pictures during my mod to post here.

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I've done hundreds of the 5 volt ram upgrades on Colecos. Needless to say they're pretty fun... lol

 

yea its not the worst thing ever if you are used to working on electronics and used to working on old electronics, though I think it may be out of the reach of the average hobby tinker type with a wal-mart weller and good intentions

 

course you dont get good by not doing

Edited by Osgeld
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This is one I installed today. Pictures taken with a phone camera of my PVM 1954q. I don't have a capture card currently to do anything other than phone pictures. This unit was adjusted by oscilloscope with each line set as close to .7vpp as possible.

 

This console also has a freshly rebuilt power supply. Freshly meaning I literally just replaced everything in it.

 

If anyone wants to see other game screens, just let me know. The Mario Bros from CollectorVision is quite impressive in my opinion.

post-62147-0-07545800-1525039068_thumb.jpg

post-62147-0-25976200-1525039106_thumb.jpg

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Agreed. This is one time I wish I had a capture card to really do it justice. The yellows are definitely yellow but that picture does make it look brown.

 

The glare in my office also does not help with showing off the quality. I will likely get more pictures of this console later on. I also have 4 more here for RGB that I am working on ao additional photos will be taken.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Here's my trip report after a successful installation of the board introduced in this thread. Many thanks to mobiusstriptech for the pre-assembled board and instructions. I also ended up getting the 8-pin mini din board from Oshpark that was recommended.


The game shots below are from my Framemeister connected to our 65 inch 4K LG OLED which is absolute garbage at upscaling retro games from 1080p sources like the Framemeister. Even YouTube videos of retro games look crappy. So, the rounded corners on those sprites should look much sharper on another, less over-engineered display.


The board was much smaller than I expected.

post-46733-0-57789000-1527226219_thumb.jpg


The red wire is tapping the audio. Per the instructions, there's a 10uf 16v electrolytic capacitor wired in between this point and the audio jack I installed. The blue wire is tapping 5 volts (thanks for the info on that, too!).

post-46733-0-70320800-1527226206_thumb.jpg


I mistakenly placed the hole for the 8-pin connector a little too close to a reinforcement column inside the CV, so I did have to dremel that extra bit of plastic down inside the case in order to screw in a lug nut that locks the connector into place.

post-46733-0-04162600-1527226198_thumb.jpg


While the case was open, I took the opportunity to clean the plastic up and blow some Deoxit into the power switch. I have an Atarimax flash cartridge, a Nintendo Famicom Network controller modded with a CV connector and a Super Game Module so this is really the last piece of the puzzle -- well, I guess I still need Donkey Kong Arcade.


Some game screens:

post-46733-0-88049100-1527226227_thumb.jpg

post-46733-0-91331700-1527226235_thumb.jpg

post-46733-0-39421000-1527226242_thumb.jpg


The mod was fairly easy compared to other RGB mods I've done -- I didn't have to desolder anything thank god. I bought the 8-pin mini din connector, the capacitor and audio jack separately on Mouser. Here's my shopping list:





Here's a picture of the back.

post-46733-0-61980600-1527226255_thumb.jpg


Honestly, the hardest part of the mod was dialing in the colors via three pots on the drop-in board. I don't have and don't know how to use an oscilloscope. :/


Actually, the hardest part is opening the damn case without removing the front-plate and then closing it all back up without breaking anything.


I'm excited to try it out on my 14 inch PVM. I'll post more screenshots once I haul that beast down out of the closet and set it up. Unfortunately, I don't have room in the house for a permanent retro-gaming set-up. Thanks again for all the info and help here in this thread.

Edited by plasticbugs
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This is awesome plasticbugs! I'm really glad to see more people getting these installed. I wish I could take more credit but honestly citrus deserves all the credit. I'm just the guy putting these tiny things together.

 

I have still been compiling more pictures and unfortunately just got really busy. I will still be updating the install instructions and will include some suggestions for jack placement. I have found a few good places for them, depending on what you go with.

 

If anyone needs any assistance when doing these installs, just reach out. I am glad to help where I can. Honestly this is really awesome.

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  • 1 month later...

This is awesome plasticbugs! I'm really glad to see more people getting these installed. I wish I could take more credit but honestly citrus deserves all the credit. I'm just the guy putting these tiny things together.

 

I have still been compiling more pictures and unfortunately just got really busy. I will still be updating the install instructions and will include some suggestions for jack placement. I have found a few good places for them, depending on what you go with.

 

If anyone needs any assistance when doing these installs, just reach out. I am glad to help where I can. Honestly this is really awesome.

 

Any more RGB boards left for sale? They work very well with OSSC.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't have an RGB CRT TV. Instead I have a Y/Cb/Cr/L/R TV An RGB would be worthless. Does anyone have the ability to turn a Colecovision from RF into Y/Cb/Cr/L/R (or Y/Cb/Cr/A if in mono). I'm not handy with a soldering gun. Hopefully for the cost of a "new-used" Colecovision, I can send in a Black-and-white outputting CV (By the way, an earlier Odyssey 2 and Bally Astrocade had similar issues, Wish I had them modded instead of sold as B/W), and have it modded for Y/Cb/Cr/Mono or L/R. I heard it's easier to take existing Y/Cb/CR the Colecovision, Astrocade, and possibly other machines "think" in terms of, and just straight channel, than combining the Cb and Cr to C for S-Video or all 3 for Composite.

 

By the way, to use in places with no component, would it be be just as low ping to buy a Component-to-Composite converter without touching the resolution. And what's cheaper, adding Composite and/or S Video to the mod, or buying a Component to S-Video and/or Composite adapter, assuming ping isn't an issue?

 

Finally, I don't have much electrical talent. Anyone want to possibly take my B/W CV and any possibly other old school RF consoles if/when they lose color, and permanently fix the B/W issue, which most people say should solve it for good. if so how much? It might take a month or two to save the money for it.

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Get a RGB to YPbPr transcoder box.

 

How good is the ping on it? Will it throw off a light gun (even though Colecovision has no light gun games)? Is it under 1 ms?

 

Besides isn't easier to take straight Y/Cb/Cr as opposed to convert it to RGB? There's no color space translation chip. Just hook Y to green, Cb to Blue and Cr to red. Is there something more to it.

 

I notice a multi-pin DIN connector. Can that do Composite and S-Video too?

 

I notice 10 pins. Is one pin the Composite, one the Luma, one the C, one the Cb, one the Cr, one the R one the G and one the B with 2 pins left to connect? Maybe the Y is Y/C is slightly different that the Y in Y/Cb/Cr (voltage or some other difference?) Then the 10th pin would be the ground or some other "system function".

 

So does that mod let you do RGB, Y/Cb/Cr, Y/C and composite and you just add a physical connector to it?

 

Will it finally cure my RF B/W problems? How much is the cost of the parts and labor of the mod install compared to the cost of buying a "new-used" Colecovision, which may come down with a similar problem later? If so, and the price is right, give me a month to collect the money and sign me up!!!!

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