Megadrive/Genisis switchless mods???

Discussion in 'Sega Discussion' started by cde, May 17, 2008.

  1. Calpis

    Calpis Champion of the Forum

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    5V/200 ohm = 25mA, which is at the upper limit of HC/HCT, but 'eh, it works.
     
  2. devzone

    devzone Robust Member

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    actually its more like 15mA because you have to remove the forward voltage of the led from the calculation (which is around 2V)

    3V/200R=15mA
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2008
  3. Calpis

    Calpis Champion of the Forum

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    Not 0.7V of a typical silicon?
     
  4. devzone

    devzone Robust Member

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    I wish they were

    Years ago red leds had a forward voltage of 1.2V and green I think were 1.45V but now the red is around 2.0V and green around 2.2V, I guess we can blame modern (cheap) manufactoring techniques for this.
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2008
  5. ASSEMbler

    ASSEMbler Administrator Staff Member

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  6. Calpis

    Calpis Champion of the Forum

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    That could be integrated (uh why?) without an audio amp and with the existing LED setup by using a current amp fed by clamped audio.

    Something roughly like this:
    [​IMG]

    The resistor value will need to be adjusted for the signal level and the cap value isn't critical at all. I don't think the input resistance is low enough to interfere with a TV load in parallel, but it could so connect right before output amp.
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2008
  7. devzone

    devzone Robust Member

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    edit: I decided to remove this post in case members found it offensive
     
    Last edited: Jun 9, 2008
  8. andre31t

    andre31t Member

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    Great mod Kudos to all involved in it's evolution

    I really want to try it more for the ability to change region settings without ugly switches. i've got my u.k pal megadrive infront of me and I'm lost. Where do you connect the 7474 chip to 5v's is it one of the other jumpers? Also the region mod that i previously done involved cutting the tracer between jumper 2 and jumper 3, does this mod not require you to do so?
     
  9. cde

    cde Site Supporter 2017

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    I soldered the 5 volts to the cap on the motherboard (red wire)
    and yes you will have to cut the tracks on the motherboard, you could use this for either the PAL/NTSC switch or JAP/ENG switch, depending on the jumpers you solder to

    [​IMG]
     
  10. andre31t

    andre31t Member

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    Thanks CDE
    is the cap on JP1?, The motherboard on my megadrive has the jumper near the megacd edge connector and it doesn't have a capacitator there. Does anyone know how to identify a source of 5 volts?
     
  11. devzone

    devzone Robust Member

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    on the Z80 cpu pin 11 is +5v and pin 29 is 0v
    with a multimeter check any of the electrolitic capacitors close by that show to be connected to these pins as a source of power
     
  12. cde

    cde Site Supporter 2017

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    jumpers..

    No probs.:icon_bigg

    I used this site for lots of useful info and good pics of motherboards, at the end he mentions the different position and layout of the jumpers on different revision megadrives.
    You can see my version (with cap) and the other version with the jumpers moved and no cap.. But like Devzone says with a multimeter you can find a 5 volt source quiet easily.. i did and im amateur at best:lol:
    http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/console/sega/md1switches.htm
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2008
  13. andre31t

    andre31t Member

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    Thanks guys when i'll give it a go
     
  14. andoba

    andoba Site Supporter 2014

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    One question, if this is only connected to NTSC and PAL, it would switch only between those two, right? I mean, if I did mod a PAL MD, it would switch between USA and PAL, but JAP protected region games would still not work.

    Am I right?
     
  15. cde

    cde Site Supporter 2017

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    50/60 Jap/Eng

    Yes thats right, with this mod as it is you would have to choose either to switch between 50 and 60 htz, (pal or ntsc), OR Jap and English, as these two need seperate switches, and this mod can only do one. I am sure though that one of these guys on here who know there circuits and electronics far better that i would tell us another circuit that could control both switches with the one reset button.
     
  16. devzone

    devzone Robust Member

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    The circuit mod(s) posted in this thread allows cycling through the following 4 modes

    EUR-50
    EUR-60
    JAP-50
    JAP-60

    So japanese games are not a problem
     
    Last edited: Jun 11, 2008
  17. raylyd

    raylyd Guest

    re

    i have a mega drive 2 could someone help me would help me then i can do the same switchless mod for mega cd 2
     
  18. segaloco

    segaloco Enthusiastic Member

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    Man, this reminds me of a concept a friend of mine is working on. He is trying to make a global Sega CD Bios, one that bypasses the region check. Couple that with a switchless Mega Drive and you have yourself one sweet system. As for me, I prefer switch mods just because I love to have complete control over EVERYTHING. In fact, for Multi-Bios on Mega CD I am just going to make my own file, it is rather simple, just put three BIOS files together and buffer the file with 128kb and it works fine.
     
  19. l_oliveira

    l_oliveira Officer at Arms

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    The only problem I see with the SEGA/MEGA-CD bios multi region hack is how the hell the hacker will unpack the SUB-BIOS, hack it properly and then re-pack and put it back in the main CPU boot ROM.

    It's really a much needed hack, by the way.

    For the moment, to play foreign discs on my japanese MD-CD I make images of the disc, patch it's "IPL" with the security program of a japanese disc (which is smaller than the other two regions) and patch the difference with NOPs. The patched image is then burnt on high grade CD-R.

    All games I tried this on worked flawlessly on my Mega-CD.
     
  20. ASSEMbler

    ASSEMbler Administrator Staff Member

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    all that work to avoid reaching down and toggling a switch....
     
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