You can of course attach a connector directly in your controller, but if you’d like a less invasive method perhaps you can make a connector like I did.

I noticed that a plain 1,6 mm pcb would fit so I used one of my scrapped spare Fairchild cartridge pcb:s. I had planned to make a cardboard version first to get the right measurements but I went ahead and did it right away, dremel:ing and sawing.

De-solder wick for the connector and a screw to screw into one of the screw holes to secure it after attachment.

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I noticed later that there’s a bump on the connector so perhaps a piece of metal soldered on top of the pcb would be better, but it works and I just need to attach the power supply, I haven’t decided if I should glue a connector on the PCB, attach one on a wire or buy a supply exclusively for this project and solder it directly without any connector – decreasing the risk of unintentionally pulling the plug.

Playing from the battery pack is safer that way… 😉

I took a few shots of the connector:

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… and here it is attached to the controller. It doesn’t look as nice as a dedicated unit would if it was made from scratch but it works and the controller remains in it’s original state.

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I guess someone here would know what circuitry the battery voltage goes into – directly into the voltage regulator or are there anything in between. Is it a 7805 that does the regulating? In that case it needs at least about 7,5V to work, my battery pack is currently at 8,2V and there’s no battery warning yet.
I believe I have read the orginal power supply is 10 V DC?

More voltage than necessary will make the regulator hotter so I guess something around 8-9 Volts will be OK?

Here’s a template if you want to give it a go, start out with a rectangular shape 52x63mm (could be shorter ofcourse), cut the two holes for the connectors and taper it a bit to make it fit in the slot. It’s gradually narrower in the front piece. Round appropriate corners for a smooth connection. Add connector or solder wire directly, finish it with a high gloss black paint or something like that. 😉

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It’s not a 7805, but yeah, it just goes directly to the regulator… it’s rated 6V-13V and I believe it’s a switching regulator rather than a linear regulator.

DogP

I found that out later – I read some old posts and found that guys posts who successfully repaired his unit with his own regulator and reset circuit and then accidentally used a 7812 instead of a 7805 and fried it (what did he drive it with – if he had used 9V it wouldn’t have been able to driven the 7812).

I found a nice reset-circuit for the NES when I looked at his blog – best blog I ever read. That’s on my to-do list now. As I have one of those PowerPak:s it’s convenient if you can reset on the controller when browsing through games.

So… I guess anything in the area 6-13 V is OK then.
It’s a little smaller than the original adapter. 😉

[e5frog]

I was thinking I could glue another layer of PCB on top of it and then another smooth plate, perhaps of PCB that I would paint it would cover everything up nicely.

I’ll get back to this thread when doing so.

• This reply was modified 14 years, 10 months ago by e5frog.

I decided to just glue a connector in a good place and then cover the entire thing with two component epoxy glue blended with a little black metallic paint. It came out nice…

Not to worry the flakes don’t interconnect enough to make a connection so no worry for a short circuit. 😉

Now the boring part, wait for it to dry, I’ll check it again tomorrow.

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Didn’t took too long to dry and it works fine, the fit was pretty tight with the epoxy on it as well so I don’t think I need to use the screw…

The controller is a lot lighter now. 🙂

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Hey, that looks really good, e5frog! I’m thinking about modding the power-supply connector directly into the VB, to reduce the cord tangles. I’m not sure how I want to do the power switch, though. My first idea is to just short the battery terminals in the controller (or make an external thingy like you did) and splice the DC jack into the battery line inside the VB. But then I probably have to do something with the battery monitor circuitry…

[size=x-small]Bonus English tip! 😀

Took/take is an extremely irregular verb. In this case, it should be “(It) didn’t take long…”

I could have attached the connector somewhere inside the controller just as well but I prefer to keep working hardware in it’s original shape. The original AC-adapter box seems a bit larger than is really needed, right?

I noticed the batteries got sucked “dry” a lot faster with the eprom-cartridge than an original cart (no wonder, I’m guessing they draw 10 times as much power or something like that) so I decided it was time to get it done. I wonder if the OTP kind of 27C160 is less power hungry?

That does look pretty nice… much better than wires spliced and hanging out of the controller.

I doubt OTP EPROMs take any less power… I believe they’re the same EPROM, except with no window (it’s cheaper because they can use cheaper plastic for the package, rather than a ceramic package and clear window that can withstand intense UV light).

DogP

You could be right of course but there’s also the possibility of different manufacturers using different technology. Anyway, it’s no longer a problem running from AC/DC adapter. 9V 750mA seems to work fine…