Yet another "Any tips?" thread for a front loader NES RGB install

Since the last thread where I asked for tips garnered some great advice on the Turbo Duo, I figured I'd ask for tips for a front loader NES NESRGB board install. I have one of Helder's SNES A/V ports ready, along with Tim's board.

A few things I was curious about:

(1) Is it advisable to just remove the RF shield from the console, seeing as how RF won't be used on this ever again? The googles seem to give conflicting reports.

(2) Can I desolder the RF port from the back entirely? Or the A/V jacks on the side? I'd like to replace them with the Helder port and palette switch, but wasn't sure if there was more to it than just taking a desoldering gun to the ports and going to town.

(3) Does anyone have just general tips for a clean installation? Most guides I've seen cover either the top loader or the Famicom, but not as many people seem to be interesting in the classic front loader. You guys seem to be on the ball with the knowledge bombs.

Again, thanks in advance for any advice you can impart. This is an amazing forum.

 

1: I have pulled a few RF shields from various consoles and tossed them, however I think I kept the one in my NES. That said - when I did the NESRGB mod, I tested it without anything on top and had no issues.

2: Yes....you could. There are several options here. First, the front loading NES RF box is also responsible for power input and filtering (the large capacitor that sticks out of it). If you want to remove the entire box, you would need to make sure you retain the power circuit. You could also open up the box and remove the necessary components so you can leave the box attached but re-purpose the ports. Many people have run wires into that box, severed the traces/desoldered the existing connections (RF/RCA), and wired up their custom plugs.

3: There is really a lot of room inside that system. You could use pin headers for connecting/disconnecting your port wires from the NESRGB if you wanted. As for the port design (and I don't think this is what you are aiming for based on your second question), I used the 8 pin mini DIN, 3.5mm, and a 3 position, SPDT switch (although I think Tim includes those now). I put the holes for the AV outputs near left/center when viewing the back (close to the RF and power plugs) and placed the palette switch near the back far right. That way I could reach my hand behind the NES from the front left and not hit/disconnect any wires when switching the palette.

 

This might be off-topic, but I just want to point out that the RF shield has little to do with using the RF video-out.

RF stands for radio-frequency, aka frequencies in the high kHz to GHz range. For safety and paranoia reasons, electronic devices should not emit too much unwanted RF noise, mainly to minimize interferences between devices. The electrical signals in consoles happen to be in that frequency range and thus they induce quite a lot of noise. In order to pass standard RF tests, the engineers often simply add a metallic shield around the boards because metal blocks the electrical field. This is the same reason some LCD ribbon cables are wrapped in foil, and why a radio doesn't work well in a fridge or an aluminium closed shelf.

It should be safe to remove it 99% of the time, although if you're in a very electromagnetically noisy environment it might cause, or pickup, interferences. Think about it if there's weirdness in your video output.

Just my 2 cents.

 

CkRtech: Thanks for all the info! I did notice that the RF box also housed the power supply circuit, so perhaps I'll tap into the RCA section instead as it doesn't seem like I'll have to do as much work if I'm thinking this correctly.

-=FamileGuy=-: Not off topic at all! I was curious about how necessary it was to keep it, but if there's a distinct possibility that it could effect my video performance, I'll just work around it. I'm trying to make this as easy but clean as possible.

 

Mostly the RF shielding is there for legal reasons - any digital device clocked at over 9kHz sold in the US has to be certified to comply with the FCC emission limits. Removing the shielding will likely make it theoretically non-compliant, but is unlikely to hurt anything.

Obviously, FCC rules (and 47 CFR 15 subpart B) only apply in the US - but most other countries have similar requirements. For example, in Canada the equivalent is an Industry Canada requirement called ICES-003, the EU has EN 61000-6-3, etc.

 

Well, I tear the tags off my mattresses and never checked in with my parents before logging into Disney.com as a kid, so I guess you can say I've always been a bit of a rebel.

Seriously though, thanks for the information! Maybe I'll skip putting it on for now and if I notice any issues, I'll just resolder the wires all tunneled through the shielding.