Trying to make an adapter to convert Euro Scart rgb cables to work with XRGB2+

[Anthony1]

I recently won a XRGB2+ auction off Ebay. I also bought a few Euro Scart RGB cables. Obviously, I need some way of connecting those cables to the XRGB2+, but I need to convert them to the Japanese 21 pin format, so that they will work. I bought (2) female to male euro scart extensions. The plan is to rewire or alter the male end, so that I can plug it into the XRGB2+, and plug my Euro rgb scart cables into the female end, and everything will work out ok.

The reason I bought two cables, is to have an extra, in case I screw up on the first attempt. I've never soldered anything before or anything like that, but figure I'd give it the old college try. I thought I saw a guide somewhere on a website that had a kinda step by step explanation on how to convert Euro Scart cables to the Japanese 21 pin rgb scart, but I can't seem to locate it anymore.

I did look at the pinouts of the Euro scart, shown here:

http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:scart_connector

and the JPN Scart shown here:

http://www.gamesx.com/avpinouts/rgb21pinj.htm

From that information, I made this comparison chart:

Pin 1          Euro = Output (Right)                     JPN = Right Audio

Pin 2           Euro = Input (Right)                       JPN = ?

Pin 3           Euro = Output (Left/Mono)              JPN = Left Shield - Right Shield ?

Pin 4          Euro =  - (Audio GND)                    JPN = ?

Pin 5          Euro = - (Blue GND)                      JPN = Left Audio

Pin 6          Euro = Input (Left Mono)                JPN = ?

Pin 7         Euro = Input (Blue)                         JPN = Sync Shield

Pin 8          Euro = Input (Select)                     JPN = ?

Pin 9          Euro = - (Green GND)                    JPN = Sync

Pin 10       Euro = - (Clock - not used)           JPN = ?

Pin 11       Euro = Input (Green)                     JPN = ?

Pin 12       Euro = Output (Data - not used)      JPN = ?

Pin 13      Euro = - (Red GND)                       JPN = Red Shield

Pin 14      Euro = - (Data GND)                       JPN = ?

Pin 15      Euro = Input (Red)                         JPN = Red

Pin 16      Euro = Input (Blanking)                 JPN = +5v

Pin 17       Euro = - (Video GND)                   JPN = Green Shield

Pin 18      Euro = - (Blanking GND)                JPN = Blue Sheild

Pin 19      Euro = Output (Video out)             JPN = Green

Pin 20      Euro = Input (Video in)                 JPN = Blue

Pin 21    Euro = - (Shield/GND)                   JPN = Ground


based on that, I'm assuming I should do this, although I must admit that I really don't know jack squat about this stuff, and could be off base 100 percent.


(Male end of Euro Scart that I'm converting to Male JPN)

Pin 1 = Switch wire from pin 2 to this pin?

Pin 2 = Switch this wire to pin 5?

Pin 3 = Switch wire from pin 4 to this pin?

Pin 4 = Switch this wire to pin 3?

Pin 5 = Swich wire from pin 6 to this pin?  (Switch wire that "was" connected to pin 5 to pin 18?)

Pin 6 = Switch this wire to pin 5?

Pin 7 = Switch this wire to pin 20?

Pin 8 = Do I do anything with this pin? (Do I remove the wire, or just leave as is?)

Pin 9 = Switch this wire to pin 17? 

Pin 10 = Do I do anything with this pin? (Do I remove the wire, or just leave as is?)

Pin 11 = Switch this wire to pin 19?

Pin 12 = Do I do anything with this pin? (Do I remove the wire, or just leave as is?)

Pin 13 = leave unchanged?

Pin 14 =

Pin 15 = leave unchanged?

Pin 16 =

Pin 17 = Switch wire from pin 9 to this pin?

Pin 18 = Switch wire from pin 5 to this pin?

Pin 19 = Switch wire from pin 11 to this pin?

Pin 20 = Switch wire from pin 7 to this pin?

Pin 21 =  Leave unchanged?




Which wire do I switch to pin 7 for (Sync Shield) ?

Which wire do I switch to pin 9 for (Sync) ?

Which wire do I switch to pin 16 for (+5v) ?



I'm sure alot of the questions I'm asking are pretty ridiculous for anybody that has the slightest bit of knowledge about this stuff, but I unfortunately have zero knowledge about this stuff, and I'm just trying to "wing it" so to speak. I'm hoping to get one of the two cables to work properly, so any help that can be provided would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance to anybody with any suggestions.

- Anthony

[NFG]

I find your write-up entirely too difficult for the purposes of checking your wiring.  It would have been easier if you just made a map of Euro pin to JP pin, including labels.

1 BLUE -> 4 BLUE
2 GROUND -> 6 GROUND

etc etc.  What you've given requires extensive reference to the source diagrams, and I'm lazy.

That said...

The minimum connections you'll need:

Red, green, blue, ground, sync, Left Audio, Right Audio.

Many TVs and monitors require the additional connection of +5V as a 'device present' detection signal.  I don't think the XRGB requires these voltages, so you can ignore them.

Connect EVERY ground and the signals above, and you're done.  Don't overthink it, it's as easy as that: red to red, blue to blue, etc.

[Anthony1]

On the Japanese 21 pin connector, 3 of the pins are as follows:


Pin 9 = sync

Pin 7 = sync shield

pin 16 = +5v


Could you take a quick look at the Euro Scart pinout when you get a chance and tell me which corresponding pins on the Euro connector go with those?


On the Euro side, there is  pin 16 (blanking) and pin 18 (blanking ground). I was wondering if those correspond to sync and sync shield.

You said the bare minimum is red, green, blue, ground, sync, left audio, right audio. I'm pretty sure I know which pins each of those go to, except sync.

Thanks for your help, and sorry about my confusing write up. I'm totally new to all this, and can use all the help I can get.

[NFG]

You might get +5V from SCART 8 if it's set to 16:9 mode, but more likely it'll be 12V as the system is set to 4:3 (not many old consoles were widescreen).  Again though, you don't likely need it for the XRGB.

Shield is GROUND.

Sync is composite video, SCART 19 or 20 (I don't have any here to check).

[MKL]

Use this:

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/4525/scartjpnpinoutze1.jpg

Audio and composite video have both inputs and outputs on scart and JPN RGB-21. Of course a console scart cable will only use inputs so you may well leave the outputs unwired. So it's (scart-JPN) 20-9, 2-5, 6-1 and the rest is straighforward.

Note that the gamesx pinout is incorrect for audio: L and R are reversed.

[RGB32E]

Use this:

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/4525/scartjpnpinoutze1.jpg

It would be handy to add this information to the wiki under other devices:
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:av_pinouts

[Anthony1]

Use this:

http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/4525/scartjpnpinoutze1.jpg

Audio and composite video have both inputs and outputs on scart and JPN RGB-21. Of course a console scart cable will only use inputs so you may well leave the outputs unwired. So it's (scart-JPN) 20-9, 2-5, 6-1 and the rest is straighforward.

Note that the gamesx pinout is incorrect for audio: L and R are reversed.

Sweet! Thanks for that breakdown. That should help quite a bit.

One more question...

I opened up the male end of the scart extender (euro) that I have, and was looking at all the various wires going to the specific pins. I'm sure this question is going to sound really dumb, but as somebody who has never soldered anything, do I just use a tweesers or something to pluck the wires from the pins, and then resolder them to the correct pins for the JPN pinout? Or, do I leave the wires connected to the pins and just cut the wires and solder the appropriate wires together?

Sorry for the really dumb question, but hey, what can I say, lol.

[MKL]

do I just use a tweesers or something to pluck the wires from the pins, and then resolder them to the correct pins for the JPN pinout? Or, do I leave the wires connected to the pins and just cut the wires and solder the appropriate wires together?

It depends on whether the contacts are solder or crimp style. If they're crimp style (as is common with cheap, openable scart cables) you could try to extract the contacts (with wires attached to them) from the housing by bending the contact tabs inwards and pulling them out and subsequently move them to the desired location. From my experience sometimes this is easy and sometimes it's not. If they're solder style you can either extract/move them or desolder/resolder the wires. And of course if something goes wrong you can always cut off the whole connector and put a new one (solder style recommended) on. That is provided you don't live in a part of the world where scart connectors are hard to come by.

[Anthony1]

It depends on whether the contacts are solder or crimp style. If they're crimp style (as is common with cheap, openable scart cables) you could try to extract the contacts (with wires attached to them) from the housing by bending the contact tabs inwards and pulling them out and subsequently move them to the desired location. From my experience sometimes this is easy and sometimes it's not. If they're solder style you can either extract/move them or desolder/resolder the wires. And of course if something goes wrong you can always cut off the whole connector and put a new one (solder style recommended) on. That is provided you don't live in a part of the world where scart connectors are hard to come by.

It turns out that they are crimp style, but you can't bend the contact tabs inwards and pull them out. I tried to do that and it didn't work. I ended up accidently pulling the wire out of the crimp on a few of the pins.

So, now that I've accidently pulled a few of the wires out from the crimp style contacts, is it possible to solder the wires back to these crimp style contacts, or is that a futile endeavor? I live in the USA, so I don't know how easy it is to just get a solder style male scart connector here. I'm guessing I would have to import one from the UK.

If I can solder them to the crimp style contacts, I'll try that, but if that isn't going to work, then I guess I better find a male scart piece with solder style contacts and just take it from there.

[NFG]

You should easily be able to solder onto the old connectors. 

[MKL]

So, now that I've accidently pulled a few of the wires out from the crimp style contacts, is it possible to solder the wires back to these crimp style contacts, or is that a futile endeavor?

A bit unorthodox but it can be done and given your situation it's probably the only thing to do: strip the wires, tin them, tin the crimp section of the contacts and solder the wires to them.

[Fudoh]

Lawrence, on the 21pinout shown on gamesx.com the L/R audiochannels are mixed up. The pinout on the linked graphic above is correct.

[Anthony1]

Tonite, I was able to borrow my friends soldering iron, and some other tools, and started soldering the wires. At first it seemed like a completely lost cause. I had to solder 14 different wires to 14 different connectors, and while at first it seemed kinda easy and not that big a deal, as I had more wires on there, it became much more difficult. I thought for sure that it just wasn't going to work.

I was telling my friend about it, and he said that he figured that it would be too difficult to try to fit all those wires in there without fucking it up, so he wasn't too suprised. He told me that I could just order a crimp style connector, and just crimp the wires, and make a new male connector the easy way. So I figured I'd have to do that.

But I still took his soldering stuff home with me, and I decided to just solder all the wires anyways, and just see what the heck happens. So I ended up soldering all the wires. It was pretty difficult, because the size of the soldering iron, and how small the wires were, and fitting them all into those tiny spaces just made things hard. I was accidently burning some of the other wires, just because of their proximity. I was also getting alot of solder all over the place, and melting some of the plastic of the scart connector thing. I also thought that maybe a few of the wires would touch each other and end up shorting out or something.

After I got done, I put the jacket thing back on, and decided to try it out and just see what happens. I plugged it into the XRGB unit, and then I got my euro PS1 scart cable and plugged it into the other end. I quickly hooked it up to my PC monitor. I turned it on, and was amazed to see that it actually was working! I thought for sure I had screwed it up. But everything appears to be working just fine. I'm not sure if this is going to last though. I think it's very possible that one of those wires will come loose or something. This is my first time ever soldering, and I really didn't know what the heck I was doing. But for now, it seems to be working fine. I still need to test the audio. I didn't try out the audio yet.

But, it's definitely cool to think that I was able to do this myself. Even if it starts malfunctioning soon, it's not that big a deal. I ordered two of these cables originally (the dude on Ebay still needs to send me the second one), so I should be getting another one soon, and I can always just do the crimp method with that one. Hopefully, one of them will work consistently.

[MKL]

I'm not sure if this is going to last though. I think it's very possible that one of those wires will come loose or something.

To prevent these problems and make the cable mechanically strong and durable the scart shell should be filled with hot glue.