SEGA Saturn SOPHIA - CUSTOM Build of rare MDR50 "VCD" cable

Excellent, I will gladly purchase one when available...

 

Excellent News Shane!!
Our perseverance has prevailed!!

I have some further details here that I've collected through my ongoing research regarding the Sega Sophia Cable, and I figured some of you might find this interesting.

I reached out to the Technical sales manager at Delvin electronics Ltd. and he said they haven't been in the cable and connector business for years. Now what's interesting is the logistics here between Devlin and Fujitsu. They share the same industrial complex in Basingstoke UK. They are literally a 6 minute walk between each other's facilities.





As I mentioned previously how Fujitsu and Sega had collaborated for some work involving the Sega Saturn...
Link below:
https://segaretro.org/Press_release...to_Collaborate_in_Multimedia_Network_Services

With Fujitsu's involvement they likely sourced the cable build to a local company that was close by their facility.... that falling to Devlin Electronics Ltd.........just up the road from them.

The Fujitsu Rep indicated the easiest way to identify the connector manufacturer as either Devlin or Fujutsu is to check the connector molding located on the connector itself. As the logos differ from each manufacturer. Devlin components manufacturer uses a small square with a switch schematic symbol as their logo.
Shown below:



And Fujitsu uses the Letter F with two Horizontal lines above and under.
As shown below:


Fujitsu commonly has the logo printed on the component packaging, and also within the component datasheets. As shown below:



User @jollyroger was kind enough to open up the connector housing on his official cable from Devlin Electronics Ltd. and as you can see from the Photos below...it is clearly the Fujitsu connector.





You will notice the same Fujitsu logo on both JollyRogers and Shane's cable assemblies.

Shane's SOPHIA cable connector shown below:


Anyhow,
The long mystery is now solved...and we have prevailed in replicating a functional SOPHIA VCD cable clone.
That is pretty Fantastic if you ask me.

Cheers Lads!!
-Gerry

 

Another thing I would like to mention...

Soldering together this Test cable for Shane was a Huge amount of work... and very time consuming. I don't see having the time to be building these for people. However, I will be providing the connector and cable pinouts. This will allow users to solder their own.

Also, the links for purchasing the Honda equivalent connectors I posted previously.....
and anyone can place an order if they desire.

It may be worth while for users to go in together on a bulk order.
At least for those that are interested in building a cable.

-Gerry

 

This is fascinating detective work Gerry!

It’s not uncommon for assumptions and speculation to over time become accepted false facts, but this kind of critical analysis and investigation can be very revealing.

 

Thanks Shane,

Adding further documentation here for the archive... this link here below is the official product EOL announcement that was released by Fujitsu indicating the end of life for certain connectors they were manufacturing. Within the document they provide the equivalent part numbers from many of their competitors simply as a Courtesy to their clients. This includes competitors like Hiros, OMRON, Yamaichi, TYCO and of course HONDA which was where I obtained the equivalent part number for this connector.

This document was distributed to all the big component suppliers.
The link below is from Mouser.com
https://www.mouser.com/PCN/Fujitsu_PCN_Fujitsu2012_Connector.pdf

I had posted an excerpt from this doc initially...but wanted to post the official document here for the archives.

See Page 4 of the document for the indicated HONDA equivalent connector:
240CN-P FCN-247J050-G/E <------------> Honda Tsushin FCR-E50FB

http://www.digital-circuitry.com/IM..._CONNECTOR/FUJITSU_connector_Discontinued.jpg

Anyhow,
I'll be following up with the Wiring diagram and cable pinout for everyone to use and build their own SOPHIA VCD cable assembly.

Cheers Folks!
-Gerry

 

Hi All,

I put together the wiring list for this Sega SOPHIA VCD cable clone, and also included a pinout diagram for the HONDA PCR-S50FS+ connector. This makes it a bit easier when soldering the cable and having a visual aid of the actual connector itself.

The links below are for the Excel document with the complete wiring list and it also includes the pinout diagram. Also included in the document are links to the HONDA connector datasheets and the online supplier so you can order the connectors and backshell if need be.

Just for reference here is the PINOUT diagram for the HOINDA "PCR-S50FS+" connector on its own.
(JPG IMAGE)




The above PINOUT image is good to have on file, however you can refer to the Excel document below for the full connector wiring list.

Wiring List & Connector Pinout:
http://www.digital-circuitry.com/FI.../CUSTOM_SEGA_SOPHIA_VCD_CABLE_WIRING_LIST.xls

Anyhow,
I hope this will help those of you that want to solder up your own SEGA SOPHIA VCD cable.

Cheers! Folks,
-Gerry