Saturn SCSI - need cable

I neep help finding the correct SCSI cable for one of my systems.

Got two CD-emulator boards:


One is a Psy-Q CD Emulator board for a SN Systems setup:


The other is a JVC Virtual CD Interface board for a Sega setup:


As you can see the Psy-Q board uses a common 50-pin high density female SCSI connector. The Psy-Q development Saturn have a common SCSI connector too: 25-pin female. So, I had no problem getting the cable for this setup.

The JVC board however has a connector that I havn't seen before. The only exception being my other development Saturn which I believe is for a Sega / Cross Products setup. It's a 50-pin high density SCSI connector as well, but looks like a male centronics.

I managed to find a HPC50 F/F cable, which I thought would fit to JVC. It didn't. It looks like the right cable, but doesn't fit 100%.

Can anyone help?

CF

 

It is very rare, and you stand little to no chance of finding one. The connectors were (past tense) made pretty much only for a few applications in Japan, it would seem.

Good luck!

 

Just getting a "standard" HPC 50 F/F cable involved a few hours work, yes, but what is the fun if there is no challenge? ;-) The HPC 50 F/F is a mini centronics type cable, but doesn't fit 100%. I believe, however, they can be modified to fit quite easily.

What would be very helpful was if anyone know (1) the correct name for this connector and/or (2) name of another application that use it.

CF

 

This is the exact same cable I need to hook up the Mirage. I'm growing tired of asking around & finding nothing. I'm thinking I'll have to just pass the whole cart dev b/mirage on to someone who can hook it all up & preserve the project on there.

kevin

 

...I need to try to mod one of those HPC 50 F/F cables soon. If I can get a cable to work, do you have the software you need?

CF

 

I don't have the software (it would have to be the exact same version the project was built with) but I'm not planning on altering anything with mine. I just want to try out the game & preserve it. My other option is to find a very old compatible scsi cd recorder & hook that up to the back of the mirage & burn it from there. I had no luck getting an old pc with scsi card to see the mirage & copying the files from there.

 

Kev, if you decide you need some help with that, or decide to sell the Mirage, give me a shout. My dev gear is all over the place at the moment, but I plan to give my computer room a good sort-out soon and should be able to take a look for you ;-)

 

Until someone give us more information on exactly which SCSI-cable that is needed:

- HPC50 F/F cable mod -

1. Find a SCSI cable with 50-pin micro centronics connectors. Female to female.
These are also called HPC (half-pitch centronics) or HPCN.

2. To make the connectors fit: remove the shielding


3. Have fun!
...with your Cartdev Saturn, JVC VCD card, Mirage


CF

My dev Saturns and more:
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6836&page=2

 

Nice one consolefun! You don't know how close I came to giving up completely & getting rid of the whole lot for someone else to figure out.

Off to buy me a scsi lead to butcher!

kevin

 

I am sure you have read this, but just in case, here is a link to a Mirage manual:
http://www.antime.org/sega/files/mir_manl.pdf

Good luck. Let me know if I can help.

CF

 

Ahh, I see Kev has the HPCF lead. That's good, because even those are pretty scarce! Where did you guys pick yours up?

 

I found a couple of converters I think will do the job... erm hope is probably a better word!

I also found a site in the US that makes them up to order, but these converters were more local & I'll only need a much more common type of scsi lead with them.

kev

 

Hello,

Sorry to re-up this old topic but anyone knows where or how own this cable?

Thanks

 

As stated before, you won't find one except in a complete kit now. Cross trashed their spares years ago.

 

You can make one though. There are sources for these connectors out there. I picked up some male connectors on ebay, and some female connectors from aliexpress.

 

They're not the same. The original manufacturer no longer makes them. Anything available now requires significant modification.

 

I beg to differ. I got them to fit the same kind of connectors, and they worked a treat.

Just hit up my notes. The exact connector used is a 50-pin micro centronics connector, part numbers HPCN50M/HPCN50F. They were manufactured by AMP and possibly others. Like all professionally manufactured connectors though, datasheets are published with all the relevant measurements. It doesn't matter if the original manufacturer is producing them anymore, as long as the connector is produced using the same published specs. Here's a compatible female connector:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free...ngle-female-connector-CN-type/1606487900.html
And here's a cable with a compatible male connector:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221532599304

With some searching, you could probably find a male connector on aliexpress too. I already had a few cables like the one above from ebay, so I didn't bother looking.

This looks like a pretty good quality male connector ready for building a cable from:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/SCSI...ing-wire-50-male-female-head/32257404341.html

EDIT:
Just did a bit more research, and it looks like an alternate name for this connector is MDR, so this type of connector is also known as MDR50. Searching with that name gave quite a few hits too. I found a bunch of male and female connectors in stock at Farnell:
http://uk.farnell.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?categoryId=700000005014&st=MDR&pf=110180230
You can also grab a complete male to male cable here:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Gene...-DIN-rail-mounted-with-cable/32282856297.html
Suffice to say, it's not a dead end with these cables/connectors, you've just got to know what you're actually looking for.

 

There's an edit button. Use it. No need to triple post.

Having been looking, throughout the World, including talking to Japanese companies and having to read copious amounts of Japanese catalogues and datasheets for 10 years or more, I can assure you I know what I'm looking for.

They may LOOK good, but I can assure you that they are slightly different. For a start, you're going to have to chop off the catch. Therefore, it's not the same. The specs are NOT the same.

You're then going to have shielding issues. Especially with the 3M connectors. It only works if you remove the shielding. Here's 3M's comment on this when I spoke to them two years ago:

Have you even looked at the inside of the connector? See those three notches? Do you see them on ANY of the connectors you listed? No... because THEY'RE NOT THE SAME SPEC!

The only thing I found, a Japanese (very expensive) SCSI adapter, that was anywhere near fitting still didn't work out of the box. Here's what I had to do in order to sort of get it to mate:



Why are you looking for male connectors? You don't need them.

 

I did use it, as you would have seen yourself. When I post a natural follow-up to my own post, I prefer to post it as a separate reply, as it is in essence, a reply to myself. If this is frowned upon in this forum, so be it. Different forums have different conventions around that.

Ok, I'll concede the connectors are not identical. I'll continue to argue the "same specs" point though, because the simple fact is, the connectors themselves physically mate correctly. The only issues here are the outer housing, and as I should have pointed out more clearly in my post, I could only find the socket form of the female connector, not the plug form, so obviously the posts were an issue. That's a 5 second fix with a dremel and a cutting disc though. As for the shielding issues and notches, those were points I was not aware of, but again are easily dealt with. The shielding just requires you to wire it up right. The notches can be added with very little effort. Frankly, if someone has the skills to wire up a 50-pin connector, there's nothing here that should even rate as an issue. We're talking a few minutes of work, not what I'd call "significant modification". The connectors mate. Adapting the outer housing of the socket into a plug is simple enough, as long as the socket itself mates, which it does in this case.

For my perspective, I have other hardware that uses these connectors, not just the Sophia. The Katana uses it for the I/O bus connector for example, and I have a few other pieces of development and non-development hardware that uses this connector, but only the female form of the socket is used in those devices, with male connectors. The male form of the socket is something I've only come across in the Sophia setup. The connectors I referenced mate with each other and with all the other hardware I've come across. I haven't bothered to rig up a VCD cable for the Sophia in my possession yet, because I don't have a VCD emulation board or a Mirage unit to connect it to. If you've gone through the process of building a cable yourself though, which it appears you have from the picture you posted, maybe you could list step-by-step instructions for exactly what's required for other people attempting it. That would certainly be a lot more useful than just saying "you won't find one except in a complete kit now". Who cares about finding an original? We're just talking about a data cable here. Let's give people a way to build their own. How did your efforts go? Did everything work in the end? Where did you source your connectors?

 

I told you, the connectors DO NOT mate correctly without alteration. If you need to cut off tabs, it's a minor alteration but it is an alteration. If you then need to modify the shielding to be able to physically mate the plug in the socket, then it is NOT the same spec.

If someone were to sell me a cable that had been roughly Dremeled, I'd ask them if they're taking the piss. Likewise, you'd have to bodge the connector into a proper housing, because 3M and Amp don't sell the female connectors in a form that's designed to go into a cable assembly.

In fact, one of the companies told me they had heard of people wiring them up on a cable, but it takes some skill and patience to solder them. So yes, you DO need to put a lot of effort into making a compatible cable!

I haven't posted instructions because you CAN'T get mating connectors! I don't have a working cable for that reason. The 3M ones just wouldn't work and the Japanese adapters were off on their spec. Even with the modifications I made, it only goes on about 1mm.