Repairing Gamecube Component Cable NEED HELP!

"RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!" - That One Dude in Altered Beast (1988)

Bumping this thread with a huge update to let everyone know that the cable has been repaired and I have many pictures and a couple comparison pictures of the GC Component cable versus the Wii Component cable (in this case, a GigaWare Component cable).

Problems Arise
The wires were way too small and not very strong. They were breaking with the lightest of tugs. I ended up having to shorten the cable by about 2 or 3 inches to get it to stop breaking. This cable also has about 5 layers of shielding. Each wire was individually shielded. I was able to get it to a working state until last week, when I had a problem with it. I went to prepare it for shipping and the blue wire snapped somehow. I put it in a box that seals the damaged part of the cable with a special gel, giving it extra strength and waterproofing it. Somehow it broke while putting it in there.

The Process Explained in Words (You like words right? No? Ok then.... )
So, seeing as I was failing at this, I gave it to my dad to fix. He was able to redo everything and get it looking like someone just shaved the insulation off one side of the cable. To keep the wires from breaking again, he used a crimp from a 9 pin d-sub connector to crimp the wires together. After that, he put solder on the crimp to secure it. He then put some kind of special tape over the exposed wires and surrounded that with electrical tape since we can't find any shrink tubing small enough. Once that was done, he put the million layers of shielding back into their correct places. Lastly, he wrapped the outside of the cable with electrical tape and put it in one of those boxes again. It works perfectly now and won't break or get water damage! It looks like someone just put a box on it.

Eye candy for you guys
Here are some pics of the before and after:

Spoiler: Before

Spoiler: After

This album has every picture I took of it: http://imgur.com/a/2OKur. The crappy patch jobs were done by me so please ignore them.

I had to borrow my girlfriend's DOL-001 GameCube to test this since I have a DOL-101 and rather not solder this cable to my GC's motherboard. I recorded footage of every GC game I have including the Game Boy Player.

Here are some comparison pics of Pokemon Colosseum on the GC vs the Wii. Please note this is using YPbPr modes on both the GC cable and the Wii. No idea how much different RGB modes will look when compared. While both are in 480p, only the Wii version is in widescreen (16:9). I have no idea why the GC version isn't. I can say without a doubt the GC component cable's DAC is much better than the Wii's DAC. The colors are much better on the GC cable.

Spoiler: GameCube

Spoiler: Wii

I also have some video recordings of the cable in action but I'm not going to release them yet until I record the Wii versions for a comparison video. I will post the GBP footage later today. Warning, it's about 40 minutes long. I think I'll break that video up into parts to keep it from being too long. I'll post links here so you can all enjoy 480p on the GBP, which doesn't look as good as forcing 240p via Swiss from what i've seen online.

I'm going to package it up and ship it out this week for SpaceyGee and he should have it back soon. I am really going to miss this cable but I have had it for too long. It is time for it to go back home. It is a nice cable and I'm really excited to see how the GCVideo mod boards compare to it.

Once again, you are quite welcome SpaceyGee and thank you very much for letting me and my father repair your cable.

 

Glad it's repaired and working. Good call on that ferrite box.

 

It's not ferrite. It's just a plastic box with a gel in it that seals and waterproofs the cable. It also helps keep it from breaking.

 

Oh ok, they do have those with ferrite in them, too. I clip them onto my
Guitar cables to keep interference out. Either way that was a good idea.

 

It was my Dad's idea. It really does help out a lot with keeping it from breaking.

 

You sir are an angel, I really can't thank you and your father enough. I can't wait to receive it and get around to playing my Gamecube in 480p. This cable cost me a fortune and I was heartbroken to see them in the condition they were in, I'm so glad I discovered this place and sought help here, again thank you again MonkeyBoyJoey!

 

You are very welcome! You will be happy to know I shipped it a few hours ago so you should have it soon. I'll PM you the tracking number.

 

@MonkeyBoyJoey Do you have those measurements of the plug available? They would be helpful to me too.

 

That's some great work right there. Good job man.

 

I'm sorry but I only have exact numbers for a few spots out of the ones BuffaloWing asked me to measure. I used a pair of dial calipers designed for measuring firearms ammo in inches. That's why the pictures of the calipers are in the album. I was unable to decipher them since I don't know how to read dial calipers.

I no longer have the cable either so I can't take any more measurements and I don't have access to digital vernier calipers either. You'll have to ask BuffaloWing for exact measurements.

 

ah okay, thanks

 

looks good, any reason you didn't replace the whole run of cable??
The only benefit I could think of is having the stock look to the cable.

Great job none the less

 

Thank you. SpaceyGee wanted to keep the original cable on the plug so I just repaired it where it was cut. I also have to give props to Nintendo for making such a nice cable.

 

Check your PM.

 

What the hell? What kinda asshole does that?